Other loyal friends and associates attested to Patricias kindness toward horses and devotion to her daughter, whom she took along as she worked in stables. Season 1 had a tangible impact on all three cases that were examined. Error! Patricias professional life included short-lived gigs as a Century 21 real estate agent and an Oldsmobile salesperson. It's really terrifying that that was regarded as damning evidence, especially now that the rest of the case that might have appeared to give it context has been so undermined. - On December 15, 1994, Joann Katrinak and her three-month-old son Alex disappeared without a trace from their home in Catasauqua, Pa. Patricia Rorrer, the ex-girlfriend of Katrinak's husband, was . (A good point. 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. Family members found Joanns tan Toyota sitting vacant in the parking lot of McCartys, a nearby bar. Patricia was . Tips to help protect your smartphone from thieves, Godfather of soft rock David Lindley dead aged 78 after months of illness, Prince George set to play key role in King Charles coronation but only if hes back in school ASAP after!, Idris Elba: Its MY prerogative to stop labelling myself a black actor, Stephen tWitch Boss widow Allison Holker tells their kids they will find courage, Which Outer Banks Character Are You? Berlingers recently directed Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, and the feature film on the infamous serial killer, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, for Netflix. The Free Patricia Rorrer page responds to comments from supporters (How is this even possible that this woman is still in jail?!? The police considered the possibility that Joann ran away, a theory disputed by her family. Pulled hairs don't grow roots. The only eyewitness to the murder a five-year-old child told police officers that a white man did it, reads the statement. Shes just extremely happy with Andy, her brother, Michael OConnor, told the media. 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. But none of those charges ever stuck. The two-hour special, called Murder in the Lehigh Valley: Keith Morrison Investigates, will premiere at 8 p.m. and air again at 11 p.m. Sunday night. I'm not sure to what extent it was brought up in the original trial. And if nothing more, it certainly galvanized the law enforcement community and got us moving in the right direction. I was like OK, maybe she was tired, you know with a new baby. Also she worked as a realtor so it's not that unreasonable for her to know which line to cut. On December 15, 1994, Joann Katrinak and her three-month-old son Alex disappeared without a trace from . Most convictions were procured through microscopic hair comparison which has been debunked as junk science today. A hidden FBI report found a couple years ago showed that police were unsure if there were roots on the found hairs. And why was my defense not provided with the "No Roots Attached" report which is exculpatory evidence, at trial.? After the premiere episode, Wrong Man will air on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. She fought for her life and had defensive wounds including a broken nose and a broken finger. The woman (who owned the salon) stated that they were closed that day and that she and her husband were out of town celebrating his birthday. He framed this woman who has been in prison 23 years! His favorite rattle, shaped like a phone, lay near the crime scene. Docket at pp. 1919 EDA 2016 Appeal from the PCRA Order May 26, 2016 In the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-39-CR-0002176-1997 BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., BOWES AND SHOGAN, J. Image credit: Episode screen capture from, - Sarah OConnor: Joann Katrinaks Mother, - Det. I lived more than 500 miles away, was engaged to be married, was a new mother, and all of a sudden I'm arrested for murdering two people I'd never even met? Perhaps police couldn't get a warrant for a sample of Patricia's hair, the color being inconsistent with the latent hairs found in the car and at the murder scene. Another thing never presented at trial was the fact that they found flower petals in the soles of Joann's shoes,. Yet, everything changed when they lost their 3-month-old son to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). . To date, the PA courts refuse to let me test this evidence which will prove my innocence. We need to know who killed them! Rorrer has filed a petition to get new evidence admissible that he said could set her free. An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. And Andrews explanation of how the intruder got in through the basement door seemed contrived, according to Grube, who gave an interview to Wrong Man, a 2020 true-crime docuseries from the Starz network, which produced two episodes called The Hang Up about the Rorrer case. However, as profiled on IDs Deadly Women: Green-Eyed Monsters, Joanns husbands ex-girlfriend, Patricia Rorrer, was eventually identified as their perpetrator. I dont think she was ever scared until we put the cuffs on her.. Select "match any" to find at least one field. Around April 1995, the cold and badly decomposed remains of 26-year-old Joann Katrinak and her 3.5-month-old toddler Alex Katrinak were recovered from the woods in Heidelberg Township, Pennsylvania. But based on his body/head size and the lack of decomposition of the bodies, it seems likely they had been alive for quite some time after being kidnapped. Nickelodeons Kids Choice Awards: What Is Slime, and Why Do We Love It? His team includes renowned civil rights attorney Ron Kuby, former prosecutor Sue-Ann Robinson, retired NCIS investigator Joe Kennedy, and Ira Todd of Detroits elite Homicide Task Force. She had money put aside. Also Rorrer had a history of run-ins with the law, including being charged with breaking and entering. Exactly one week after Joann and Alex went missing, the FBI interviewed me at my mother's house. But Patricia had moved from Pennsylvania years ago, and she'd started her own family in North Carolina. Christopher Tapp, who was convicted of the 1996 sexual assault and murder of an 18-year-old girl in Idaho, was coerced into confessing to the crime after an estimated 150 hours of interrogations. More importantly, the 3 month old baby was the size of a 6 month old, including to have a cranial diameter bigger than 99.99% of all 3 month olds. (We didnt get into the specifics.). 