That same year, police arrested Calebs father, James Fairley, who owned a pharmacy in Phoenixville, for allegedly providing a customer with the painkiller Darvon illegally. When Andrew Katrinak arrived home from work shortly after 6 p.m. on Dec. 15, 1994, he noticed two unusual things. 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. Reconsidering Andrew Katrinak's potential role. Andrew Joseph Katrinak (1926-2015) - Find a Grave Memorial 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 . Joann Katrinak by The Generation Why Podcast | Podchaser Shes a desperate woman wed all be desperate and should be expected to say anything, even if it backfires. Im not persuaded in this case it applies but then what do I know other than what I read? She had a suitcase packed, Devine said. When Andrew returned from work several hours later, Joann's car wasn't in its normal spot in the alley behind their house, but otherwise everything looked ordinary. New state, new man. After relocating to Pennsylvania, Patricia met the 6-foot-2-inch Andrew in a restaurant. At 10:30 p.m., Andrew reported his wife missing. On Instagram, I found a post for a two-part Win at All Costs podcast featuring journalism professor Bill Mousheys interviews with Patricia Rorrer from prison in December 2019. On a happier note, in 1998, the Limerick Township Park System built the Manderach Memorial Playground in honor of Lisa and Devon. The voice on the phone will be warm and friendly right up until you tell her which transcripts you want. 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. The baby had been smothered or left to freeze to death. By: Robert S. In 1994, Joann Katrinak called her mother-in-law and made plans to go holiday shopping. Entirely random thrill-kills, as this would have to be for Fairley, are relatively rare. Patricia seemed like the girl next door but all of a sudden, something snapped, Katrinak later told Wrong Man investigators. However, the only record of any call made from Rorrer to the Katrinak household was on Dec 7th. In a million years, she wouldnt do anything to harm that.. For more on the Katrinak murder case, you can watch Autopsy Six: A Fatal Attraction for free on YouTube. Joann grabbed her purse, the diaper bag, and their coats against the December chill in Pennsylvania. When Joann failed to arrive, her mother-in-law tried calling, but there was no answer at the Katrinak's. Three days before she vanished, Mrs. Katrinak had angrily told Ms. Rorrer to stop calling her husband. But other things Patricia did also seemed strange, especially according to prosecutor Michael McIntyre. ", "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. Ideally we would achieve certainty; practically we must settle for the exclusion of all reasonable doubt: problematic cos its circular. It certainly tugged at our heartstrings, you know, it brought a tear to my eye. It was conceivable that Andrew believed they were still out. 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. Rorrer said she purchased grain for her horses that day, brought it home and then later went to a bar for western dance lessons with her fianc and another man. Random misfortune. She was born on Jan. 24, 1964, in eastern Pennsylvania and moved back and forth between there and Davidson County, North Carolina. . Background details that you might want to know about Andrew include: ethnicity is Caucasian, whose political affiliation is unknown; and religious views are listed as unknown. 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. However, it seems this was only after the bodies of Joann and Alex were found on the remote horse trail. The boy died either from suffocation or exposure.Although by 1994 she was living in North Carolina, Ms. Rorrer phoned Katrinak occasionally. So begins a case that features a m. Joann Katrinak - 349. Most of all, Patricia said, she would like a rematch with prosecutor Michael McIntyre. 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. ''FBI examiners concluded there was a DNA match.Ms. At 10:40 p.m. he calls 911 to report his family missing. (McIntyre said that Egan ignored Traupman because he was a nut who said that the man he saw arguing with the woman in a car was Hispanic but wearing a fake mustache and a toupee. Some recurring themes in Forensic Files facinate me. Daughter of George & Margaret Panik and wife of Andrew Katrinak. And because of the gun jamming, the assailant had to resort to blunt object and beat her about the head. What you suggest is that law enforcement officers had to lie (about what she allegedly said, for example), AND that DNA was not just poorly/mistakenly administered but corruptly. No comments yet - start the conversation above. "Yes," Rorrer replied very quietly.Pfeiffer said Rorrer is testifying freely and voluntarily.Jurors, who have heard nearly 100 witnesses, will be asked by the prosecution to give Rorrer the death penalty if they find her guilty of first-degree murder.McIntyre earlier said that Rorrer's alleged lies and contradictory statements to police show "consciousness of guilt. New evidence doesnt, and shouldnt, entail retrial: only if theres a reasonable possibility it could make a difference. He had worked as a semi-pro boxer in Las Vegas in his youth and later settled . 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. ); Your last point is hardly conclusive: as she used a weapon I wouldnt necessarily expect her to be injured, merely that she MIGHT. Barbara, wife of Gary Verser of Virginia; and a . . Dial-a-problem. If I were to challenge all the so-called evidence in the comments, it would make for a very long read. 