Cop defends accused. She currently resides in Cape Girardeau, Mo., where she works as a daily reporter covering the crime beat for the Southeast Missourian newspaper. I cant agree on the evidence Im aware of that this is more likely than her guilt. Patricia also pointed out that when author Tammy Mal started her research and speaking to me, she was not an advocate at all but she reversed and ended up advocating for Patricias innocence. December 15th, 1994. 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. (Disclaimer: Im not a big fan of eyewitnesses who come forward years after the fact, but its possible). 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. Unicorns and getting really buff can be equally fantastical. 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. It's not often there's a laundry list of clear signals, but it's fun to iterate them when there are so many. Region. Convicting Factors: forensic fabrication, hidden evidence, media hysteria.Convicting Reasons: protect the real murderer. Patricia and her husband broke up after the babys death. At the states request, the instructor wore a wire during a phone conversation with Patricia. While not promising to allow the tests, a judge says he will allow an expert to examine evidence from the deaths in 1994 of 26-year-old Joann Katrinak and her three-month-old son, Alex. Some issues there, but I aver nothing that seems to undercut/override evidence against her. Theres been some debate with regard to a picture of Rorrer shortly before the murders and the color of her hair. Thats all for this post. By: Robert S. In 1994, Joann Katrinak called her mother-in-law and made plans to go holiday shopping. During Patricias hours-long turn in the witness chair, Michael McIntyre grilled her relentlessly. 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. Lenient system? It was, and is, perfectly reasonable to convict without forensic evidence. However, the only record of any call made from Rorrer to the Katrinak household was on Dec 7th. 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. Joann bore a strong resemblance to Lisa Manderach. Great communicator. Its proximity to the stable she'd managed made an undeniable association to her. 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 if Rorrer was a genuine suspect, it's likely investigators would have attempted the mitochondrial DNA match on the hair anyway. Finally, maybe not a conspiracy but rather a botched investigation and forensic analysis of the hair sample. But she continued to call him occasionally.Three days before she vanished, Mrs. Katrinak angrily told Ms. Rorrer over the phone to stop calling her house, according to a police affidavit.DNA analysis showed that hair samples Ms. Rorrer submitted matched six found in the headrest of Mrs. Katrinak's car and two found near the bodies. She said she had no animosity toward the Katrinaks and she had never met the dead woman. Of course Fairley could have committed other murders but there was no sexual assault in the Katrinak case, which appeared motiveless except in attributing Rorrers jealousy. Thanks for writing in its the first Ive heard about another mother and child murdered in that area. Thanks for responding, Marcus. A year later, she started calling again. Along with Rorrer, Joann Katrinaks ex-husband, Michael Jack, and Andrew Katrinak were suspects for a time. She attended Point Park University as a graduate student from 2005-07 and still is working on her masters degree. Patricia Rorrer's home phone record did not show her call to the Katrinak house three days prior to the kidnapping because she'd already made the trip to Pennsylvania to see Andrew. If I were to challenge all the so-called evidence in the comments, it would make for a very long read. The forensic reports indicate that there was a significant amount of blood and tissue clinging to this fingernail, which would have been an excellent source of nuclear DNA testing. Autopsy 6: Secrets of the Dead: Directed by Arthur Ginsberg. USA. ~~~~~~~~~Rorrer's Reputation: `Don't Mess With Me', June 25, 1997 by DAVID WASHBURN, The Morning Call. Phone records confirmed Patricia placed the earlier call from North Carolina, not Pennsylvania. She was always looking for a fight, Gary Gabard told the Morning Call, which noted that he was a head shorter than Patricia. She moved to North Carolina after her relationship with Katrinak ended in 1991. Its about what Id expect from Pennsylvania. The farmer's remote field bordered an isolated horseback riding trail. Lisaleft her diaper bag at home because she planned to stay out for only an hour, which makes Shopping Spree an odd choice for the title of theForensic Filesepisode. Irelands husband buried it in the yard because he didnt feel comfortable with a firearm inside, she said. 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. Friends and family began looking for Joann and Alex. Fairly, I can keep things like that to myself and act normal. Rorrer, who is Katrinak's former girlfriend, was convicted of abducting Joann Katrinak and her son from their home, shooting Katrinak in the face, and leaving her and the child in the woods, where their bodies were found nearly four months later. 