If there were awards for distorted reporting, the Morning Call out of Lehigh, PA would win high honors. You will also be advised that the transcripts consist of 6500 pages and the cost of copying it runs between $3.00 to $5.00 per pagemeaning you will have to fork over between $19,000 and $32,000 just to see the transcripts. 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. At 10:40 p.m. he calls 911 to report his family missing. 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. And dance instructor William Jarrett couldnt remember whether she attended his dance class at the club the night of Joanns disappearance. Forensic tests suggested the hair found in the car and at the murder scene came from Patricia. Patricia Rorrer | Worldwide Womens Criminal Justice Network - WCJN New evidence doesnt, and shouldnt, entail retrial: only if theres a reasonable possibility it could make a difference. Family Secrets | FULL EPISODE | The FBI Files | The December 1994 Both sides agree Joann hung up on Patricia. Supposedly it was the relationship to this trail and Patricia's managing of the Silver Shadow Farms horse stable just a mile away that first brought Rorrer to detectives' attention. The autopsy indicated that Joann fought hard for her life. I used to have a crush on Lucy Lawless, from Xena the Warrior Princess. She made an effort to look perfectly groomed even when she took out the trash, according to her mother, who appeared on Forensic Files. Possession/viewing of porn and sexual devices would condemn millions on the basis this is meant to! Until next time, cheers. Sponsored by Ancestry. His wife's vehicle was discovered in a parking lot 100 yards away from their house.The bodies of the mother and son were found in April 1995 in a rural, wooded area 15 miles from home. Fantasy. I really never thought of it again.. Fairley has not found prison life agreeable. They married in 1992. Andrew languished for weeks and then months as investigators failed to suppl any explanation for his wife's and son's mysterious disappearance. She just stayed in touch with everybody, Kathy Barber said in her interview on NBCs Murder in Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Reports in 2017. In December 1994, Andrew Katrinak arrives home to an empty house. Lieutenant Christopher Coble and Sergeant Suzanne Pearson would later testify that Patricia cried and apologized to 18-month-old Nicole, telling the baby, Im sorry for doing this to you and lamenting to the officers that she would never see little Nicole again. Later, they both worked 12-hour graveyard shifts at a textile factory. 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. When it was only able to fire once, Rorrer had to resort to bludgeoning her victim. I was able to email with Patricia via the PrisonConnect platform around Christmastime. McIntyre almost shouted, turning to face Rorrer at the defense table..Police learned that Rorrer bought a .22-caliber handgun that she allegedly still had in fall 1994. Im certainly aware police lie but this would require a conspiracy. They allege that she drove the victims to Heidelberg Township woods where they were murdered and abandoned. MAC: Thanks. Viz Andrews newer wife, he likely, to me, believed absolutely that she could not possibly be the perp, as endorsed by the fact that he married her. BETHLEHEM, PA. BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) _ A woman was arrested in North Carolina on Tuesday and charged in the 1994 slaying of her ex-boyfriend's wife and infant son in Pennsylvania.Patricia L. Rorrer was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of kidnapping in the deaths of Joann Katrinak, 26, and her 3 1/2-month-old son, Alex.Pennsylvania police, with the help of authorities in North Carolina, arrested Ms. Rorrer, 33, in Linwood, N.C. She was jailed without bail pending a court hearing Wednesday to face extradition.Mrs. Andrew Katrinak, was the husband of Joann Katrinak and Alex's father. According to Pennsylvania State Police, Rorrer met Andrew Katrinak, the husband and father of the victims, in 1986. Four hours is a long time between Andrew getting home from work and calling the police. (To me, its not a spreeunless it starts in the morning and doesnt end until its too dark to find your car.). Marcus, I respect your opinion and understand why you and others feel the way you do. The prosecution alleged that Patricia called the Katrinaks house from a pay phone in Pennsylvania. Juries are imperfect: what is stretched circumstantial evidence for you (or me) was evidently not so for that jury. The baby had been smothered or left to freeze to death. (A good point. Still, no good leads materialized. ``There was no rush to judgment. She was also accused of breaking into barns, stealing horses, and underfeeding the ones she owned. Her husband, Andrew, was surprised to not find his wife and child at home . Lenient system? Theyd