At 17, Patricia dropped out of high school and married landscaper Gary Gabard. Documentary, Drama 2020-2020. Mike McIntyre, the first assistant district attorney in Lehigh County during the case, said the petition is "crazy. Nickelodeons Kids Choice Awards: What Is Slime, and Why Do We Love It? Over 200 people were convicted using this science ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/fbi-overstated-forensic-hair-matches-in-nearly-all-criminal-trials-for-decades/2015/04/18/39c8d8c6-e515-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html). There is another question, though: Can anyone say . It's possible he was just a big baby/growing faster than average, but if there's some indication that they were alive for some time after their abduction, then it would seem to be an entirely different kind of crime than was first thought. Or identify other people in their lives who might have benefited from either the Katrinak's deaths or disappearance? Andrew's second look in and around their home revealed some disturbing clues. The witness said he would sign in as Richard Nixon or not sign in at all quite often. She is a true crime writer who believed I was 100% guilty when she decided to write about my case. Is to get Patricia a fair trial that will prove her innocence, and give justice to Joann and Alex who died a horrific death. In his dissenting opinion, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledged the case might not have even been heard by the Supreme Court had it not been for the media that reinvestigated it. It was never tested. One she was at a tanning salon. Rorrer was the ex-girlfriend of Joann's husband Andy but the ex-couple hadn't spoken for close to a year until they had a call one day in December, 1994. Patricia has been wrongfully convicted of murdering Joann and Alex Katrinak in 1994. Submissions should outline a mystery and provide a link to a more detailed review of the case such as a Wiki article or news report. Innocent nonprofit Wrongful Conviction. What would a crime show be without them? ", "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. 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lo9AIFM_vc&fbclid=IwAR28Mf5rKuUyaq1N-vBqirZM_382D69Zy42uONlU3Qf0eNEnJ1w_kYRYKIM. Copyright 2021 Patricia Rorrer - All Rights Reserved. At 6 a.m. on June 24, 1997, police arrested Patricia at her modest house in Linwood, North Carolina, and took her back to Pennsylvania. After the first season, the Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction of Curtis Flowers, who had been tried six times by nearly all-white juries; Christopher Tapp was exonerated from rape and murder charges after serving 20 years of a 30-year sentence; Evaristo Salas will go to into a new trial represented by a pro bono lawyer. Four months after Joanns disappearance, farmer Paul Kovalchik reported seeing what at first looked like a pile of clothes on his land in Heidelberg Township woods, about 15 miles from the Katrinaks house. Further, an early FBI report said the hairs found in the car had no roots which contain the DNA suggesting an evidence switcheroo. While the police are still investigating the murder of your wife and child? Convicted killer Patricia Rorrer is asking for new DNA tests in the 13-year-old murder case of her former boyfriend's wife and child. Thats all for this post. And if nothing more, it certainly galvanized the law enforcement community and got us moving in the right direction. The show is broadcast on truTV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with truTV Original Productions.It has broadcast 406 episodes since its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives. And why was my defense not provided with the "No Roots Attached" report which is exculpatory evidence, at trial.? She had a suitcase packed, Devine said. Clair is black, and no forensic evidence ties him to the crime scene.. After relocating to Pennsylvania, Patricia met the 6-foot-2-inch Andrew in a restaurant. Advocates for her innocence complain of hype surrounding the case. And because of the gun jamming, the assailant had to resort to blunt object and beat her about the head. ACLU says it could take legal action over Saucon Valley School District rescinding approval for After School Satan Club, 'He was a very humble guy': Reading High soccer coach remembers player killed in Route 33 crash, Big rig crashes from I-81 bridge onto street below in Schuylkill, Eat, Sip, Shop: Refresh your ride at new Lehigh County store, selling high-quality car detailing products, Fire broke out in a Lower Macungie apartment building, Champions of Magic's Alex McAleer gives an exciting look at the upcoming live show, Pet of the Month: Nina from Ruff Life Rescue, Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor needs volunteers, Allentown Public Library celebrates Dr. Seuss's birthday with children's activities, Kindness Project teams up with Flavor Nation to give away free tacos, History's Headlines: The Lehigh Valley's music man, Berks County Parks invites people to their Winter Wellness Walk, Royals host "kids takeover" game where kids get a taste of the sports business, Wilson