In 1994, a mother, Joann Katrinak, and her baby disappeared and their bodies were later found in Heidelberg Township. How could I explain to my daughter years later that I took a plea for something I didnt do? she said. Starting at. She was born on Jan. 24, 1964, in eastern Pennsylvania and moved back and forth between there and Davidson County, North Carolina. She had dropped out of school at the age of 17 to marry her partner and subsequently worked long graveyard shifts at a textile factory to provide for their family. People envied the Katrinaks rock-solid marriage and picture-perfect life; with the house, the kid, and the two cars in the drive, they seemed to be living the American dream. Chris Harris has been a senior true crime reporter for PEOPLE since late 2015. ET features interviews with all the key players from the 1998 trial of Rorrer, who is currently behind bars. Flaw in reasoning. Great communicator. Photo by: Donna Fisher/Allentown Morning Call/TNS via Getty Image, Donna Fisher/Allentown Morning Call/TNS via Getty Image. The couple moved into Andrews sturdy brick house at 740 Front Street in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. I cant lose them, he told the media. App of the Day: Poolsuite FM, What the Tech? Shes utterly believable. After a very early failed marriage, the 24-year-old Joann scored a new husband in Andrew Katrinak, 38, whom she met at a club. According to the prosecution it was enough to convict. Just recently, however, that hope was dashed when the court denied her appeal. Then 31 years old, she had lived a rocky existence. Pfeiffer and Burke claimed that police Sgt. Photo by: Harry Fisher/Allentown Morning Call/TNS via Getty Images, Harry Fisher/Allentown Morning Call/TNS via Getty Images. Morrison did speak with Rorrer about the case, but cameras were barred from the prison. Plus: Young boys body found in Nevada freezer; man accused of murdering, and Florida serial killer convicted of three murders. Patricia's Most Recent Federal Appeals. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. After her arraignment, she had to walk past a crowd of dozens of locals screeching hang her! and baby killer! Patricia clung to a Polaroid picture showing her and her own little girl. Patricia Lynne Rorrer made for a good suspect. endobj Prosecutors offered Patricia a plea deal that would take the death penalty off the table, but she declined. She beat Katrinak, shot her and left her and her baby for dead in the woods in Heidelberg Township. Gabby Petitos fianc and person of interest in her fatal strangulation disappeared in mid-September after saying he was going for a hike. Everything from compromised crime scenes and contaminated evidence, to suspects who were never cleared, witness statements that were withheld from the defense, and crucial evidence that was simply dismissed and ignored has cast doubt on Rorrers guilt and led to a number of unanswered questions. The Innocence Project has declined to take her case. That hang-up, they said, was the last straw. Kenneth Clair, a homeless black man, is convicted and sentenced to death for the brutal murder of a babysitter in 1984. Patricia L. Rorrer was taken into custody from the Linwood home she shared with her boyfriend and 1-year-old daughter on June 24, 1997. Prosecutor pounds away. No charmed life. But a child eyewitness told police that he had seen a white man kill her. It showed her usually all-brown hair haphazardly highlighted blond. 1 0 obj Then 31 years old, she had lived a rocky existence. When she stood trial that same year, she maintained her innocence and alleged that she and Andrew Katrinak had continued to stay in touch as good friends, so she wouldnt do anything to hurt him. A copy of an undated handout photo of Joann Marie Katrinak and 15-week-old Alex Martin Katrinak, both of Catasauqua, Pa. who were found dead in Dec. of 1994. How can someone fight it and correct the record? According to a Morning Call account from March 5, 1998: McIntyre leaned forward conspiratorially like someone trying to persuade another to tell a secret, lowered his voice and said: Heres what I want to know: After you killed Joann Katrinak, did you kill that baby or just leave it to die?. A newspaper account described Patricia as a soft-spoken, demure woman who had a sweet Southern accent and wore feminine clothes in court. Now retired, he declined ForensicFilesNow.coms invitation to spar directly with Patricia via a podcast. Patricias professional life included short-lived gigs as a Century 21 real estate agent and an Oldsmobile salesperson. (In an exclusive clip, Morrison questions the tactics of prosecutor Michael McIntyre.). Irelands husband buried it in the yard because he didnt feel comfortable with a firearm inside, she said. Mal told Keith Morrison that Patricias dance teacher