Patricia and her husband broke up after the babys death. 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. With Chris Anderson, Fatima Silva. : 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. 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. Dance defense. Sir I would not kill somebody and I definitely wouldnt kill somebody I never met, Rorrer said. As for an epilogue on ex-flame Andrew Katrinak, he has moved to Colorado and kept a low profile since the trial ended. Brand New App to watch all of WFMZ-TV News and Syndicated Programing 24/7 on your Streaming App enabled TV. At 17, Patricia dropped out of high school and married landscaper Gary Gabard. Within two years, the couple had moved in together, married, and become the proud parents of a new baby boy they named Alex. Judges Denial of Commonwealth's Motion (pdf) Download. Investigators theorized that this action angered Patricia into a jealous rage that ended with abduction and murder. He said, "The only possible thing that would make any sense is to claim that the hair that was tested wasn't the hair of the case, it was somehow, some other extraneous hair that got in there. The 5-foot-9-inch-tall Patricia was physically strong, no match for 5-foot-4-inch Joann. Andrew described his existence with Joanne and Alex as a little Camelot., Ex-spouse off list. A hair that does, Why did they fail to test a piece of flesh adhering to a torn fingernail fragment recovered from Joann's chest? Why did the police center all their attention on a hair found 15 miles from the crime scene, but ignore physical evidence left directly on the bodies? More dry than wet overall, but still cool and unsettled. 2023 Warner Bros. After Patricia and Andrew broke up in 1990, she moved back to North Carolina but the two remained in touch through sporadic visits and phone calls. Investigators initially keyed in on Katrinaks husband, Andrew, whod told police he thought someone broke into his house, cut the telephone line and abducted his wife and son. Our Mission. A newspaper account described Patricia as a soft-spoken, demure woman who had a sweet Southern accent and wore feminine clothes in court. Michael Workmans son, Fredrick James Workman, disappeared at age 15 and may use the alias "Fred Shields.". After more than 20 years, questions are finally being raised about the many problems that plague this case, and the compelling evidence that points to the wrongful conviction of Patricia Rorrer. Pal stays true. Her friends say she was railroaded by the system and they want Ch Read allPatricia Rorrer is serving a life sentence, convicted of driving 500 miles to kill her ex-boyfriend's new wife and his baby. She was born on Jan. 24, 1964, in eastern Pennsylvania and moved back and forth between there and Davidson County, North Carolina. Alexs cause of death has never been determined. i-InD6g~v~}saG\R -(QdB]+[1xlm>Hv%} i{Fb=i~{/7=hn/JzF3XuccBb Why First Republic failed. Joanns car was later found next door in the parking lot of a local tavern. 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. 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. 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. Even though Joanne was supposed to take her mother-in-law for Christmas shopping, she never showed . On Alexs diaper bag, police found strands of the same type of hair from the car. I was like OK, maybe she was tired, you know with a new baby. She was also accused of breaking into barns, stealing horses, and underfeeding the ones she owned. Most of all, Patricia said, she would like a rematch with prosecutor Michael McIntyre. What Happened To High School Senior Erica Fraysure? But her reputation wasnt exactly sleek and shiny. 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. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. endobj Both bodies were found four months later along a rural trail close to where Rorrer used to ride horses. Joann answered and told Rorrer to leave her family alone before hanging up. Our investigators unravel the mysteries behind Vonda Smiths' possible wrongful conviction and Jessie Morrison's brutal murder. Patricias marriage fell apart, and she returned to Pennsylvania, where she fell in love with Andrew Andy Katrinak after meeting him at a restaurant. Patricia Rorrer was convicted of both deaths in the mid-90's and is serving a life sentence. They allege that the North Carolina resident stealthily drove 500 miles to Pennsylvania and killed out of a sense of deadly indignation. Although Rorrer would deny any involvement in the crime, the evidence against her seemed almost overwhelming. Uncover shocking new evidence in Patricia Rorrer's case with a new episode of #WrongMan, now on the STARZ App. And Patricia wasnt all edges. He said she did own a firearm, with its serial numbers filed off. Therefore, when Andrew revealed that his ex once worked in a barn near the site of his wife and sons bodies, she became a suspect. When Andy Katrinak comes home to find his wife and infant son gone, he summons the police and tells them he believes they have been abducted, and he suspects his ex-girlfriend Patty Rorrer m Patty Rorrer is convicted of the kidnapping and murder of her ex-boyfriend's wife and infant son, but "Wrong Man" investigators discover that the case is not so clear cut. When Andy Katrinak comes home to find his wife and infant son gone, he summons the police and tells them he believes they have been abducted, and he suspects his ex-girlfriend Patty Rorrer might be involved. (In an exclusive clip, Morrison questions the tactics of prosecutor Michael McIntyre.). 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. 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. They moved into her house in Salisbury County, staying together for about two years. Six hairs recovered from Joanns car and two from the site where the bodies were discovered became the main evidence used against Patricia. Her friends say she was railroaded by the system and they want Chris and Fatima to join their fight to free her. Her friends say she was railroaded by the system and they want Chris and Fatima to join their fight to free her. The couple moved into Andrews sturdy brick house at 740 Front Street in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. How can someone fight it and correct the record? Investigation Discovery is part of Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the worlds #1 pay-TV programmer reaching nearly 3 billion cumulative subscribers in 220 countries and territories. 