School students raise $83k to fight childhood cancer, Berks County Intermediate Unit receives $3.18 million in grants for Head Start programs, 'First in the nation' bill to provide free screenings for breast cancer to receive full Pa. Senate vote, Reading Area Water Authority looking for leak on North Heidelberg Township line, Former Penn State Berks soccer player among dead in violent Monroe County crash, In Britain, warm hubs emerge to beat soaring energy costs, Biden expected to tighten rules on US investment in China, Paid express lanes grow more popular in once-reluctant South, Ukraine ally Kallas fights for reelection in Estonia vote, In Chicago, adapting electric buses to winters challenges, Pot vote has Oklahoma hungry to rake in green from Texas, Global race to boost electric vehicle range in cold weather, 6 Nigerian states drop suit to void presidential vote result, The implications of Walgreens' decision on abortion pills, What the Tech? I wasn't hung up on Andy, and I didn't want him back. The first, Vonda Smith, was convicted of murdering her grandchilds mother, 21-year-old Jessie Morrison. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. The six-episode documentary series examines the cases of three different inmates who are serving life sentences on murder convictions but who claim innocence. The couple moved into Andrews sturdy brick house at 740 Front Street in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. Tapps lawyer saidWrong Mans in-depth investigation into the Tapp conviction helped free an innocent man.. Incriminating words. Because when she did, she quickly began to realize that there was a lot more to the story than the public ever knew. Two of the seasons three cases will feature female inmates. Pfeiffer and Burke claimed that police Sgt. Another witness, Walter Traupman, who never testified, had told state troopers that on the day of Joanns disappearance, he saw a couple who looked like Joann and Andrew arguing about the paternity of a baby. I watched the show the other night and watched some YouTube videos afterwards and there was interview footage of Joanns sister saying that Alex was a big healthy baby. Media galore. It was later believed that his recollection was keen, since he'd been the one to dress her posthumously. In April 1995, the family buried Joann and Alex in a single bronze casket after a funeral mass at a Bethlehem church. Regard a similar case where too much detail signaled investigators to look closer at their suspect in Bagging a Killer (s06e25). https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/fbi-overstated-forensic-hair-matches-in-nearly-all-criminal-trials-for-decades/2015/04/18/39c8d8c6-e515-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html, https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/convenient-suspect-a-wrongful-conviction-in-the-murder-in-lehigh-valley. Although the prosecution used it as evidence that she was trying to create a false alibi, it actually sounded more like Patricia was simply trying to nail down the facts he had already asserted to her. I am innocent of these crimes, and I should not have lost the best years of my life in a prison cell. The victim in this crime had a hair clutched in her right hand, and three pieces of fingernail found on her body, none of which has ever been tested. The woman (who owned the salon) stated that they were closed that day and that she and her husband were out of town celebrating his birthday. Unseasonably warm weather in late December suggested that the victims were there since they were killed. The prosecution alleged that Patricia called the Katrinaks house from a pay phone in Pennsylvania. Despite the troubling evidence from Joann's car, detectives considered whether or not Joann had taken baby Alex and simply left. Watch Forensic Files: Season 5, Episode 3A Woman Scorned. The case rocked Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley and resulted in the conviction of Patricia Rorrer, now 53, the ex-girlfriend of Katrinak's husband. Mitochondrial DNA is the small circular chromosome found inside mitochondria. To date, the PA courts refuse to let me test this evidence which will prove my innocence. Prosecutors said Rorrer beat Katrinak, shot her and left her and her baby for dead in the woods in Heidelberg Township. Thank God she decided to investigate these crimes on her own. Phone calls played a significant role in the case overall. ", "I can remember till this day, seeing that infant being lifted off the abdomen of his mother. TV-MA | Mar 1, 2020 | 53m. Patricia Rorrer was a cold woman. Rejection and betrayal are good enough reasons for these women to commit heinous crimes. In 2015, an outside source, through a freedom of information act request, received an FBI . Since 2010, Tammy has been researching the 1994 Katrinak murders in Catasauqua. A newspaper account described Patricia as a soft-spoken, demure woman who had a sweet Southern accent and wore feminine clothes in court. An infant was lying face down on her stomach. Well, that really caught our attention of course.". Rorrer has appealed her conviction several times and her supporters believe additional DNA evidence testing may be the key to proving her innocence. 