After Joann Katrinak, the wife of Patricia's former flame, turned up dead along with her infant son, prosecutors suspected Patricia. Fairleysargument:The court should have rendered him a minor for sentencing purposes. Posted: June 22, 2022 In short, I can guarantee you will encounter nothing but resistance. I dont have any reason to believe that Fairley might have been in the Catasauqua area in December of 1994. Hecame from an affluent family, is white, and was young when he committed his crimes all factors that can favorably tip the scales of justice. 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. Sometimes Andrew goes by various nicknames including Andy Katrinak, Andrew J Katrinik, Andrew J Katrinak, Andrew Katrinah and Andrew J Katrinak. BETHLEHEM, PA. BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) _ A woman was arrested in North Carolina on Tuesday and charged in the 1994 slaying of her ex-boyfriend's wife and infant son in Pennsylvania.Patricia L. Rorrer was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of kidnapping in the deaths of Joann Katrinak, 26, and her 3 1/2-month-old son, Alex.Pennsylvania police, with the help of authorities in North Carolina, arrested Ms. Rorrer, 33, in Linwood, N.C. She was jailed without bail pending a court hearing Wednesday to face extradition.Mrs. When Joann failed to arrive, her mother-in-law tried calling, but there was no answer at the Katrinak's. Joann was fun, likable, beautiful, always happy, said her sister-in-law Cindy Wiard. If Rorrer beat her to death with a .22 caliber pistol like the prosecution claimed, she would have to have been up close and personal, but yet she came away without so much as a scratch? 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. (Jimmy Manderach did not appear on theForensic Filesepisode.). 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. As usual, Rebecca at Forensic Files Now has a thoroughly researched article about the Patricia Rorrer case and events since her conviction. 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?. Scorned ex lover etc. Whatever observers claim about the circumstances surrounding the crime why would she do this/surely shed be seen/shes unlikely to have thought that they are speculative, whereas the hard science, beyond REASONABLE doubt, says she did it. But that shed never been known to smoke, I grant you (unless she placed it to suggest the perp was a smoker and knew she could claim she wasnt, and simply didnt know DNA could be extracted? Still, Shopping Spree,theForensic Filesepisode about the murders, left me curious about an epilogue for Fairley. 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. Jimmy had reported Lisa missing when she failed to return home from shopping by dinner time. Patricia was arrested in North Carolina in June of 1997. 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. 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. She said that shes no fan of Forensic Files and that the show had many misrepresentations about her case and that shed heard ForensicFilesNow.com mixed up some facts as well. The victims were the wife and son of Rorrer's ex-boyfriend, Andrew Katrinak.Lt. Her defense was essentially that she and Andrew Katrinak had remained friendly, so she wouldn't want to hurt him. Anyhow, all together this rather is not a cut and dry trial and a convinction. 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. No disagreements, but maybe D and D and health club membership arent so far apart. Theyd fit well in a made-for-TV movie, wouldnt they? Police found Lisasbody after Fairley agreed to disclose its location in exchange for a promise that they wouldnt pursue the death penalty. When their bodies were found four months later, police sought the clues to find their killer. I would say that its only since the advent of forensic porn that wholly circumstantial cases are disparaged. Family members found Joanns tan Toyota sitting vacant in the parking lot of McCartys, a nearby bar. The phone wire was located at the opposite end of the basement, which was dark. Nothing Ive read by her supporters goes to the heart of the case against her unless perjury. The Manderachsran a janitorial service on the side. Great catch. She currently resides in Cape Girardeau, Mo., where she works as a daily reporter covering the crime beat for the Southeast Missourian newspaper. This was where Joann regularly parked her car and became an even more likely crime scene when the evidence of the basement break-in was discovered. Not gender neutral. 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). The missing items included Joann's purse, car, both her and Alex's winter jackets, and the diaper bag. Joann had been shot once and then bludgeoned in the head. 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. 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. Again, this vital piece of evidence was never tested prior to trial. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Defendant Takes Stand In Katrinak Case Patricia Rorrer Sums Up Her Life At Double-murder Trial. In December 1994, Andrew Katrinak arrives home to an empty house. Viz Andrews newer wife, he likely, to me, believed absolutely that she could not possibly be the perp, as endorsed by the fact that he married her. State police and the Philadelphia division of the FBI appealed to the public for leads. Katrinak, Andrew J.Andrew Joseph Katrinak, 88, of Bethlehem, died on Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at Blough Healthcare Center in Bethlehem.He was born in Bethlehem son of the late Martin and . 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. I also take into consideration the fact that Rorrer simply doesnt speak that way. Strands of the accuseds dyed-blond hair at two crime scenes proved it. It all gave jurors a lot to think about but only for six hours. ~~~~~~~POLICE ARREST WOMAN IN 3-YEAR-OLD CASE OF SLAIN MOTHER AND CHILDAssociated PressJun. 