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. She has been telling the same story for over 20 years, Morrison explains. Join us tonight for #ReasonableDoubt at 10/9c on ID. Z6DGgYP5`T30V;B:HI `{N v,mQxtGxrFwLS` KxL*sc ;fY. Was it just a mistake that one of the highest courts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania got everything so wrong? Incriminating words. She asked to speak with Andrew, who was home during the call; Joann refused. Patricia L. Rorrer was taken into custody from the Linwood home she shared with her boyfriend and 1-year-old daughter on June 24, 1997. Joann answered and told Patricia to leave them alone before forcibly hanging up. Is the wrong person serving a pair of life sentences for the 1994 kidnapping and killing of Pennsylvania mother Joann Katrinak and her 3-month-old son, Alex? Neely said a hair with a root put Rorrer away, which sparked Neely to question the forensic investigation. Men who murder are conventional, women are sensational, posits the Worldwide Womens Criminal Justice Network. All rights reserved. And James Pfeiffer and Jim Burke have remained on her side. That hang-up, they said, was the last straw. %Ll-{Xjd>=ktWeO]g&7y1i8|il_s= How would an intruder find it? In April 1995, the family buried Joann and Alex in a single bronze casket after a funeral mass at a Bethlehem church. Meanwhile, interest in Patricias plight continues on social media. wG@F3 hJ`F@S/ $wyqOs[q5LYqC?.qp(8'&(QZ)]+YLt% YYySj;f4YwfjX_&W5g5z6,^bU)>XUPLh-TxP #. 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? Katrinak's husband's ex-girlfriend was convicted of the crime, but now there's a possibility the case could be reopened. 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. The cause of death has not been determined, according to officials. % Commonwealth's request for reconsideration (pdf) Download. How to make sure your tax refund, other mail doesn't get stolen, Cher splits from rumoured fianc Alexander AE Edwards, Ed Sheeran tells how he was comforted by Stormzy the day Jamal Edwards died, Noel Gallagher splits with rumoured new girlfriend Dorothea Gundtoft, Katy Perry to be replaced by big time stars on American Idol while she performs at King Charles coronation, Anna Wintour appears to confirm rumoured romance with Bill Nighy at Met Gala, CT: RESTAURANT PREPS FOR KING'S CORONATION, RAW: NY: MET GALA RED CARPET ARRIVALS (MORE), American Idol Top 8 Decided in Twist After Judges Song Contest (RECAP), NY: MET GALA KARL LAGERFELD COSTUME INSTITUTE, RAW: GALA: SERENA WILLIAMS/KARLIE KLOSS ANNOUNCE PREGNANCIES. Or is Patricia Rorrer still just a convenient suspect? Some lawyers call microscopic hair analysis junk science that today wouldnt qualify as evidence in a trial like Rorrers. As for Joanns parents, her father died a year after the murder. Kidnapped and killed? Still, no good leads materialized. DNA testing revealed the blood came from either Joann or her son. Will There Finally Be Justice For Megan McDonald? 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. Her friends say she was railroaded by the system and they want Ch Patricia Rorrer is serving a life sentence, convicted of driving 500 miles to kill her ex-boyfriend's new wife and his baby. ", Neely said, "If there were no hair roots when this hair went to the FBI, where did a hair with a hair root come from?". The police considered the possibility that Joann ran away, a theory disputed by her family. And dance instructor William Jarrett couldnt remember whether she attended his dance class at the club the night of Joanns disappearance. 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. Patricia Rorrer is serving a life sentence, convicted of driving 500 miles to kill her ex-boyfriend's new wife and his baby. 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. Four months after Joanns disappearance, farmer Paul Kovalchik reported seeing what at first looked like a pile of clothes on his land in Heidelberg Township woods, about 15 miles from the Katrinaks house. My sister will get her justice, insists the 12-year-old murder victims younger sibling. I also communicated with Patricia via email to get her input on some matters. Moreover, Patricia had been accused of breaking into barns, stealing horses, and underfeeding the ones she cared for charges that never stuck. She currently has an appeal pending in Pennsylvania Superior Court. Investigators in Nashville, Tennessee are looking for help identifying a young female found deceased in 2018. They also found a photo of Patricia taken 11 days before the homicide. Her brother returned home but she never did. Stable situation. (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. After Joann Katrinak, the wife of Patricias former flame, turned up dead along with her infant son, prosecutors suspected Patricia. 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). 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. This all started because Rorrer filed under the Freedom of Information Act for records from the FBI. 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?. For ID, Sara Kozak is executive producer and senior vice president of production, Jane Latman is executive vice president of development, Kevin Bennett is general manager, and Henry Schleiff is Group President of Investigation Discovery, Destination America, and American Heroes Channel. 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. Its one of those stories where, if you listen to one side, you can see, absolutely, that that side has to be correct. I dont think she was ever scared until we put the cuffs on her.. Lehigh County Deputies escort accused murderer Patricia Rorrer, as she arrives for the beginning of her trial at the Lehigh County Courthouse in Allentown, on Friday, Feb. 6, 1998. Suzanne Pearson fabricated quotes from Patricia including her claim that Patricia said, Im going to the electric chair upon her arrest because a conviction would boost Pearsons career.
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