originally confirmed her alibi that she was in class on the day of the murder, then changed his mind. Shes just extremely happy with Andy, her brother, Michael OConnor, told the media. She is as effective at telling a story today as she was back then. Mike McIntyre was the first assistant district attorney in Lehigh County during the case and says he's surprised Rorrer is making another attempt to get out of prison. (A good point. And in a piece of salacious testimony, Patricia Rorrers half sister, Sandra Ireland, said that in May 1995, about six months after the murder, their mother, Patricia Chambers, stopped by the house and asked her to hold onto or hide a gun, or both. On December 12, 1994, Joann answered a phone call from a woman shed never met, Patricia Rorrer, her husbands onetime girlfriend. The Irish-Italian girl had full, fluffy dark hair, olive skin, and a pretty face. Highly charged case. Tragedy also touched Patricias life. 8GNGn`s/daUnjx OgG^{|;\(l_K -^?g&"!#{ !]uH}tgx=qCB:xN_ bxxx>)MwG@&qG}S,JCWg4f4QU4tFcT*jNjMa/nR>3[i,?R|*Drx|`|Ov 1tsFIed?r?1 (RDFoy$yYIGpc u)O2g(A((g>Igl9H=hE;n&oA?dpXKQ0[_E/OYc[,}gQn-I/02Eis|(:.z\c;.3_|;*S}h ]~+1M Theres also the matter of a woman who suddenly remembered she saw Joann with another man at a Food Mart store five days after the disappearance. Puny policy. Theyd been missing for four months, but their discovery only gave rise to more questions than answers, especially as the young mother had been shot once in the face before being struck on the head 19 times. After Joann Katrinak, the wife of Patricia's former flame, turned up dead along . At the trial, prosecutor Michael McIntyre alleged that Patricia remained obsessed with Andrew Katrinak long after their breakup despite testimony that shed had many boyfriends and live-in lovers to occupy her bandwidth. What is the Spanish language plot outline for The Ex Files (2022)? The Worldwide Womens Criminal Justice Networks website also points to a bombshell: In 2015, the Justice Department acknowledged that most of the team members from an FBI microscopic hair comparison unit gave prosecutors flawed data from 1980 to 2000 that could have unjustly contributed to a number convictions including Patricia Rorrers. Its definitely getting rougher every day, Andrew told the Morning Call. Get local Breaking News alerts sent directly to your inbox. Both bodies were found four months later along a rural trail close to where Rorrer used to ride horses. RR, Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube, Murder in Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Reports, 7 Unnerving Facts About the Lindberghs and the Kidnapping, The Lindbergh Kidnapping: Forensic Files Lost Episode, Dawn Fehring: A Missionary Dies Too Young, Daniel and Cynthia McDonnell: Good Cop, Bad Wife. Contained in Superior Courts 22-page opinion are a minimum of 24 factual errors; many of which are extremely serious. If Patricia drove it back from the murder scene after she shot Joann and then beat her to death, luminal would have lit up the interior. I was like OK, maybe she was tired, you know with a new baby. Barry Grube, one of the few, if not only, police officers sympathetic to Patricias cause, noted that Andrew didnt seem particularly frantic while authorities searched desperately for his wife and son. The phone wire was located at the opposite end of the basement, which was dark. She is a tough one, Sheriff Gerald Hege would later tell the Morning Call in a June 29, 1997 interview. So now, lets find out everything there is to know about her, shall we? They also found a photo of Patricia taken 11 days before the homicide. This Sunday, Investigation Discovery and velvety-voiced Dateline NBC correspondent Keith Morrison will revisit the double-homicide. They noted houses near the murder scene would have heard a gunshot in December, when no farm equipment is making noise, and question why the murderer didnt just kill Joann inside her house instead of risking being seen in public in her car. At 17, Patricia dropped out of high school and married landscaper Gary Gabard. ), The Wrong Man investigators Ira Todd and Joe Kennedy have some theories of their own. The authorities charged her with two counts of murder. 