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. There are more questions than answers in this case. Or did they? Suspicion initially fell on Joanns husband, Andy, when their bodies were found in woods in Apr 95. She received 12 months' probation.Rorrer was 18 when she lost her 3-1/2-month-old son on Nov. 20, 1982. As for an update on Lisas widower, Jimmy Manderach, it appears he still lives in the same part of Pennsylvania. "The Case of the Severed Hand" examines a case where a waterlogged hand leads to a defiled corpse and a practitioner of black magic. Katrinak and Alex were the wife and child of Andrew Katrinak. Andrew Katrinak, a former heavyweight boxer, quickly gathered his in-laws and said he suspected foul play. They lived together in Salisbury Township, Pa., for about two years, but they . 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. "I'm not worried about my clothes," Rorrer said. At 10:30 p.m., Andrew reported his wife missing. He allegedly pressured one of those friends,Christopher Lefler, to perjure himself bycorroborating the dance alibi in court; Lefler refused. She said she sought shelter at Katrinak's home, before Katrinak met his future wife, because she knew no one else in the area.After Rorrer's father died when she was 15, she dropped out of school to get a job and help pay bills. Mrs. Katrinak had been shot in the face and beaten, and Alex is believed to have died from suffocation and exposure.Ms. I agree with Rebecca, and am surprised this was reported: if it was legal, what does it matter? One final thought about those hairs: they were described as dirty blond and approximately 8 inches in length. ``There was no rush to judgment. . Andrew's annual salary is . And even prosecutor Michael McIntyre, who wrote the book Hair Trigger about the case, acknowledged to Keith Morrison that it was a little odd that the police found blood on the hairs in Joanns car but nowhere else in the vehicle. Its definitely getting rougher every day, Andrew told the Morning Call. Burke said the prosecution brought no one from North Carolina to testify that Rorrer wasn't home for several days..McIntyre said Rorrer tried to conceal her guilt by concocting phony alibis, which shows consciousness of guilt. Rorrer is incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution Muncy, a prison for women in Clinton Township, Pennsylvania. After Joann Katrinak, the wife of Patricias former flame, turned up dead along with her infant son, prosecutors suspected Patricia. The state police dropped him as a suspect. Why do mitochondrial testing when you have a root, a valid source of nuclear testing? 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. A CLUMP of hair would be more significant as if pulled out. Advertisement. Of course, its not if such forensic evidence that is or may have been exculpatory has been maladministered by accident or design. Marcus, dont you find it interesting that a hair inconsistent with both the victim and the accused was found clutched in the dead womans HAND, and was never tested? His favorite rattle, shaped like a phone, lay near the crime scene. ", "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. So lets get going on the recap of the Forensic Files episode A Woman Scorned, along with extra information drawn from internet research: Joann Marie OConnor was born on Oct. 11, 1968, the youngest of Sarah and David OConnors four children. Nothing Ive read by her supporters goes to the heart of the case against her unless perjury. No activity on her bank account or credit cards took place after the day she went missing, so investigators dismissed the theory that she took her child and bolted. Three days later, Joann had plans to pick up her mother-in-law, Veronica Katrinak, to go Christmas shopping. Image credit: Episode screen capture from, - Sarah OConnor: Joann Katrinaks Mother, - Det. 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. In December 1994, Andrew Katrinak arrives home to an empty house. Apparently it is universally agreed by courts that any hair testing before 2000 might had yieled an incorrect reading. Well, that really caught our attention of course.". (A good point. Prior to the trial, a local man named Walter Traupman told Pennsylvania State Police he saw a couple matching the Katrinaks descriptions engaging in a heated argument near where the Toyota was found the day of the disappearance. Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. The state made a case fueled by circumstantial evidence and public outrage over the deaths of a modern-day madonna and child. 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! Criminals aren't always the smartest folks - this area highlights the common (and reoccurring) mistakes they make. 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. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Prior to the trial, a local man named Walter Traupman told Pennsylvania State Police he saw a couple matching the Katrinaks descriptions engaging in a heated argument near where the Toyota was found the day of the disappearance. Fairleytook Lisas body to a wooded spotin an industrial area near his health club. According to Pennsylvania State Police, Rorrer met Andrew Katrinak, the husband and father of the victims, in 1986. