The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Prosecutor: Fatal incident to go to grand jury

Woman says she doesn’t remember pulling trigger

Christina Knight, 46, recounts shooting Timothy Ratchford, 50, after an argument turned physical Wednesday, March 10. Knight told the News-Sun in an exclusive interview that she shot Ratchford in self-defense and didn't mean to kill him. Staff photo by Marshall Gorby

ENLARGE PHOTO

Timothy Ratchford

Victim gave woman gun she used to shoot him

Driver in crash says dog may be to blame in girl’s death
Updated 2 min. ago
1-2 inches of snow expected today
2/10/12
Police headlines for Feb. 10
2/9/12
Local Focus: Champaign County for Feb. 10
2/9/12
Local Focus: Clark County for Feb. 10
2/9/12
> More headlines

By Bridgette Outten, Staff Writer Updated 5:42 PM Saturday, March 13, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — She says she doesn’t remember pulling the trigger.

In an exclusive interview with the News-Sun on Friday, March 12, Christina Knight, the woman who reportedly shot and killed Timothy Ratchford, said the whole thing shouldn’t have happened.

Police reports state Knight, 46, shot Ratchford, 50, in the chest after an argument turned physical in their home at 25 E. Liberty St. at about 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 10.

Knight has not been charged. Clark County Prosecutor Stephen Schumaker said the investigation is ongoing.

“Once the investigation is completed, it will be presented for the grand jury to make a determination,” he said.

With a battered face and both eyes purple and swollen, Knight recounted her memories of that evening.

She said Ratchford had been drinking and an argument started in the basement of the home just before she was supposed to accompany Ratchford and his crew to a maintenance job; Ratchford owned several properties and a plumbing business, she said.

“I told him that I didn’t get paid for the last job I did,” Knight said.

“And I don’t know what was going through his mind, but the next thing I know, my face ends up in the ... wall,” she said.

During a struggle, Knight said she and Ratchford ended up on the floor, where a puddle had collected in the leaky basement.

“Then he took my head and said, ‘... I’m going to drown you,’” Knight recounted, sobbing. “He was slamming my face in the puddle. And I said, ‘Go ahead and kill me then, just get it over with.’ ”

Ratchford let her go, but wouldn’t allow her to go upstairs until she told him she had to go to the bathroom, Knight said.

She went to her room to change her muddy clothes and Ratchford “just kept screaming my name. The more he said my name, the more I started shaking.”

Ratchford came up to her room, asking what was wrong with her, she said. Knight said he became enraged when she told him he had broken her nose and warned she’d “better not say that again.

“And then he said, ‘... I’m just gonna kill you, you need to be dead anyway,’” Knight said. “And I just (grabbed the gun from the dresser) and swung around.

“I didn’t even know I pulled the trigger,” she said. “I didn’t even hear the gun go off.”

Share this article