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. He would be alive today if it were not for Patricia Rorrer. The mild-mannered Sarah died in 2019 at the age of 83. In the Katrinak case, they did new (at the time) DNA testing to match the hairs found in the car to Patricia. The DNA presented at trial, the botching of hair evidence and the revelations in 2015 are thoroughly discussed. As for the murder weapon, police didnt find a .22 caliber pistol on Patricias property, but an ex-boyfriend claimed that she owned one and it would always jam after one shot. Meanwhile, interest in Patricias plight continues on social media. How about the phone line being cut? Both sides agree Joann hung up on Patricia. Patricia Rorrer (PA) SCI Muncy OE2170 Life Without Parole DOB: January 24,1964. This is crazy. After one bullet didnt kill Joann, the gun locked up, so Patricia had to beat her to death, according to the prosecution. They would have been held alive. '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. The Innocence Project has declined to take her case. She intends to file a motion for a new trial. The investigation that led to her identification and then turned up enough evidence to arrest and convict Patricia Rorrer was interesting. By the time they asked supposed witnesses, most had forgotten about that random dance class (there were many). Some recurring themes in Forensic Files facinate me. Joann Katrinak and her infant son were brutally murdered. They moved into her house in Salisbury County, staying together for about two years. July 16, 1932 - September 10, 2020, Dr. Edward E. "Gene" Rorrer, Sr. passed away on September 10, 2020 in Abingdon, Virg. And Patricia wasnt all edges. Her newest book, Convenient Suspect, is scheduled for release in the fall of 2017 and recounts the murders of Joann and Alex Katrinak and the potential wrongful conviction of Patricia Rorrer. Rorrer and Andrew broke off their . Of course she did--because all that was out there on me was fake news. They were hardly decomposed after a mild winter. Phone records confirmed Patricia placed the earlier call from North Carolina, not Pennsylvania. RR, Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube, Murder in Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Reports, The Lindbergh Kidnapping: Forensic Files Lost Episode, Dawn Fehring: A Missionary Dies Too Young, Joanne Chambers and Paula Nawrocki: Strange Lesson. Men who murder are conventional, women are sensational, posits the Worldwide Womens Criminal Justice Network. The second is Patricia Rorrer, who has been in prison since 1998 after being convicted of the horrific murder of a young mother, Joann Katrinak, and her 15-week old son in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. It seems likely these bodies were dumped here months after initially thought, not killed the day they were kidnapped. When their bodies were found four months later, police sought the clues to find their killer. Value of cutting back on your screen time, What the Tech? Murder victim. How to do some spring cleaning on your smartphone, What the Tech? When I gave samples of my hair, the doctor took a total of 39 hairs, but only 35 can be accounted for. Patricia Rorrer is imprisoned for murdering her ex-boyfriend's wife and baby out of spite. The Irish-Italian girl had full, fluffy dark hair, olive skin, and a pretty face. The two-hour special, called Murder in the Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Investigates, will premiere at 8 p.m. and air again at 11 p.m. Sunday night. The past two owners of the gun's yards were dug up and many casings of the .22 were discovered. Four hours is a long time between Andrew getting home from work and calling the police. I know that if I get a fair trial, I will win and be freed. It certainly tugged at our heartstrings, you know, it brought a tear to my eye. Please read her story. His team includes renowned civil rights attorney Ron Kuby, former prosecutor Sue-Ann Robinson, retired NCIS investigator Joe Kennedy, and Ira Todd of Detroits elite Homicide Task Force. To really understand this case, you need to sit down and read this book called Convenient Suspect written by Tammy Mal. Of course, Patricia denied this. No show. Jury Rejects Alibi, Finds Rorrer Guilty In Double Kidnapping-murder Case Woman found guilty in Lehigh Slayings Convicted murderer seeks new DNA tests in '94 murder case. This had been taken just 11 days before Joann's disappearance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDGl9dMgHwY&fbclid=IwAR1nlAYf6AcIu_i8kN0fD_MCD3CnxJ6DG_oUgVFdqN3b2EJ4fcLO2ci3wWc. Shes attracted the help of writer Tammy Mal (full name Tammy Malinowski OReilly), author of Convenient Suspect, a book about the case. Stable situation. Friends and family began looking for Joann and Alex. ), The Wrong Man investigators Ira Todd and Joe Kennedy have some theories of their own. . Success! I was convicted on microscopic hair comparison and DNA testing that rendered a "match" of 1 in 37,000.
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