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. Police slowly built a case against Patricia. But investigators conceded they had no solid evidence against Andrew. She got 12 months of probation for shoplifting at a Walmart in Lexington, North Carolina. Inside the locked 1992 vehicle, police discovered some strands of blond hair stained with dried blood. Patricia Rorrer is found guilty of the abduction and murder of Joann Katrinak and her infant son, Alex. In 1995 DNA testing was brand new. Investigation Discovery is profiling the murder of Joann Katrinak and her infant son. Four hours is a long time between Andrew getting home from work and calling the police. They even lived together for about two years before parting ways for good. Season 1. Her defense was essentially that she and Andrew Katrinak had remained friendly, so she wouldn't want to hurt him. Thank God she decided to investigate these crimes on her own. There is a 2-part episode on Wrong Man that just came out this year. 1 hr 25 min Mar 5, 2017 TV-14. In North Carolina, she reportedly enjoyed some success as a horse trader, riding instructor, and rodeo competitor. He wanted to move to Colorado and she was against it.. There was at least one hair strand that contained enough skin tissue for a nuclear DNA match and it corroborated the mitochondrial match. I also communicated with Patricia via email to get her input on some matters. 1 talking about this. The indications of Patricia's involvement in Joann's and young Alex's disappearance were numerous. Very true - I can't remember if the show went through that. Illustration of the location of mitochondrial DNA in human cells. Please watch the show Wrong Man which also found new evidence that supports my innocence. Wrong Man investigators interrogated a confidential informant, the main witness against Evaristo Salas, and he recanted his testimony. Rorrer was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Joann Katrinak and her 3-4 month old son Alex in 1994 by forcing them our of their home and driving them to a wooded area where they were shot and killed. ", "Everything is outrageous," he said. Rorrer was convicted at trial in March 1998 of kidnapping Joann Katrinak, 26, and her 3-month-old son, Alex, on Dec. 15, 1994, from their Catasauqua home . Patricia's investigators are petitioning to DNA test the single strain of hair found in Joann's hand. I didn't see other potential suspects highlighted. Puny policy. An infant was lying face down on her stomach. Andrew told investigators that the unpleasant phone call between Joann and Patricia happened just three days before his wifes disappearance. Rejection and betrayal are good enough reasons for these women to commit heinous crimes. They released a poster of Joann and Alex, noting that the baby had almond-shaped blue eyes, weighed 18 pounds, and was circumcised. Use quotation marks to search as a I was convicted on microscopic hair comparison and DNA testing that rendered a "match" of 1 in 37,000. How would an intruder find it? McItyre said this is hearsay and the officer has refuted everything in an affidavit. Patricia Rorrer's Story. I can't recall if the long distance calls were talked about in the show. It was conceivable that Andrew believed they were still out. Decades-old Lehigh Valley murder case back in national spotlight, Stormcenter - School / Business Application. (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'm sure that I'm missing a lot of details here (please add in the comments) but everything seems far too convenient and circumstantial. 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. By: Robert S. In 1994, Joann Katrinak called her mother-in-law and made plans to go holiday shopping. I am innocent of these crimes, and I should not have lost the best years of my life in a prison cell. Of course she did--because all that was out there on me was fake news. Andrew's involvement in the latter theory was dismissed when his alibi checked out. A closer examination of the hairs showed traces of dried blood. Since then our team has proven that Patricia is innocent. Patricia knew her gun tended to jam, but she used it anyway. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. The second is Patricia Rorrer, who has been in prison since 1998 after being convicted of the horrific murder of a young mother, Joann Katrinak, and her 15-week old son in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. But the Wrong Man team brought in their own experts to review the detailed information on the corpses. They theorized might've simply started a new life with another man, but this seemed absurd to everyone who knew Joann. 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?. But if Rorrer was a genuine suspect, it's likely investigators would have attempted the mitochondrial DNA match on the hair anyway. He was sentenced to death after being convicted of the brutal torture and murder of a young babysitter named Linda Rodgers in 1984 in Santa Ana, California. He is the TV Editor at Entertainment. The system is broken sending innocent people to prison! Another former boyfriend said she talked about Andrew frequently and liked to gaze at old photos of him. At 10:30 p.m., Andrew reported his wife missing. Rorrer claims the DNA evidence used to send . Joann was shot once, then the gun jammed. A newspaper account described Patricia as a soft-spoken, demure woman who had a sweet Southern accent and wore feminine clothes in court. TV-MA | Mar 1, 2020 | 53m. After a successful first season, Starz has announced thatWrong Man season 2 will premiere on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 9:45 p.m. Joann and her 4-month-old son, Alex, were abducted from their home in Catasauqua, PA, and murdered in a rural wooded area near Germansville. On Thursday, December 15, 1994, Joann Katrinak and her three-month-old son, Alex, went missing from their Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lo9AIFM_vc&fbclid=IwAR28Mf5rKuUyaq1N-vBqirZM_382D69Zy42uONlU3Qf0eNEnJ1w_kYRYKIM. Thats my life.. Why did the police not look into these things? Keith Morrison investigates the horrific 1994 murders of Joann Katrinak and her infant son Alex, the tangled relationships surrounding the crime, and the ongoing claims that Patricia Rorrer was wrongfully convicted. The killer was Patricia Rorrer, the jealous ex-girlfriend of Joann's husband, Andrew. Unseasonably warm weather in late December suggested that the victims were there since they were killed. Her book tells the truth and the real story of this case. Shes attracted the help of writer Tammy Mal (full name Tammy Malinowski OReilly), author of Convenient Suspect, a book about the case. 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