On the other hand, the judicial system rarely takes kindly to anyone who kills a mother orchild, or both. Investigators discoveredhis DNA under Lisas fingernails, some strands of long dark hairwith the roots attached (suggesting a struggle) in the vacuum cleaner bag at the store, and the babys DNA on thecarpet. On Alexs diaper bag, police found strands of the same type of hair from the car. If shes been in a public place, such as a shop, a shed hair from someone else could be picked up on ones clothing and stick to a sweaty palm, etc. Lenient system? 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 . That does not ring true to me. Of course anything is possible, but I have studied this case in great detail, and my gut instinct is that Patricia Rorrer never left North Carolina, just as shes always maintained. Posted: June 22, 2022 ", "I think she gave us something like four or five alibis as to where she was at. 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. 157K views, 2.2K likes, 116 loves, 110 comments, 285 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The FBI Files: The December 1994 kidnappings of Joann Katrinak and her 4-month-old son, Alex. His wife's Toyota Corolla wasn't parked in back of their house at 740 F No one else from the club testified she was there. Joann had been shot once and then bludgeoned in the head. A young mother and her infant son suddenly went missing just before Christmas in 1994. Thanks for writing in its the first Ive heard about another mother and child murdered in that area. ; 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. But were it not for Rorrer, yes, Id look at Fairley. 1994 double-murder case returns to Lehigh County Court - lehighvalleylive That day I was at the Dunkin Donuts too. The township invested an additional $50,000 for new equipment for the playground in 2012. By: Robert S. In 1994, Joann Katrinak called her mother-in-law and made plans to go holiday shopping. KATRINAK BURIES HIS SLAIN WIFE, SON - The Morning Call My guiding principle if I were administering criminal law is what is it reasonable to do to establish probative fact and what is it reasonable to believe of those facts (a matter for the jury)? Love your phrases: seething with thoughts of criminal perversion. Recall Jason Funk's role in Katie Froeschle's murder in Muffled Cries (s11e31) or the trail of evidence left by Earl Bramblett in Private Thoughts (s08e16). Family members found Joanns tan Toyota sitting vacant in the parking lot of McCartys, a nearby bar. Is the system THAT rotten? So tragic. Patricia Rorrer has been portrayed as a bully, petty thief, neglectful horse owner, and heartless killer or a sweet, caring friend railroaded by authorities desperate to solve a double-murder case that snagged worldwide interest. Fantasy. 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). Shes extremely, extremely happy with the baby. She said she had no animosity toward the Katrinaks and she had never met the dead woman. Detective Robert Werts stated Rorrer offered four or five alibis for the time of the incident. Wish me luck! Andrew Joseph Katrinak. Ideally we would achieve certainty; practically we must settle for the exclusion of all reasonable doubt: problematic cos its circular. (A good point. (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. Again, this vital piece of evidence was never tested prior to trial. The missing items included Joann's purse, car, both her and Alex's winter jackets, and the diaper bag. Plus, he had only a minimal life insurance policy on Joann and he passed polygraphs, according to The FBI Files: Family Secrets. An ex-boyfriend of Patricia knew she owned a distinct .22 caliber pistol and knew of its tendency to jam, but Rorrer could only deny owning such a weapon. . Dance defense. For this week, I looked into the defenders reasoning as well as Patricias whereabouts today. 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. The farmer's remote field bordered an isolated horseback riding trail. Shouldn't Andrew have mentioned this suspicious, out-of-the-blue phone call from his ex-girlfriend sooner? Nailed? 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.. After relocating to Pennsylvania, Patricia met the 6-foot-2-inch Andrew in a restaurant. LONGTIME SUSPECT CHARGED IN MURDERS\ - Greensboro News and Record Watch enough true crime shows and you're bound to hear one of these gems. I have the same profile but had no children. She was born on Jan. 24, 1964, in eastern Pennsylvania and moved back and forth between there and Davidson County, North Carolina. He had worked as a semi-pro boxer in Las Vegas in his youth and later settled . That decision drew public anger, as can be seen inPhiladelphia Daily News letters to the editor published on September 29, 1995. DNA TRAIL IN 2-YEAR-OLD SLAYINGS OF WOMAN, BABY LEAD TO ARRESTAssociated PressJun. 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. http://articles.mcall.com/1998-03-06/news/3183202_1_mcintyre-defense-lawyer-killed/2, Motive Made Focus Of Rorrer Case Closing Prosecution, Defense Agree It Doesn't Make Sense. However, the only record of any call made from Rorrer to the Katrinak household was on Dec 7th. ''FBI examiners concluded there was a DNA match.Ms. Juries are imperfect: what is stretched circumstantial evidence for you (or me) was evidently not so for that jury. Now retired, he declined ForensicFilesNow.coms invitation to spar directly with Patricia via a podcast. She got 12 months of probation for shoplifting at a Walmart in Lexington, North Carolina. Seven leaky buckets hold no more water than one: that several stratums of the evidence against her MIGHT be interpreted otherwise doesnt add up to sufficient doubt (that works the other way too, of course!) 