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. Required fields are marked *. No disagreements, but maybe D and D and health club membership arent so far apart. Juries are imperfect: what is stretched circumstantial evidence for you (or me) was evidently not so for that jury. Shes attracted the help of writer Tammy Mal (full name Tammy Malinowski OReilly), author of Convenient Suspect, a book about the case. Andrew Katrinak hugs a friend as he emerges from the courthouse after Patricia Rorrer, his former girlfriend, was sentenced to life in prison, March 9, 1998, for the murder of his wife and child 2 . Also, Rorrer was interviewed by police within a week of Joann and Alex going missing. ", "An unusual feature about the gun, he [Rorrers ex-boyfriend] stated was the fact that you fire one shot out of the gun, and the gun would jam. "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. That decision drew public anger, as can be seen inPhiladelphia Daily News letters to the editor published on September 29, 1995. The authorities charged her with two counts of murder. But fortunately the murder createdplenty of forensic evidence that made for a stronger case against Fairley. Irelands husband buried it in the yard because he didnt feel comfortable with a firearm inside, she said. Joann was shot once, then the gun jammed. Patricia Lynne Rorrer made for a good suspect. Investigators discoveredhis DNA under Lisas fingernails, some strands of long dark hairwith the roots attached (suggesting a struggle) in the vacuum cleaner bag at the store, and the babys DNA on thecarpet. Hi Marcus, Of course, if this matter was related to the inflicting of (non-consensual) pain or worse, and/or minors, thats a different matter but thats not the impression given. Suzanne Pearson testified about Rorrer's reaction to the news that she was being charged and about incriminating statements she allegedly made.Those statements were made shortly after 6 a.m. while Rorrer, still in bed clothes, held her 1-1/2-year-old daughter, Nicole, and talked to the wailing baby, according to the witnesses.Coble said Rorrer was crying and trying to comfort her child. And Patricia wasnt all edges. ), And in another bombshell, Joanns good friend Karen Devine said Joann planned to leave Andrew after the holidays. Patricia supposedly still cared for Andrew Katrinak, but murdering his son contradicts this notion. 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. If the Commonwealths chain of custody is correct, then the hair on the seatback is Rorrers.Now, he and Rorrer wonder if they ever will be able to recreate the controversial chain of custody to prove her innocence. JUROR, DISCUSSING AFTER THE RORRER TRIAL THE FACTORS THAT LED TO HIS DECISION. Today, they are married and live in Colorado. When Andrew was told of the location of his young family's remains, he offered investigators a lead. Black Label Episodes AND Ad-Free episodes are now available on our Black Label Podcasting channel on Apple Podcasts . Having read this recent appeal document (worth a perusal its not too long), which seems to address the fundamental issues at stake, I see no merit in the claim of wrongful conviction, but rather a clutching at straws in the hope that some (spurious) claim may just cast sufficient doubt on the conviction. Combination locks. were relatively and mercifully swift, mitigating their conscious pain and suffering.. Both sides agree Joann hung up on Patricia. I dont have any reason to believe that Fairley might have been in the Catasauqua area in December of 1994. Rorrer was an easy target due to all the circumstantial evidence. He allegedly pressured one of those friends,Christopher Lefler, to perjure himself bycorroborating the dance alibi in court; Lefler refused. The circumstances of Lisa Manderachs murder, the subject of todays post, seem even more improbable. Weak wages. Fairleytook Lisas body to a wooded spotin an industrial area near his health club. Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. 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. Theyd fit well in a made-for-TV movie, wouldnt they? "We got along fine. Patricia Rorrer is formerly from Linwood, North Carolina, and serving a life sentence in the state prison for women at Muncy, Pennsylvania. Frankly, Im neither surprised nor impressed by their decision. From the looks ofits Facebook page, the place isstill going strong. Patricia was convicted based on her head hairs being found in the victim's car. Whether she suffocated him or left him to die of exposure, there's a special place in hell for someone who's able to live with themselves after such a heinous crime. They were married 62 years. It was conceivable that Andrew believed they were still out. She claimed to have been home during this period how did her defense team justify such a departure from Patricia's norm? What IS reasonable doubt and what is it to be at or beyond that threshold? Then 31 years old, she had lived a rocky existence. ), The Wrong Man investigators Ira Todd and Joe Kennedy have some theories of their own. He had worked as a semi-pro boxer in Las Vegas in his youth and later settled into his own construction business. Convicting Factors: forensic fabrication, hidden evidence, media hysteria.Convicting Reasons: protect the real murderer. Those who knew Joann pointed out that she didnt like to drive in reverse and would have never parked that way. Joann Katrinak - Generation Why Podcast Rorrer was a slim, auburn-haired, 30-year-old photographer and horse enthusiast.Before he called police, family members canvassed nearby neighborhoods, driving around the suburban community of about 7,000 people near Allentown, Pa. Around midnight, Joann Katrinaks father found his daughters Toyota Corolla near a tavern down the street. Read the Washington Post report. 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. 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.Her case shows how the present system in contrast to the dictates of the Coverdell Act actually contributes to scientific confusion and has almost no automatic audit on investigations when misconduct allegations are leveled.On Dec. 15, 1994, Andrew Katrinak told police he arrived home from his construction job to find his wife, Joann, and 4-month-old baby, Alex, missing from their Catasauqua, Pa., home.
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