I agree with Rebecca, and am surprised this was reported: if it was legal, what does it matter? It certainly tugged at our heartstrings, you know, it brought a tear to my eye. The missing items included Joann's purse, car, both her and Alex's winter jackets, and the diaper bag. Lisa Manderach's Murder - Forensic Files Now 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. Pfeiffer and Burke claimed that police Sgt. The prosecution painted apicture of a woman so angry after herformer boyfriends wife hung up thephone on her that she drove to Pennsylvania,forced Joann Katrinak and herbaby at gunpoint into the car, then tookthem outside of town and killed them.Witnesses said Rorrer bought a.22-caliber handgun at a yard sale just beforethe murder. The township invested an additional $50,000 for new equipment for the playground in 2012. You couldnt fire a second shot. Charles Robert, the 3-month-old son she had with Gary Gabard, died of sudden infant death syndrome; Patricia found him blue in his crib. Conflicting versions. The episode indicated that Andrew Katrinak informed police that Patricia Rorrer had made the phone call to his home three days before Joann's disappearance. Convicted of murdering her ex-boyfriends wife and child because of a telephone impropriety. Black Label Episodes AND Ad-Free episodes are now available on our Black Label Podcasting channel on Apple Podcasts . 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 . The baby had been smothered or left to freeze to death. Anyhow, all together this rather is not a cut and dry trial and a convinction. Family Secrets | FULL EPISODE | The FBI Files | The December 1994 Patricia knew her gun tended to jam, but she used it anyway. Required fields are marked *. As to Andrew being the killer, I thought the police acknowledged his cast-iron alibi (but correct me if Im wrong). Angry that Joann hung up on her, she stalked her for three days, then broke into her basement and cut the phone line, put a gun to Joanns head as she was placing Alex in the car, and forced her to drive to the rural area. !) and detractors (This is another bs attempt to free a psycho). ``There was no rush to judgment. At first, a broad-daylight abduction of a mother and her infant seemed unlikely. She had been beaten and shot in the face. Suspicion initially fell on Joanns husband, Andy, when their bodies were found in woods in Apr 95. Murder in Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Reports is also available on YouTube, but it costs $1.99 to view (Keith comes off as an advocate for Patricias innocence on the episode). 8: The Murders of Joann and Alex Katrinak, Part 01 from Obscura: A True Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to . Even though he committed the double murder at age 21,a persons biological process is typically incomplete until the person reaches his or her mid-twenties.. Andrew Katrinak reported missing his wife, Joanne and 3.5-month-old son, Alex, in December 1994. He disposed of the little girls body in Valley Forge National Park, where hikers soon discovered it. After Joann Katrinak, the wife of Patricia's former flame, turned up dead along with her infant son, prosecutors suspected Patricia. "Like I said, we were still friends," Rorrer said.She testified that she had met a new man and was happy that Katrinak had found someone special. The murders initially made James,calledJimmy, a suspect because, as we know from countless otherForensic Files, the spouse did it. Thats my life.. 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. Were asked to accept that she was framed viz hair DNA not just that error was made and that the cigarette butt at the bodies location with her DNA on its filter is either of no significance, is another error, or was planted to frame her (notwithstanding that this is a location she knew well per horse-rides). Posted: June 22, 2022 Im real immature. Enter memorial Id . 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). Well, that really caught our attention of course.". Their bodies were found in April 1995.Pfeiffer earlier told jurors that the prosecution's theory on a motive makes no sense.Rorrer, who is charged with kidnapping and homicide, will continue testifying today and will be cross-examined by McIntyre, who has grilled some defense witnesses, firing question after question.Before Rorrer began testifying, she stood in front of the judge's bench as Pfeiffer put on the record that Rorrer was advised of her constitutional right not to testify and was told that if she chose to exercise it, it couldn't be used against her. "I guess she thought she wasn't going to get caught. ~~~~~~~~~Rorrer's Reputation: `Don't Mess With Me', June 25, 1997 by DAVID WASHBURN, The Morning Call. December 15th, 1994. Her family moved to North Carolina in 1978 but returned to the area in 1984. 