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4438028/com-v-rorrer-p/. But when did he find the evidence of the break-in? The authorities charged her with two counts of murder. The episode claimed the jury required just two hours to deliberate, but other sources indicate it took six. "He's a nice guy," Rorrer said of Katrinak. Required fields are marked *. Memorials. Murder Suspect Breaks Down As Detectives Tell Of Her Arrest: Monday, giving jurors a Cliff Notes version of her life up until the time a Catasauqua woman and her baby disappeared in 1994. wife, because she knew no one else in the area. It wasnt until post-conviction DNA testing that those hairs suddenly, inexplicably had roots. In April 1995, the family buried Joann and Alex in a single bronze casket after a funeral mass at a Bethlehem church. That ploy hasnt worked out, and today, Fairley lives in SCI Fayette, a moderatelyovercrowded maximum-security prison in Labelle, Pennsylvania. Patricia Rorrer (PA) SCI MuncyOE2170 Life Without ParoleDOB: January 24,1964. Then, despite her multiple alibis, she has an inexplicable five-day gap in this pattern. She worked at restaurants and later sold insurance and real estate and worked at a car dealership in Reading.She met Katrinak in May 1984, she said, when he was a regular at a restaurant where she worked.They dated, lived together and bought a home in Salisbury Township. Still, no good leads materialized. 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. Coble later told Rorrer that her mother was on the way and that she could get dressed. "Testimony ended Monday with Pfeiffer taking Rorrer up to October 1994 when she came to Pennsylvania from North Carolina to try to sell four of her horses. "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. PUBLISHED: April 13, 1995 at 4:00 a.m. | UPDATED: October 3, 2021 at 11:51 p.m. Andrew Katrinak buried his wife and infant son yesterday, four months after he began a frantic, nationwide search . Some lawyers call microscopic hair analysis junk science that today wouldnt qualify as evidence in a trial like Rorrers. Frankly, Im neither surprised nor impressed by their decision. He would be alive today if it were not for Patricia Rorrer. The mild-mannered Sarah died in 2019 at the age of 83. 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.. She also did volunteer work for Meals on Wheels. Joann Katrinak - 349. And who'd be heartless enough to kill an infant as well? The fact she no longer has that gun "is almost as good as having the weapon," McIntyre said..To believe Rorrer's testimony, he said, jurors would have to reject testimony of 22 prosecution witnesses, whom she said were mistaken in their recollections of events.."Either she's guilty or she's the most unlucky person who's ever walked on this Earth," McIntyre said..The killer, he said, would have to have the same DNA as Rorrer, the same color and length of hair, the same gun, the same knowledge of the Katrinak home and the woods, and have a reason to kill Joann Katrinak. Traupman died in 2016. Plus, he had only a minimal life insurance policy on Joann and he passed polygraphs, according to The FBI Files: Family Secrets. ; So after a stressful afternoon of kidnapping and murder, she decides to relax with a nice soothing cigarette right there at the crime scene. Overly cynical: you must know that more than a few perps have been caught this way stupid as it is. Thats my life.. Kidnapped and killed? Her husband, Andrew, was surprised to not find his wife and child at home after arriving there . He said she did own a firearm, with its serial numbers filed off. Patricia seemed like the girl next door but all of a sudden, something snapped, Katrinak later told Wrong Man investigators. Lisa Manderach, two weeksshy of her 30th birthday, worked full time as a fork-lift operatorin a food warehouse and also had an entrepreneurial streak. Theyd fit well in a made-for-TV movie, wouldnt they? Katrinak's husband, Andrew, reported his wife and son missing in December 1994 after they failed to show up at his mother's house.Andrew Katrinak said he found his basement door ajar and removed from its hinges, and a phone line had been cut. "Rorrer was born in Phillipsburg. According to court papers from Patricia 2017 appeal, DNA on the cigarette butt found near the two bodies belonged to Appellant. (Prosecutor Michael McIntyre, however, told ForensicFilesNow.com that that the cigarette butt was never actually tested). Frank J. Hearn Michael J. Brady Antonio Verrelli B Stephen Zahornasky Hugh H. Taulty. Rorrer offered her attendance at a private club in North Carolina as one of her alibies, but the club (per a state regulation) required members to sign in. BETHLEHEM, PA. BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) _ Joann Katrinak was shot in the face in woods not far from where her 3-month-old son, Alex, suffocated or was left to die.Investigators believed early on they had a good idea who the killer was. Finally, four months after that dreadful day in December, a farmer plowing his fields found what at first seemed to be a pile of discarded clothing. 