So, this pointed to a theory that Joann had either left on her own or encountered foul play within her home. ''FBI examiners concluded there was a DNA match.Ms. Andrew Katrinak hugs a friend as he emerges from the courthouse after Patricia Rorrer, his former girlfriend, was sentenced to life in prison, March 9, 1998, for the murder of his wife and child 2 . They had a son, Alex Martin, in August of 1994. Those who knew Joann pointed out that she didnt like to drive in reverse and would have never parked that way. . Even though no gun wasever tied to the killing, a firearms experttestified that Joann Katrinaks injuriescould have come from such a weapon.Andrew Katrinak testified that he hadan amicable breakup with Rorrer, but healso told a jury she had knowledge of thelayout of his home. At 10:30 p.m., Andrew reported his wife missing. "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. It all gave jurors a lot to think about but only for six hours. Of course, if this matter was related to the inflicting of (non-consensual) pain or worse, and/or minors, thats a different matter but thats not the impression given. Patricia Rorrer (PA) SCI MuncyOE2170 Life Without ParoleDOB: January 24,1964. 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. Joann was fun, likable, beautiful, always happy, said her sister-in-law Cindy Wiard. Jimmy had reported Lisa missing when she failed to return home from shopping by dinner time. In the warm NC climate, Rorrer was dressed in shorts and a short sleeved T-shirt and had absolutely sign of injury. In fact, she had moved 500 miles away and was in a new relationship herself. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. ''The two went their separate ways in 1991, but Ms. Rorrer stayed in touch with her ex-boyfriend.Katrinak married and was living in Catasauqua, Pa., with his wife and son when they failed to meet him at his mother's house, who lived nearby, on Dec. 15, 1994.Katrinak went home and said he found his basement door removed from its hinges. They were married 62 years. She asked to speak with Andrew, who was home during the call; Joann refused. Im not persuaded in this case it applies but then what do I know other than what I read? Watch enough true crime shows and you're bound to hear one of these gems. !) and detractors (This is another bs attempt to free a psycho). In TV clips, Andrew didnt come off as anguished. Andrew Katrinak was suspected because he failed two polygraph tests when asked if he had lied to police and hid evidence. During Patricias hours-long turn in the witness chair, Michael McIntyre grilled her relentlessly. While he said there was no animosity between them, he claimed Rorrer may have snapped three days earlier when she called him, at which point his wife told her to leave them alone and abruptly hung upthe telephone.Rorrer said she was almost 500 miles away in North Carolina on the day of the disappearance. 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. TENTH DISTRICT. 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. Her attorney persuaded her to have the hair re-tested. Until WCJN has thought that the hair was planted but the FBI has just released a report detailing unscientific and fraudulent analysis of hair samples in criminal cases. As for an update on Lisas widower, Jimmy Manderach, it appears he still lives in the same part of Pennsylvania. But when did he find the evidence of the break-in? "The Case of the Severed Hand" examines a case where a waterlogged hand leads to a defiled corpse and a practitioner of black magic. Police couldnt determine whether the baby died of exposure or suffocation. But a hair in the hand from a third-party doesnt preclude the accused from guilt of itself, as though it must be from the perp. Four months later, investigators found the bodies of Joann Katrinak and her baby 15 miles away from the Katrinak home at the edge of a field. The missing items included Joann's purse, car, both her and Alex's winter jackets, and the diaper bag. But was Andrew in on this plan? But defense lawyer Robert Pfeiffer said that plenty of evidence supported Patricias innocence. Shes far from dumb, but shes not exactly educated, either. Try to do some REAL digging into this case. Region. I see not significance in the point you make here. 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. He had worked as a semi-pro boxer in Las Vegas in his youth and later settled into his own construction business. ); Your last point is hardly conclusive: as she used a weapon I wouldnt necessarily expect her to be injured, merely that she MIGHT. When Andrew Katrinak arrived home from work shortly after 6 p.m. on Dec. 15, 1994, he noticed two unusual things. That same year, police arrested Calebs father, James Fairley, who owned a pharmacy in Phoenixville, for allegedly providing a customer with the painkiller Darvon illegally. Great catch. It certainly tugged at our heartstrings, you know, it brought a tear to my eye. The couple moved into Andrews sturdy brick house at 740 Front Street in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. But were it not for Rorrer, yes, Id look at Fairley. She had money put aside. But her reputation wasnt exactly sleek and shiny. 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. I do rejoice when I learn of someone particularly on death row exonerated. She got 12 months of probation for shoplifting at a Walmart in Lexington, North Carolina. A CLUMP of hair would be more significant as if pulled out. Some issues there, but I aver nothing that seems to undercut/override evidence against her. She produced phone records showing a call to Andrew Katrinak two weeks before the abduction not three days before it to tell him she had won a national horse competition in Oklahoma. She wasn't aware she had left behind small clues in the woods and in the car, which police believe was used to take the victims to the woods, the prosecutor said..Burke highlighted the prosecution's failure to test another hair -- one found in Joann Katrinak's hand. At the trial, prosecutor Michael McIntyre alleged that Patricia remained obsessed with Andrew Katrinak long after their breakup despite testimony that shed had many boyfriends and live-in lovers to occupy her bandwidth. He was a little surprised when she approached him as though they were old friends last fall at a county barbecue.He was selling T-shirts for the department. The North Carolina woman accused of killing the wife and 15-week-old baby of her former boyfriend, Andrew Katrinak, calmly answered questions from one of her lawyers, James Pfeiffer. Dance defense. He washed off the foundation at their request, uncoveringscratch marks that looked as though they came from someonesfingernails. On the other hand, the judicial system rarely takes kindly to anyone who kills a mother orchild, or both. Her alibi about going to the club, called Cowboys Nitelife, got fuzzy when investigators discovered she hadnt signed the guest book on that day. In December 1994, Andrew Katrinak arrives home to an empty house. The victims were the wife and son of Rorrer's ex-boyfriend, Andrew Katrinak.Lt. Theres been some debate with regard to a picture of Rorrer shortly before the murders and the color of her hair. Her husband, Andrew, was surprised to not find his wife and child at home after arriving there after work. Media galore. And the alibi she used at trial -- that she was in a country music club with her fiance and his friend -- isn't credible, according to the prosecution. Its doors were locked, but the keys were inside the vehicle. 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). No show. Andrew had a lady friend who lived less than 4 miles from those woods. . But Patricia had moved from Pennsylvania years ago, and she'd started her own family in North Carolina. Finally, the evidence had been exposed to the elements for who knows how many months. 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!) I have the same profile but had no children. He wanted to move to Colorado and she was against it.. She appears a rather better fit than Fairley, particularly when we remember that in the great majority of murders, victim and perp are known to each-other, per Katrinak-Rorrer. But considering that Joann was found with her jeans unzipped and unbuttoned, it stands to reason that her death was sexually motivated.