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. Another former boyfriend said she talked about Andrew frequently and liked to gaze at old photos of him. Fairly, I can keep things like that to myself and act normal. I would say that its only since the advent of forensic porn that wholly circumstantial cases are disparaged. Unbloody vehicle. North America. Find a typo or issue with the details of this case? There are more questions than answers in this case. He claims she was incensed in December 1994 when she called the Katrinak home at 740 Front St. and Joann Katrinak told her not to call anymore.In his opening statement, McIntyre told jurors he would prove several adages: "Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction" and "you can't always tell a book by its cover. Memorials. And there were dirty blond hairs, approximately 8 inches long, found at the scene. Her attorney persuaded her to have the hair re-tested. Patricia Rorrer: An Update - Forensic Files Now Shes just extremely happy with Andy, her brother, Michael OConnor, told the media. Three of them were mountedon slides and sealed in adhesive. She is a tough one, Sheriff Gerald Hege would later tell the Morning Call in a June 29, 1997 interview. An exterior door to their basement had been wrenched open, the lock hasp's screws literally ripped from the wall. I find THAT to be incredible. It was after that round of testing that Rorrer insisted the cigarette butt be tested for DNA, as she was convinced it would exonerate her. By all accounts, Rorrer has never been a smoker. Plus, two men, her babys father and his friend, testified they saw Patricia at the line-dancing club the night of the homicide. How about the phone line being cut? ", "I can remember till this day, seeing that infant being lifted off the abdomen of his mother. Watch Forensic Files: Season 5, Episode 3A Woman Scorned. The police report misspells his name (Troutman) and doesnt include his address, suggesting authorities didnt want anyone to track him down, according to Patricias side. One she was at a private club. On Oct. 5, 2007, the District Attorney of Lehigh County agreed to allow the testing of the hair found in the Toyota at Orchid Cellmark Laboratories in Dallas. . Highly charged case. Friends and family began looking for Joann and Alex. This was part of Rorrer's defense strategy it seemed like an unrealistic motive to commit murder. I have the same profile but had no children. 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. But lets say for arguments sake that she was a closet smoker and no one knew. Those who knew Joann pointed out that she didnt like to drive in reverse and would have never parked that way. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Defendant Takes Stand In Katrinak Case Patricia Rorrer Sums Up Her Life At Double-murder Trial. But her reputation wasnt exactly sleek and shiny. Daughter of George & Margaret Panik and wife of Andrew Katrinak. Her husband, Andrew, was surprised to not find his wife and child at home . The fixation with a goth ideal is a nice touch. Or did they? Andrew Katrinak Obituary - Death Notice and Service Information Rorrer, who had a five-year relationship with Katrinak that ended in 1989, testified that she and Katrinak remained good friends after the breakup, writing letters occasionally and calling each other. I find these claims incredible. She asked to speak with Andrew, who was home during the call; Joann refused. She said she did not give the hang up by Joann Katrinak a second thought. I was like OK, maybe she was tired, you know with a new baby. Counsel for the 52-year-old woman convicted in 1998 argues evidence handling calls for new attention, reports say. She also did volunteer work for Meals on Wheels. For more on the Katrinak murder case, you can watch Autopsy Six: A Fatal Attraction for free on YouTube. Andrew told investigators that the unpleasant phone call between Joann and Patricia happened just three days before his wifes disappearance. But some insects found on the bodies revealed a vital clue, as did a long blonde hair found on the victims which has something uniquely in common with the brunette hair of the husbands former love interest, Patricia Rorrer. 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. The couple moved into Andrews sturdy brick house at 740 Front Street in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. Patricia demonstrated a habit of making almost daily, long-distance phone calls from her home in North Carolina. They theorize that Andrew Katrinak framed Patricia and that the hostile phone call between Patricia and Joann actually took place not on Dec. 12 as Andrew said but rather on Dec. 7. She returned to New Jersey in 1984, met Andrew Katrinak, and later lived with him.At some point she also lived in Pennsylvania's Lehigh County, Steinberg said.