Nailed? 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. Pfeiffer and Burke claimed that police Sgt. It was love at first sight when Joann OConnor met Andy Katrinak in the spring of 1992. Unbloody vehicle. Indigenous Student Ashley Loring HeavyRunner Still Missing, Toddlers Orrin and Orson West Still Missing From California, Woman Who Helped Find Missing People Disappears, Family Still Hopeful, Edmond Tillman: Police Still Searching For Teen Missing Since 2005, Young Unidentified Female Wearing Vanderbilt University Apparel Still Not Identified, An Unsolved July 4th Child Murder Still Haunts Southeast Texas, Family Still Looking For Answers In 1965 Disappearance Of Elizabeth Gill, Iowa Father Still Searching For Answers 8 Years After Sons Disappearance, Still Shrouded In Mystery: Florida Woman Fatally Shot At Sheriff Deputys Home, An Indiana Family Still Wants Answers In A Young Mans Mysterious Death, An Upstate New York Child Is Still Missing With No Arrests In The Case. Sir I would not kill somebody and I definitely wouldnt kill somebody I never met, Rorrer said. They even lived together for about two years before parting ways for good. Phone records confirmed Patricia placed the earlier call from North Carolina, not Pennsylvania. Plus: Dead Louisiana woman found fused to sofa; JonBent Ramseys father seeks governors help with DNA testing; Australian man incarcerated for killing gay American in 1988; and Pennsylvania mother shoots her two boys in the head. Get local Breaking News alerts sent directly to your inbox. This is an incendiary case that continues to provoke passion on both sides, said Morrison. She was born on Jan. 24, 1964, in eastern Pennsylvania and moved back and forth between there and Davidson County, North Carolina. Gay Bars, 1 Suspect Still at Large, Cold Cases Heat Up: How Advances in DNA Technology Are Helping to Bring Justice for Victims. Today, her attorney says not only was his client wrongfully convicted, but she was framed. Discovery, Inc. or its subsidiaries and affiliates. Born on January 24, 1964, in eastern Pennsylvania, Patricia Rorrer spent most of her life going back and forth between the Keystone State and North Carolina. The family of Joseph Smedley, who was found dead in a lake in 2015, still want answers about a mysterious text message and a backpack full of rocks. Her alibi about going to the club, called Cowboys Nitelife, got fuzzy when investigators discovered she hadnt signed the guest book on that day. All of STARZ blockbuster movies, epic originals, and addictive series. The 5-foot-9-inch-tall Patricia was physically strong, no match for 5-foot-4-inch Joann. She had money put aside. Andrew mentioned to police that his former live-in girlfriend Patricia Rorrer once managed a horse stable two miles from the bodies location and would have been familiar with the riding trails close to the murder scene. Two-Part Special Premieres Sunday, March 5 at 8/7c; Features Exclusive First-Ever Interview with Inmate Patricia Rorrer . At 17, Patricia dropped out of high school and married landscaper Gary Gabard. Patricia was wrongfully convicted and we will show you how! Joann Katrinaks Killer Still Has Innocence Advocates(A Woman Scorned, Forensic Files). Sad discovery. Highly charged case. 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. She made an effort to look perfectly groomed even when she took out the trash, according to her mother, who appeared on Forensic Files. A five-year investigation of the case has uncovered compelling new evidence that they did not. More dry than wet overall, but still cool and unsettled. PATRICIA RORRER, : : Petitioner : v. : CIVIL ACTION NUMBER 19-01398 : WENDY K. NICHOLAS, : : Respondents : MOTION FOR DISCOVERY AND CONSOLIDATED MEMORANDUM OF LAW . I cant lose them, he told the media. The entire forensics examination from beginning to end was just awful.". ID has joined forces with Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison to revisit a 1994 double-murder that rattled Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. She got 12 months of probation for shoplifting at a Walmart in Lexington, North Carolina. 3 0 obj 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. 