fit well in a made-for-TV movie, wouldnt they? At 10:40 p.m. he calls 911 to report his family missing. Hair we go. He disposed of the little girls body in Valley Forge National Park, where hikers soon discovered it. They were married 62 years. After Joann Katrinak, the wife of Patricias former flame, turned up dead along with her infant son, prosecutors suspected Patricia. Under cross-examination, she said she didnt believe it was her hair in the Toyota.It took a jury of eight men and four women five hours to find her guilty on counts of kidnapping and first-degree murder. When Rorrer was granted the right to do post conviction DNA testing on the nail, it was discovered that the nail had been cleaned of the blood and tissue, rendering it essentially useless for further testing. Meticulous primping. Andrew Katrinak was suspected because he failed two polygraph tests when asked if he had lied to police and hid evidence. Leave a comment below, or contact us! 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. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. as she was convinced it would exonerate her. Without wishing to be pedantic, it cant be said what was in her mind, as though you can see her truth. All one can say is she thought/hoped it might (without there being any realistic basis implied that it would or should). The prosecution alleged that after the murder, Patricia drove Joanns car to McCartys parking lot and backed it into a parking space. One final thought about those hairs: they were described as dirty blond and approximately 8 inches in length. And James Pfeiffer and Jim Burke have remained on her side. 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. The relationship deteriorated, and she eventually moved out of the house, she said. She asked to speak with Andrew, who was home during the call; Joann refused. If it wasnt for the DNA, I would have had a hard time saying guilty, juror George James Gatanis, 42, of Salisbury Township told the Allentown Morning Call newspaper after the verdict. Victims Joann Katrinak Alex Katrinak, 3 months Find-A-Grave: Joann M. Katrinak Woman Held In Catasauqua Killings Man Recalls Day His Wife, Baby Vanished As Katrinak Double-murder Trial Opens . Police converged on the scene and soon realized it was not only the remains of Joann Katrinak, but sadly of Alex too. But, Id like to offer you a challenge. She walked into a kids clothing store where a young man working the cash register just happened to be a fantasy-gamesuperfan seething with thoughts of criminal perversion. 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. Police couldnt determine whether the baby died of exposure or suffocation. McIntyre didn't address that issue in his closing argument..Burke said soil in the woods didn't match soil in and on the car and questioned why there was no blood in the car if the killer drove the car back to Catasauqua where it was found..He also wondered how the victims could have been kidnapped at gunpoint from their home at 740 Front St. in the afternoon without anyone seeing anything..Prosecutors claim that Rorrer planned the killing and even might have been in the area before Dec. 15, 1994. 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. The victims' families wept at the sight of photographs of the bodies and cried when Andrew Katrinak identified objects found at the scene -- his son's diaper bag, his favorite rattle and a bottle with a dinosaur cap. The murders initially made James,calledJimmy, a suspect because, as we know from countless otherForensic Files, the spouse did it. And Patricia wasnt all edges. The 26-year-old was recently married, and this would be four-month-old Alex's first Christmas. Someone with a life sentence has nothing to lose throwing any spanner in the works that might, as they see it, cast doubt even if the spanner has the opposite effect! Joann Katrinak, and her baby, had planned to go Christmas shopping with her mother-in-law but she never arrived to pick her up despite calling to say that she was on her way there. Oddly, the test results on the DNA from the cigarette butt was the deciding factor for me: thats when I KNEW the evidence had been compromised. Patricia seemed like the girl next door but all of a sudden, something snapped, Katrinak later told Wrong Man investigators. It seems Patricia's own daughter and baby Alex Katrinak were very close in age. However, the only record of any call made from Rorrer to the Katrinak household was on Dec 7th. The first round of testing done on the hair (pre-trial) indicated only that Rorrer was a potential source of the hair (odds of 1 in 37,000not exactly proof positive). They allege that the North Carolina resident stealthily drove 500 miles to Pennsylvania and killed out of a sense of deadly indignation. Region. Police got a search warrant for Fairleyshome and discovereda great deal of pornography. He gave an