``She was very familiar with the remote location where the bodies were discovered,'' he said. Coble later told Rorrer that her mother was on the way and that she could get dressed. "I would never of dreamed it in a million years," said Joy Deal, manager of the dealership.After leaving the car dealership, Rorrer worked sparingly as a photographer and lived with her mother and 1-1/2-year-old son in a remote home outside of Linwood. Perusing the claims made by her supporters, I find many are Aunt Sallies: points that claimants suggest are probative of innocence but are no such thing. It showed her usually all-brown hair haphazardly highlighted blond. New state, new man. Why would somebody tell you, theyre going to fry me, if they didnt do it? Jarrett told Wrong Man. Jaime: A single hair in a murder victims hand is likely to be from someone shes been in contact with, but not necessarily. Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. Four months later, investigators found the bodies of Joann Katrinak and her baby 15 miles away from the Katrinak home at the edge of a field. (We didnt get into the specifics.). An autopsy revealed Joann Katrinak was shot in the face with a small-caliber handgun and suffered 19 blows to the head. 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. My two cents, just as the heavily stretched circumstantial evidence convicted Rorrer, new uncovered circumstantial and direct evidence should give Rorrer benefit of a doubt and allowed for a new hearing and trial. Court papers allege he asked the customer for sex in return for the drug. MAC: Thanks. Im certainly aware police lie but this would require a conspiracy. I was able to email with Patricia via the PrisonConnect platform around Christmastime. Police couldnt determine whether the baby died of exposure or suffocation. Andrew Katrinak said that Rorrercalled three days before his wife disappeared, but the phone records do not confirm this call.With little objection, prosecutors used the second FBI analysts description of the hair evidence to put Rorrer at the crime scene. AWoman And Her Baby Walkinto a Trap A closer examination of the hairs showed traces of dried blood. Join Facebook to connect with Andrew Katrinak and others you may know. Watch enough true crime shows and you're bound to hear one of these gems. I cant lose them, he told the media. Incriminating words. On Alexs diaper bag, police found strands of the same type of hair from the car. Advertisement. The Irish-Italian girl had full, fluffy dark hair, olive skin, and a pretty face. It seems Patricia's own daughter and baby Alex Katrinak were very close in age. She and Andrew Katrinak shared a house in Salisbury Township in the mid-1980s, when he was a self-employed contractor and she was a real-estate agent. PICTURES: Patricia Rorrer and the murders of Joann and Alex Katrinak The state police dropped him as a suspect. As usual, Rebecca at Forensic Files Now has a thoroughly researched article about the Patricia Rorrer case and events since her conviction. And the kidnapping scenario became more plausible when you factor in the privacy of the alleyway behind the Katrinak house. But none of those charges ever stuck. I wish someone would look into the possibility that Caleb Fairley may have murdered Joann Katrinak and her infant son Alex in Catasauqua, PA, in December of 1994. Wouldn't he have tried to call his mother recall it was with her Joann had planned to go Christmas shopping. Nothing probative of innocence should be read into anything she offers viz DNA. Until WCJN has thought that the hair was planted but the FBI has just released a report detailing unscientific and fraudulent analysis of hair samples in criminal cases. The episode claimed the jury required just two hours to deliberate, but other sources indicate it took six. When it was only able to fire once, Rorrer had to resort to bludgeoning her victim. JUROR, DISCUSSING AFTER THE RORRER TRIAL THE FACTORS THAT LED TO HIS DECISION. I hope her spouse and family find peace. After Joann Katrinak, the wife of Patricias former flame, turned up dead along with her infant son, prosecutors suspected Patricia. When Andrew was told of the location of his young family's remains, he offered investigators a lead. When Rorrer was initially granted the right to do post conviction testing, the first thing she wanted tested was the butt.
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