'Wrong Man" is a six-episode series from acclaimed award-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost Trilogy) that examines cases of inmates who have been incarcerated for decades and claim they're innocent.more. Joann Katrinaks Killer Still Has Innocence Advocates(A Woman Scorned, Forensic Files). Other loyal friends and associates attested to Patricias kindness toward horses and devotion to her daughter, whom she took along as she worked in stables. They allege that the North Carolina resident stealthily drove 500 miles to Pennsylvania and killed out of a sense of deadly indignation. Patricias phone bill showed no record of a call to Catasauqua that day, but police noticed she didnt make any calls at all from her house in North Carolina that day either suggesting she could have been out of state and used a pay phone to dial up the Katrinaks. Superior Court notes that Rorrers attorney, Craig Neely, is being paid at. After eliminating Andrew as a suspect in the killings, detectives set their sights on Rorrer, charging her with two counts of murder and kidnapping. In addition to the Facebook page, there are Reddit threads on her case. The police considered the possibility that Joann ran away, a theory disputed by her family. i-InD6g~v~}saG\R -(QdB]+[1xlm>Hv%} i{Fb=i~{/7=hn/JzF3XuccBb Conflicting versions. Why First Republic failed. http://starz.tv/FB Investigators suspect this action triggered Rorrers jealous rage, driving her to kill. For ID, Sara Kozak is executive producer and senior vice president of production, Jane Latman is executive vice president of development, Kevin Bennett is general manager, and Henry Schleiff is Group President of Investigation Discovery, Destination America, and American Heroes Channel. Neely said this new information could reopen the case and set Rorrer free. Meanwhile, interest in Patricias plight continues on social media. Those who knew Joann pointed out that she didnt like to drive in reverse and would have never parked that way. She just stayed in touch with everybody, Kathy Barber said in her interview on NBCs Murder in Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Reports in 2017. Some lawyers call microscopic hair analysis junk science that today wouldnt qualify as evidence in a trial like Rorrers. The series was produced by Joe Berlinger, who made the Paradise Lost documentaries, which garnered actor Johnny Depps attention and ultimately helped free the West Memphis Three. Therefore, today, in her late 50s, Patricia is imprisoned at the maximum-security State Correctional Institution Muncy in Clinton Township, Pennsylvania. This all started because Rorrer filed under the Freedom of Information Act for records from the FBI. Lehigh County Deputies escort accused murderer Patricia Rorrer, as she arrives for the beginning of her trial at the Lehigh County Courthouse in Allentown, on Friday, Feb. 6, 1998. Judges Denial of Commonwealth's Motion (pdf) Download. Investigators theorized that this action angered Patricia into a jealous rage that ended with abduction and murder. Declaration of DNA Expert on Rorrer's Behalf (pdf) Download. After Joann Katrinak, the wife of Patricias former flame, turned up dead along with her infant son, prosecutors suspected Patricia. Investigation Discovery is part of Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the worlds #1 pay-TV programmer reaching nearly 3 billion cumulative subscribers in 220 countries and territories. DNA testing showed that Patricia could not be excluded as the source of the hairs and according to the prosecution that, combined with circumstantial evidence, was enough to convict her. Rorrer has appealed her conviction several times and her supporters believe additional DNA evidence . Walmart woe. All of STARZ blockbuster movies, epic originals, and addictive series. Strands of the accuseds dyed-blond hair at two crime scenes proved it. State police and the Philadelphia division of the FBI appealed to the public for leads. Smith will face charges for allegedly killing her husband, Antione Smith. Detective Barry Grube found it odd that Andrew fixed the severed phone line before police examined it in essence tampering with evidence. 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Motion for Discovery (pdf) Download. Related: Convenient Suspect: A Wrongful Conviction In The Murder In Lehigh Valley? Joann and Alex Katrinak both vanished in 1994. Superior Court states that Patricia Rorrer and Andy Katrinaks romantic relationship ended in May, 1993 only one year before the murders. Rorrer was convicted of murdering Joann Katrinak and her 3 month old son. I was so excited that I called everyone, and Joanne picked up the phone and she said Andy is married, and I said I know, then she said we have a baby, and I said yea I know, then she said dont ever call here again. But it wasnt until the police linked Rorrer to the crime through a DNA match between her and a hair recovered from Joanns car that they finally had enough to arrest her. - On December 15, 1994, Joann Katrinak and her three-month-old son Alex disappeared without a trace from their home in Catasauqua, Pa. Patricia Rorrer, the ex-girlfriend of Katrinak's husband, was convicted of the murders and has maintained . Charged with two counts of capital murder and two counts of kidnapping, Patricia Rorrer was quickly tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Or did they? Patricia Rorrer is serving a life sentence, convicted of driving 500 miles to kill her ex-boyfriend's new wife and his baby. Discovery, Inc. or its subsidiaries and affiliates. Around April 1995, the cold and badly decomposed remains of 26-year-old Joann Katrinak and her 3.5-month-old toddler Alex Katrinak were recovered from the woods in Heidelberg Township, Pennsylvania. Rorrer has long maintained her innocence, insisting shes has been framed. DNA testing revealed the blood came from either Joann or her son. 