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. Neely said this new information could reopen the case and set Rorrer free. During Patricias hours-long turn in the witness chair, Michael McIntyre grilled her relentlessly. x\[s~L34j+Gv}P$D"UO] As the husband and father, he seemed the logical suspect, and the police worked hard to build a case against him. He said the court ruled it was not allowed to be tested because of a concept in the law called the law of the case, which he says basically means the evidence didn't have an impact on the case. . The Free Patricia Rorrer page points to a sliver of a fingernail found at the murder site that didnt come from either Patricia or Joann. 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. Both sides agree Joann hung up on Patricia. 728 views. Kenneth Clair, a homeless black man, is convicted and sentenced to death for the brutal murder of a babysitter in 1984. Why did the police focus on a young mother from another state, who had never met either victim and had not had a romantic relationship with Andy Katrinak in more than five years? Media galore. Since then, Patricia has appealed her case and fought for exoneration, only to always be denied. Later, they both worked 12-hour graveyard shifts at a textile factory. She claimed that shed spent that fateful day at a tanning salon and a country music club, but suspicion mounted when the guest book for the latter didnt have her name and a photo shed taken 11 days prior showed her naturally brown hair dyed blonde. Gabby Petitos fianc and person of interest in her fatal strangulation disappeared in mid-September after saying he was going for a hike. With an appeal pending in Pennsylvania Superior Court that includes allegations of a frame-up, coercion by the District Attorneys office, misidentification of a witness and evidence tampering all of which the state vehemently denies veteran journalist and Dateline NBC correspondent Keith Morrison revisits the crimes in an all-new special MURDER IN LEHIGH VALLEY: KEITH MORRISON INVESTIGATES. 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). Neely said a hair with a root put Rorrer away, which sparked Neely to question the forensic investigation. People envied the Katrinaks rock-solid marriage and picture-perfect life; with the house, the kid, and the two cars in the drive, they seemed to be living the American dream. A hair sample that helped put Patricia Rorrer behind bars for life could be the key to set her free. After one bullet didnt kill Joann, the gun locked up, so Patricia had to beat her to death, according to the prosecution. 1 0 obj Forensic Files didnt mention it, but the hairs were actually brown at the top and the rest dyed blond, according to the show Autopsy Six: A Fatal Attraction. Back in March of 2017, Investigation Discovery ran Murder in Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Investigates which questioned the conviction of Patricia Rorrer for the brutal double murders of Joann Katrinak and her infant son, Alex. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. Photo by: Harry Fisher/Allentown Morning Call/TNS via Getty Images, Harry Fisher/Allentown Morning Call/TNS via Getty Images. A few eyewitnesses who didnt testify at her initial trial also back her statements of being in North Carolina on that fateful day, but nothing has been proven. Joanns first husband, New Jersey construction worker Michael Jack, who had reportedly abused her during their marriage, also had a solid alibi. Ever the neutral newsman, Morrison tells PEOPLE he came away from working on the Investigation Discovery special with more questions than answers. Sundays special is the first of at least two Morrison is working on with Investigation Discovery, who he says have given me unlimited freedom to look into cases that interest me.. Patricia Rorrer was wrongfully convicted of Murder. endobj The prosecution alleged that Patricia called the Katrinaks house from a pay phone in Pennsylvania. Back in March of 2017, Investigation Discovery ran Murder in Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Investigates which questioned the conviction of Patricia Rorrer for the brutal double murders of Joann Katrinak and her infant son, Alex. RR, Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube, Murder in Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Reports, 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. Until next time, cheers. What Happened To High School Senior Erica Fraysure? b-zl(c=v78s#^#C OMm:Dcm=gG?Ig]h}[2?LF| gy$)3{l;,/q-zB]/W#w OKwabn;__`0T=VIa".%ze(tIB\TnJH0 9E4=aZA A three-year investigation culminated in court on March 6, 1998, with Patricia being convicted on two counts of murder and two counts of kidnapping. . 