audio interview to the Wrong Man investigators when they made a surprise visit to his house, but he declined to appear on camera. Ex-boyfriend Walter Blalock said that Patricia wanted him to be more like Andrew. In April 1995, the family buried Joann and Alex in a single bronze casket after a funeral mass at a Bethlehem church. I think often of this case and hope Caleb Fairly rots in hell! Those hairs would ultimately send Rorrer to prison for life, even though she claims she never was in the car, and the evidence collection and preservation practices have been attacked.The next day, Andrew Katrinak told police that a gut instinct made him think Rorrer was involved. Please research the Katrinak case a little when you have some time. After his wife disappeared, she made no attempt to be with him or to see him. Well, that really caught our attention of course.". I think one cant read anything into Fairleys pastimes/hobbies: hes just evil. The missing items included Joann's purse, car, both her and Alex's winter jackets, and the diaper bag. My husband passed away of a broken heart, Sarah OConnor said on the Montel Williams Show in 2001. Today, they are married and live in Colorado. Shouldn't Andrew have mentioned this suspicious, out-of-the-blue phone call from his ex-girlfriend sooner? I also forgot to mention the fingernail evidence. I found it necessary to document each time an episode featured one of these. It wasnt until post-conviction DNA testing that those hairs suddenly, inexplicably had roots. And the kidnapping scenario became more plausible when you factor in the privacy of the alleyway behind the Katrinak house. From the looks ofits Facebook page, the place isstill going strong. Christopher Coble and Sgt. Shes just extremely happy with Andy, her brother, Michael OConnor, told the media. Patricia Rorrer Brutal Killing of Joanne Katrinak & Baby - FFF Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Media galore. But there was only one day in question, so it feels like Patricia might have been overselling her story. he asked her. His father confirmed his alibi that they were doing construction work together, putting an addition on the house of friends Tom and Kathy Holschwander, at the time of Joanns disappearance. ", "Due to the fact that she sustained one gunshot wound to the face, and then approximately 19 blows to the head led us to believe that the gun probably had jammed. ", "I think she gave us something like four or five alibis as to where she was at. The couple moved into Andrews sturdy brick house at 740 Front Street in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. In North Carolina, she reportedly enjoyed some success as a horse trader, riding instructor, and rodeo competitor. It was later believed that his recollection was keen, since he'd been the one to dress her posthumously. Christmas was right around the corner, and the biggest shopping center in that tri-county area is the King of Prussia Mall, which is about 54 minutes away from Catasauqua and a stones throw from Fairleys home in Gulph Mills. Patricia had won a prize at an out-of-state horse-riding competition less than two weeks before the murders, and she allowed herself to be photographed. KATRINAK BURIES HIS SLAIN WIFE, SON - The Morning Call Hasty assumption. Andrew Katrinak reported missing his wife, Joanne and 3.5-month-old son, Alex, in December 1994. Even though Joanne was supposed to take her mother-in-law for Christmas shopping, she never showed up. Because it was parallel parked in a tight spot something his daughter was unable to do he concluded his daughter could not have put it there.While there was no trace of violence, police would find six hairs on the passenger headrest of the Corolla. (We didnt get into the specifics.). The guy was banging at the door and yelling open this door. And then, he yelled something like What do you mean its not my kid? Traupman said in a sworn statement. Detective Barry Grube found it odd that Andrew fixed the severed phone line before police examined it in essence tampering with evidence. From the start, the Rorrer murder case was plagued with allegations of inconsistent evidence collection and testing that eventually led a judge to hold hearings on whether she deserves a new trial. Rorrer maintains her innocence to this day and argues that someone either negligently or intentionally put her hair on the slide. Frank D. Anderson-Josephine Kiely bert H. Dabbs William M. Yale Andrew Katrinak. Katrinak and Alex were the wife and child of Andrew Katrinak. And the fact that Patricia called Andrew even after he married someone else didnt mean she was still carrying a torch for him, according to one of her friends. The Innocence Project has declined to take her case. He wanted to move to Colorado and she was against it.. But when did he find the evidence of the break-in?

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