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. Are we to believe that Rorrer was still in such a rage 8 days later that she hopped into her van (with a bad universal joint), drove 500+ miles and killed a woman and baby she had never met, without anyone either seeing her in PA or missing her from NC? It's not often there's a laundry list of clear signals, but it's fun to iterate them when there are so many. You couldnt fire a second shot. This was further disproved when her bank reported there'd been no activity on Joann's credit cards since her disappearance. Patricia demonstrated a habit of making almost daily, long-distance phone calls from her home in North Carolina. 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. 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. During Rorrers 18-day trial in February1998, prosecutors pushed the circumstantialmotive of a fatal-attractionmurder. . So tragic. She was a 23-year-old beauty just coming out of a bad marriage, and he a handsome and successful business owner 14 years her senior. 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. If there were awards for distorted reporting, the Morning Call out of Lehigh, PA would win high honors. The authorities charged her with two counts of murder. In North Carolina, she reportedly enjoyed some success as a horse trader, riding instructor, and rodeo competitor. Andrew Katrinak reported missing his wife, Joanne and 3.5-month-old son, Alex, in December 1994. Andrew languished for weeks and then months as investigators failed to suppl any explanation for his wife's and son's mysterious disappearance. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Her attorney persuaded her to have the hair re-tested. Required fields are marked *. She walked into a kids clothing store where a young man working the cash register just happened to be a fantasy-gamesuperfan seething with thoughts of criminal perversion. Shes just extremely happy with Andy, her brother, Michael OConnor, told the media. (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. I do rejoice when I learn of someone particularly on death row exonerated. However, it seems this was only after the bodies of Joann and Alex were found on the remote horse trail. By all accounts, Rorrer has never been a smoker. 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. Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. They had a son, Alex Martin, in August of 1994. 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. On December 12, 1994, Joann answered a phone call from a woman shed never met, Patricia Rorrer, her husbands onetime girlfriend. ); Your last point is hardly conclusive: as she used a weapon I wouldnt necessarily expect her to be injured, merely that she MIGHT. Of course, its not if such forensic evidence that is or may have been exculpatory has been maladministered by accident or design. And she would just call out of the blue., According to the Free Patricia Rorrer page on Facebook:I called him to let him know that I was going to the USA finals for a horse show. Jaime: Thanks. Andrew told investigators that the unpleasant phone call between Joann and Patricia happened just three days before his wifes disappearance. And because of the gun jamming, the assailant had to resort to blunt object and beat her about the head. Then, despite her multiple alibis, she has an inexplicable five-day gap in this pattern. The police considered the possibility that Joann ran away, a theory disputed by her family. If those hairs taken from Joanns car had had a root attached, there would have been no reason for this case to be the first one in the commonwealth to use mitochondrial DNA testing. The relationship deteriorated, and she eventually moved out of the house, she said. DNA tests In 13-year-old Murder Case Could Be ReexaminedMar 21, 2007. Rorrer is incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution Muncy, a prison for women in Clinton Township, Pennsylvania. Freudian shrinks may agree theres a flotilla of repressed libido in both. TWELFTH DISTRICT. She is petitioning for DNA testing on the nail fragment that was found on the victims body. In fact, she had moved 500 miles away and was in a new relationship herself. Read the Washington Post report. After Joann Katrinak, the wife of Patricia's former flame, turned up dead along with her infant son, prosecutors suspected Patricia. Patricia Rorrer is formerly from Linwood, North Carolina, and serving a life sentence in the state prison for women at Muncy, Pennsylvania. As for an epilogue on ex-flame Andrew Katrinak, he has moved to Colorado and kept a low profile since the trial ended. Both sides agree Joann hung up on Patricia. 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. Frank D. Anderson-Josephine Kiely bert H. Dabbs William M. Yale Andrew Katrinak. Testimony from Walter Blalock contradicted Patricias claim that she never had a gun. No charmed life. Fairley, a blond, heavy, powerful-looking fire hydrant of a man who lived with his parents, was described by a friend as adevotee ofDungeons and Dragons, a role-playing game that allows peopleto act out story linesinvolving medieval warrior heroes, dragons, wicked monarchs, you name it. . Plus, two men, her babys father and his friend, testified they saw Patricia at the line-dancing club the night of the homicide. Irelands husband buried it in the yard because he didnt feel comfortable with a firearm inside, she said. While theres no evidence to suggest he was unfaithful to Joann, within 6 months of her death Andrew and this woman were openly seeing each other. 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? Sponsored by Ancestry. Media galore. But when did he find the evidence of the break-in? It seems strange that Patricia would just pick up and drive 500 miles to see and ex-boyfriend from years ago on a whim, leaving her own one-year-old daughter at home in North Carolina. This questioned how prosecutors could come up with hair to conduct the second test, which helped them achieve a conviction against Rorrer.In addition, attorney Craig B. Neely of Emmaus, Pa., argued crucial DNA evidence, such as the hair found clutched in one of the victims hands and a fingernail found on Joann Katrinaks chest, were never tested.Neely also argued new DNA technology not available at the time of trial could prove Rorrer was never in the car.In March 2007, Lehigh County Common Pleas Judge William E. Ford said because the case against Rorrer was circumstantial, an effort should be made to analyze all DNA evidence, and Rorrer should be given the opportunity to show if modern science could prove her innocence. Kidnapped and killed? Please research the Katrinak case a little when you have some time. Katrinak, Andrew J.Andrew Joseph Katrinak, 88, of Bethlehem, died on Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at Blough Healthcare Center in Bethlehem. He said she did own a firearm, with its serial numbers filed off. The second round of testing came back as a 100% match, raising the question of a mistake. The autopsy indicated that Joann fought hard for her life. Regard a similar case where too much detail signaled investigators to look closer at their suspect in Bagging a Killer (s06e25). 