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All of STARZ blockbuster movies, epic originals, and addictive series. American Catherine Serou sent her mother a text that read, I hope Im not being abducted.. That's according to Craig Neely, who worked on the case for years as the defense attorney. Her friends say she was railroaded by the system and they want Chris and Fatima to join their fight to free her.Patricia Rorrer is serving a life sentence, convicted of driving 500 miles to kill her ex-boyfriend's new wife and his baby. Until next time, cheers. They released a poster of Joann and Alex, noting that the baby had almond-shaped blue eyes, weighed 18 pounds, and was circumcised. Trash-talking ex. . 2023 Warner Bros. (We didnt get into the specifics.). Shes extremely, extremely happy with the baby. The team explores whether Vonda may have been wrongfully convicted, based on a shoddy investigation and circumstantial evidence. Judge's Order Granting Discovery (pdf) Download. A nail that does. Success! Plus, two men, her babys father and his friend, testified they saw Patricia at the line-dancing club the night of the homicide. He said, "Frankly, I was appalled at what I saw. Peacock Productions reaches more than 300 million people worldwide every year across broadcast, cable, syndication, and emerging platforms with its award-winning specials and series. The case rocked Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley and resulted in the conviction of Patricia Rorrer, now 53, the ex-girlfriend of Katrinak's husband. Mostly cloudy, brisk, and unseasonably cool with a few scattered showers. On a secret recording, Patricia asked Jarrett to vouch for her attendance or she might go to the electric char. Phone records confirmed Patricia placed the earlier call from North Carolina, not Pennsylvania. And because some of Patricias advocates have suggested Andrew Katrinak had a motive for murder, I checked into whether he had a life insurance payout to gain upon Joanns demise. Why did they refuse to conduct DNA testing on a cigarette butt found with the bodies? Patricias accusers theorized that she resented Joanns domestic bliss with the tall, athletic Andrew Katrinak. And she would just call out of the blue., According to the Free Patricia Rorrer page on Facebook:I called him to let him know that I was going to the USA finals for a horse show. When police traveled to North Carolina to interview Patricia about the murders of Joann and Alex, she said that on the day of the homicides, she had visited a feed store, a tanning salon, and a country music club. Advocates for her innocence complain of hype surrounding the case. They returned with a guilty verdict and a sentence of two life terms. They even lived together for about two years before parting ways for good. She currently has an appeal pending in Pennsylvania Superior Court. They had a son, Alex Martin, in August of 1994. Why was the jury never told that Patricia Rorrer was under surveillance in North Carolina at the time of the crime? Great catch. Superior Court states that all 6 seatback hairs AND the cigarette butt were nuclear DNA tested and matched to Rorrer. If I knew I was going to get caught, I never would have brought you into this world, the arresting officers testified they heard her say to Nicole. If you have any information on this missing mystery, please contact the Cape Girardeau Police Department directly: 573-335-6621. More dry than wet overall, but still cool and unsettled. He said the court ruled it was not allowed to be tested because of a concept in the law called the law of the case, which he says basically means the evidence didn't have an impact on the case. But did the police arrest the right person? As for the words exchanged on the call between the two big-haired women, Joann told Andrew that Patricia had used profanity; Patricia said it was the other way around. They moved into her house in Salisbury County, staying together for about two years. The Ex Files: Directed by Rob Rosen. Three days later, Joann had plans to pick up her mother-in-law, Veronica Katrinak, to go Christmas shopping. Police slowly built a case against Patricia. For more on the Katrinak murder case, you can watch Autopsy Six: A Fatal Attraction for free on YouTube.
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