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. She had a suitcase packed, Devine said. I cant lose them, he told the media. There was a piece of a fingernail found attached to Joanns chest. Frank D. Anderson-Josephine Kiely bert H. Dabbs William M. Yale Andrew Katrinak. When it was only able to fire once, Rorrer had to resort to bludgeoning her victim. Charles Robert Gabard died of natural causes, according to the death certificate.Eggers said Rorrer's marriage to Charles Gabard ended soon afterward.Davidson County, N.C., Sheriff Gerald Hege describes Rorrer as a "brute of a woman," who seemed to taunt law enforcement officers as they built a case against her.Hege had seen Rorrer a few times over the past two years, and his department was watching her closely. Police found her 1988 Firebird in the shopping plazas parking lot and located a witness who remembered seeing Lisa in Your Kidz & Mine. The final call in December 1994 ended with Joann Katrinak angrily telling her to stop calling, according to police. 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. The fixation with a goth ideal is a nice touch. They returned with a guilty verdict and a sentence of two life terms. 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.A neighbor of the Katrinaks told police she saw Joann Katrinak that afternoon, clad in a black, furry jacket that matched Traupmans description. ''The two went their separate ways in 1991, but Ms. Rorrer stayed in touch with her ex-boyfriend.Katrinak married and was living in Catasauqua, Pa., with his wife and son when they failed to meet him at his mother's house, who lived nearby, on Dec. 15, 1994.Katrinak went home and said he found his basement door removed from its hinges. But fortunately the murder createdplenty of forensic evidence that made for a stronger case against Fairley. . Her husband, Andrew, was surprised to not find his wife and child at home after arriving there after work. TENTH DISTRICT. On Alexs diaper bag, police found strands of the same type of hair from the car. But thats just some of the ammo on Team Patricias battleship. She just stayed in touch with everybody, Kathy Barber said in her interview on NBCs Murder in Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Reports in 2017. 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. Shes extremely, extremely happy with the baby. That decision drew public anger, as can be seen inPhiladelphia Daily News letters to the editor published on September 29, 1995. If you subscribe to Hulu and upgrade to Starz (theres a free one-week trial offer), you can stream the Wrong Man episodes about Patricia Rorrer. But, Id like to offer you a challenge. Please research the Katrinak case a little when you have some time. Those who knew Joann pointed out that she didnt like to drive in reverse and would have never parked that way. Tragedy also touched Patricias life. "Do you understand?" The jacket also fit the description of the blue-black synthetic fibers police found in Joann Katrinaks watchband.Neither witness testified during the trial because the prosecution deemed them unimportant and never revealed the information to the defense, despite legal rules compelling the government to disclose any potentially exculpatory evidence. But they didn't and, according to her, later went their separate ways.Rorrer said she called Katrinak in spring 1994 and learned that he was married and was going to be a father. WHY? Along with Rorrer, Joann Katrinaks ex-husband, Michael Jack, and Andrew Katrinak were suspects for a time. Unlike Mr. 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. 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. 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. The episode made a special point about locating the photograph of Patricia Rorrer with dyed blonde hair. And because of the gun jamming, the assailant had to resort to blunt object and beat her about the head. DNA TRAIL IN 2-YEAR-OLD SLAYINGS OF WOMAN, BABY LEAD TO ARREST. Court papers allege he asked the customer for sex in return for the drug. the couple had moved in together, married, and become the proud parents of a new baby boy they named Alex. He was a little surprised when she approached him as though they were old friends last fall at a county barbecue.He was selling T-shirts for the department. That is to say, I see nothing contradictory in the evidence against her that must entail perjury. She turned a flushed face and red nose away from the visitors' section.Her demeanor during testimony about her baby, who turned 2 last month, was far different from that during the rest of the Lehigh County trial.Earlier, she was dry-eyed as witnesses described the numerous wounds to Joann Katrinak, who had been shot and beaten, and the baby's death from exposure to cold or suffocation. It certainly tugged at our heartstrings, you know, it brought a tear to my eye. People . Once, when a gun-wielding farmer and his buddy caught Patricia and Gary riding motorcycles on his field, Patricia walked up and got in their faces and argued, Gary recalled to the Morning Call. Having said that, to simply answer your question why? Police and FBI being under pressure to solve this highly publicized case, it had already been two years before they arrested Rorrer and case had gone cold. Her name is not on a Dec. 15, 1994, sign-in sheet for the private club..Police never found the murder weapon, a .22-caliber gun.."Where's the gun, Patty?" Fantasy. TWELFTH DISTRICT. Her car was soon located in a parking lot within walking distance of their home.

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