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. Despite previous testimony that said all of the hair was destroyed or untestable, the latest test results revealed a hair discovered on the drivers side seatback of the car matched Rorrer.The results are disappointing, Neely said. Patricia had won a prize at an out-of-state horse-riding competition less than two weeks before the murders, and she allowed herself to be photographed. If it could reasonably have affected the outcome a retrial is necessary. The article also notes that most inmates earn around 19 cent an hour at their jobs and must pay $5 each time they need medical attention or medicine. But by all accounts, Rorrer only spoke to Andrew Katrinak once or twice a year. Andrew's annual salary is . 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. "I'm not worried about my clothes," Rorrer said. Her family moved to North Carolina in 1978 but returned to the area in 1984. I lived in this area at the time of the sadly disgusting Murder in Collegeville. Patricia and her husband broke up after the babys death. This was one of. He gave an audio interview to the Wrong Man investigators when they made a surprise visit to his house, but he declined to appear on camera. One on one? And, I was quite angry with the police, that they accused Andy. (Shopping Spree,Forensic Files). The appeal argued that substantial documentation of the chain of custody process was at best incomplete and that critical forensic evidence was never tested. Friends and family began looking for Joann and Alex. The victims were the wife and son of Rorrer's ex-boyfriend, Andrew Katrinak.Lt. Katrinak, Andrew J.Andrew Joseph Katrinak, 88, of Bethlehem, died on Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at Blough Healthcare Center in Bethlehem. The same source indicates Patricia Rorrer has repeatedly appealed for a retrial and exoneration, but each request has been denied. Fortunately, investigators found glaring evidence of Fairleys guilt within days of the murder and built a case so solid that the attackerended up sentenced to two consecutivelife terms for two counts of second-degree murder. Her husband, Andrew, was surprised to not find his wife and child at home after arriving there after work. . Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. But was Andrew in on this plan? She had a suitcase packed, Devine said. Not sure if i shopped here ever. It is currently unknown if the Patricia's case was one of these. I think one cant read anything into Fairleys pastimes/hobbies: hes just evil. Sometimes Andrew goes by various nicknames including Andy Katrinak, Andrew J Katrinik, Andrew J Katrinak, Andrew Katrinah and Andrew J Katrinak. Her car was soon located in a parking lot within walking distance of their home. Even though no gun wasever tied to the killing, a firearms experttestified that Joann Katrinaks injuriescould have come from such a weapon. For next week, Im researching a bit about Dungeons andDragons and whether any game aficionado or the nature of the pastime itself hasbeen linked to other major crimes. They lived together in Salisbury Township, Pa., for about two years, but they . Daughter of George & Margaret Panik and wife of Andrew Katrinak. And the kidnapping scenario became more plausible when you factor in the privacy of the alleyway behind the Katrinak house. "She had a reputation of, `You don't mess with me,'" Fonda Kay Eggers told a reporter for the Dispatch of Lexington, N.C. Eggers, a Humane Society investigator and distant relative of Rorrer, filed animal cruelty charges against Rorrer in 1994 after checking on Rorrer's horses. In December 1994, Andrew Katrinak arrives home to an empty house. Andrew Joseph Katrinak, 68 - Drake, CO - Has Court or Arrest Records . It was conceivable that Andrew believed they were still out. The 5-foot-9-inch-tall Patricia was physically strong, no match for 5-foot-4-inch Joann. 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. I dont have any reason to believe that Fairley might have been in the Catasauqua area in December of 1994. Patricia demonstrated a consistent habit of long-distance calls from home, then had an obvious gap while claiming she. Hasty assumption. It wasnt until post-conviction DNA testing that those hairs suddenly, inexplicably had roots. were relatively and mercifully swift, mitigating their conscious pain and suffering.. Andrew Joseph Katrinak (1926-2015) - Find a Grave Memorial Submit an open records request to the Catasauqua Police Department, the Pennsylvania State police, and the FBI. At the states request, the instructor wore a wire during a phone conversation with Patricia. MAC: Thanks. 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. 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. His favorite rattle, shaped like a phone, lay near the crime scene. 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.