1:57. That's according to Craig Neely, who worked on the case for years as the defense attorney. But when Joann and Alex suddenly vanished from their Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, home on December 15, 1994, suspicion immediately turned towards Andy. Patricia Rorrer is serving a life sentence, convicted of driving 500 miles to kill her ex-boyfriend's new wife and his baby. In fifty years, this is the most complicated case Ive ever been involved in, an investigator says of the search for Andrea Knabel. One of our nations fastest growing cable networks, ID delivers the highest-quality programming to more than 85 million U.S. households and is available in both high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD). ), The Wrong Man investigators Ira Todd and Joe Kennedy have some theories of their own. Smith will face charges for allegedly killing her husband, Antione Smith. At the states request, the instructor wore a wire during a phone conversation with Patricia. The phone wire was located at the opposite end of the basement, which was dark. Patricias marriage fell apart, and she returned to Pennsylvania, where she fell in love with Andrew Andy Katrinak after meeting him at a restaurant. For one thing, her mother never asked Sandra Ireland to hide the gun, and she retrieved it on the way home the next day she worked as a bus driver and couldnt take it with her to school. If you have any information on this missing mystery, please contact the Cape Girardeau Police Department directly: 573-335-6621. Conflicting versions. According to a Morning Call account from March 5, 1998: McIntyre leaned forward conspiratorially like someone trying to persuade another to tell a secret, lowered his voice and said: Heres what I want to know: After you killed Joann Katrinak, did you kill that baby or just leave it to die?. Self - Retired Detective Sergeant Homicide Investigator Birmingham AL Police Dept. But thats just some of the ammo on Team Patricias battleship. A nail that does. Therefore, today, in her late 50s, Patricia is imprisoned at the maximum-security State Correctional Institution Muncy in Clinton Township, Pennsylvania. MURDER IN LEHIGH VALLEY: KEITH MORRISON INVESTIGATES is produced for Investigation Discovery by NBC News Peacock Productions with executive producers Elizabeth Fischer and Knute Walker, senior producer Kimberley Ferdinando and the president and general manager of Peacock Productions, Sharon Scott. Yet, everything changed when they lost their 3-month-old son to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). She is sitting in Muncey Women's Correctional Facility for over 23 years now for something. Today, Patricia Lynne Rorrer resides in State Correctional Institute at Muncy, a medium and maximum security facility that has the highest rate of cancer of all prisons in Pennsylvania, according to a story from northcentralpa.com. I dont think she was ever scared until we put the cuffs on her.. 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. Charged with two counts of capital murder and two counts of kidnapping, Patricia Rorrer was quickly tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. They also found a photo of Patricia taken 11 days before the homicide. (A good point. Rorrer and Andrew broke off their . : Local economists weigh in after 3rd bank failure in last 2 months, Baby alligator temporarily staying in the Poconos after being found at sewage plant in Allentown, LVHN offering 2nd dose of bivalent COVID-19 booster shot for people 65 and older, immunocompromised people, Work to replace busy bridge connecting Lehigh, Northampton counties is underway; there's some good news for commuters, Allentown Service Plaza to close at night during the week as crews do paving work, High Delaware River water levels lead to additional safety requirements at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area this week, Gov. This all started because Rorrer filed under the Freedom of Information Act for records from the FBI. ET features interviews with all the key players from the 1998 trial of Rorrer, who is currently behind bars. When she stood trial that same year, she maintained her innocence and alleged that she and Andrew Katrinak had continued to stay in touch as good friends, so she wouldn't do anything to hurt him. When she stood trial that same year, she maintained her innocence and alleged that she and Andrew Katrinak had continued to stay in touch as good friends, so she wouldnt do anything to hurt him. Jennifer and Sarah Hart killed themselves and murdered their six adopted children in 2018 by driving their SUV off a cliff in California.