The effort reflects a broader crisis of gender violence in Colombia, where 621 femicides were documented between January and September 2025—an average of two per day—with an estimated impunity rate exceeding 90 percent for gender-based violence.
Seven years after Kelly Knight was found dead in her Medellin apartment, her family is appealing for international intervention. The parents said that Colombia’s justice system has failed them, and they have filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging that the country violated Knight’s right to access justice.
Kelly Knight, then 34, was discovered by her Colombian husband in their shared apartment in 2019. An autopsy documented bruises and multiple injuries. The cause of death was listed as “anoxia (lack of oxygen) under investigation.” No one has been detained or formally charged.
“We had no satisfaction in Colombia. Nothing was done by the prosecutor’s office, the medical examiner,” her mother, Lee Goodpaster Knight, told the Associated Press from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The appeal to international bodies
The family filed their complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in early March and last week requested that the autonomous body of the Organization of American States prioritize their case. The request aims to accelerate the Commission’s decision on whether to formally process the complaint, potentially reducing the waiting time for that initial step from one year to just a few weeks.
Ignacio Álvarez Martínez, the family’s attorney and a former Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur, said that Kelly’s case seeks to establish a precedent for Colombia to adopt a “comprehensive state policy” aimed at preventing femicides.
A broader crisis of impunity
The Knight family’s struggle is not isolated. Between January and September 2025, 621 femicides were documented in the country—an average of two per day—while in 2024, the figure reached 872, according to the Colombian Femicide Observatory.
Despite a decade-old law that criminalized femicide, a crime now punishable by up to 50 years in prison, impunity remains pervasive. Susana Mejía, coordinator of the National Women’s Network of Colombia, described a “critical gap” between legislation and enforcement, noting that the impunity rate for gender-based violence is estimated to exceed 90 percent.
Investigation remains stalled
Colombia’s prosecutor’s office told the Associated Press that a prosecutor specializing in femicides is managing the case, which remains in the inquiry phase—the investigation’s initial stage. The office added that “police orders are currently being executed” and relevant information has been forwarded to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Her husband, Esteban Camilo Bedoya Restrepo, declined to comment on the matter.
Knight’s father, Raymond Allen Knight, reflected on the family’s ordeal. “You never get over it,” he said. “You have to get through it, but you never get over it.”