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. Three days before she vanished, Mrs. Katrinak had angrily told Ms. Rorrer to stop calling her husband. As soon as she steppedinto Your Kidz &Mine, Fairley, who had a passion for vampire lore, reportedly recognized her ashaving theidealizedlook of the womenportrayed in vampire-relatedliterature. But if Andrew wanted to find his wife and his son, why on Earth did he wait until 10:30pm before notifying authorities? Im not trying to throw shade at either one of them, but I do find it odd that when police asked Andy if he knew of anyone who lived in the area, he thought of an ex-girlfriend he hadnt been with in over 5 years, but failed to mention his friend, with whom he had much more frequent contact. Rorrer, a photographer with an 18-month-old child, was arrested in Linwood, N.C., and jailed without bail pending an extradition hearing.She was born in Phillipsburg, N.J., and in 1978 moved to North Carolina with her family. "He's a nice guy," Rorrer said of Katrinak. Rorrer said she had spoken once to Joann before she and Katrinak were married and that Joann seemed friendly when she put Katrinak on the phone.Rorrer said that years ago, she rented a barn in Washington Township for her horses. A young mother and her infant son suddenly went missing just before Christmas in 1994. Andrew Joseph Katrinak. I really never thought of it again.. Why would somebody tell you, theyre going to fry me, if they didnt do it? Jarrett told Wrong Man. Sir I would not kill somebody and I definitely wouldnt kill somebody I never met, Rorrer said. My husband passed away of a broken heart, Sarah OConnor said on the Montel Williams Show in 2001. http://articles.mcall.com/1998-03-06/news/3183202_1_mcintyre-defense-lawyer-killed/2, Unreliable Chain: Questionable Hair Evidence Condemns Woman to Prison, FBI admits flaws in hair analysis over decades - The Washington Post. . Frankly, Im neither surprised nor impressed by their decision. After Joann Katrinak, the wife of Patricia's former flame, turned up dead along with her infant son, prosecutors suspected Patricia. The episode made a special point about locating the photograph of Patricia Rorrer with dyed blonde hair. On September 15, 1995, she and Devon headed to Your Kidz &Mine, a new clothing store in the Collegeville Shopping Center, 10 minutes from her house in Limerick, Pennsylvania. Still, no good leads materialized. Not sure if i shopped here ever. 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. 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. Mal told Keith Morrison that Patricias dance teacher originally confirmed her alibi that she was in class on the day of the murder, then changed his mind. As of at least 2012, he was trying to have his convictions vacated and get a new trial following a Supreme Court decision that deemed life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders unconstitutional. 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. Puny policy. According to legal documents reported on in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1998, the Fairleys contended: While the circumstances were indeed horrific, the deaths . They allege that the North Carolina resident stealthily drove 500 miles to Pennsylvania and killed out of a sense of deadly indignation. 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. "I'm never going to see my daughter again. On Alexs diaper bag, police found strands of the same type of hair from the car. He would be alive today if it were not for Patricia Rorrer. The mild-mannered Sarah died in 2019 at the age of 83. 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. For nine hours on the witness stand, Rorrer denied having anything to do with the killing. In fact, she had moved 500 miles away and was in a new relationship herself. 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. Rorrer said she was almost 500 miles away in North Carolina on the day of the disappearance. Phone records confirmed Patricia placed the earlier call from North Carolina, not Pennsylvania. So begins a case that features a m. Pretrial and trial reporting is listed below: Rorrer's Reputation: `Don't Mess With Me'. By: Robert S. In 1994, Joann Katrinak called her mother-in-law and made plans to go holiday shopping. He had worked as a semi-pro boxer in Las Vegas in his youth and later settled into his own construction business. She was always looking for a fight, Gary Gabard told the Morning Call, which noted that he was a head shorter than Patricia. Theremaining three were sent to the FBI.A subsequent report states the FBIcould not test the hairs because they werecontaminated by someone who touchedthem during the collection process,rendering them scientifically worthless.Despite those reports, state police without recording the chain of custody inany record that has been revealed incourt said they sent all of the evidenceback to the FBI for more testing.While three of the six hairs weredestroyed in previous tests and twoearlier reports revealed no roots fortesting could be found in the others, nowa FBI analyst not only discovered roots totest on the hair samples, but also latermatched them to Rorrer.The new DNA tests, combined withwhat prosecutors said was evidence thatshe was trying to conjure up an alibi Rorrer said she was simply trying todocument her movements in NorthCarolina that day ended with her arrestin the double murder.It was the first time she would facecriminal charges.
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