PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — A man accused of being romantically
involved with his teenage foster daughter was convicted Wednesday of
conspiring with her to kill his wife.
Prosecutors told jurors that
Kevin Knoefel, 43, showed his foster daughter Sabrina Zunich how to
stab his wife and that he wanted her out of the picture but was afraid
he’d lose custody of their 3-year-old daughter if they divorced.
A
Lake County jury convicted Knoefel on six counts of sexual battery,
three counts of complicity to aggravated murder and two counts of
conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.
Knoefel, who plans to appeal, could face 25 years to life in prison.
Zunich,
now 19, testified last week that she put on a ski mask and fatally
stabbed 41-year-old Lisa Knoefel in her bed as she fought back in
November 2012, when she was 17. Prosecutors said Zunich stabbed and cut
her more than 150 times with the 10-inch serrated knife.
Zunich
said she had fallen in love with her foster father and feared he would
commit suicide if she didn’t carry out their plot to kill his wife.
Knoefel
picked out the knife and showed her how to plunge it in once and twist,
she said. She hid the weapon under her bedroom dresser in the home in
Willoughby Hills, west of Cleveland.
She said they were carrying
on a sexual relationship and discussed several plans to kill Lisa
Knoefel, including shooting her and making it look like a burglary, or
finding a hit man. Knoefel finally suggested that Zunich stab his wife,
she said.
Defense attorney Michael Connick said that Zunich was
mentally ill and acted alone. He said she was upset because the Knoefels
had told her she would need to move out before her high school
graduation.
Zunich said she reached an agreement to testify
against Knoefel in exchange for a sentence of life in prison with the
chance for parole in 30 years.
Zunich was arrested the night of
the slaying. Police said they found Zunich in the house covered with
blood and holding a knife after getting a 911 call from a 13-year-old
girl screaming that her sister had a knife and was attacking her mother.