Christy Mirack /// Part 2 /// 225 | Forensic Files

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Monday December 21st 1992 the start of a new week not just any week but the work
week leading up to Christmas inside christe Merrick's sixth grade classroom her students awaited her arrival now she
was the type of teacher that would bring gifts to make the Christmas special for
them unfortunately she would never make it out of her front door someone brutally attacked this young woman and
left her lifeless body inside her town house police were notified and arrived on the scene very quickly the scene was
processed evidence was collected and the investigation started The Usual Suspects
were all interviewed and All Leads were followed but all were dead ends as said in the first episode what we found in
the reports it looks like initially three men were considered to be suspects by the police but of those three the
fact is all three of the investigators initial suspects were absolved because they were tested and in all
cases found that their DNA did not match the DNA evidence found at the crime scene one very strange thing here that
I'm sure the community was struggling with at the time of her murder because this was such a safe Community this is
an area where murders just don't happen that often now I did check back over the
last 15 years and the rate of violent crime in Lancaster county is higher than the national average but that's all
relative because the murder rate is quite low right they only average like four or five murders a year in the
county in the last 15 years more specifically this Township where the murder of Christy Merck took place the
crime rate is quite quite low violent crime is almost 46% lower than the national average and in 2017 and so far
in this year in 2018 the murder rate is zero so a strange thing for this community back then a young woman well a
girl this is 16-year-old Lorie show she was found murdered inside her home one year and a day before Christy Merrick
was discovered murdered in her home so Lori show was found on December 20th 1991 Christy Merrick discovered December
21st 1992 in the same Township so forget about County we're talking about the same Township here two young women found
one year apart murdered inside their homes there was reason there was reason for the the public to think these might
be connected yeah sometimes we see this with serial killers where they will kill
almost on an anniversary of another killing and the strange thing here for the public you know by this time by the
time of Christy Merrick's murder they had in fact made an arrest in the previous murder the year before in Lorie
Show's case but for the community when when there's Doubt cast upon that arrest that's made you have a community that is
not used to experiencing murder and so when a young woman 25 years of age is found killed in her town home and then
you go wait this seems familiar oh yeah one year ago this happened to a 16-year-old girl and she was found
murdered inside her home right so this is a very strange thing for this Township this community these people to
go through now now we would later learn because of an arrest made in Lorie Show's case and and later convictions
that took place that this would not in fact be connected law enforcement did receive a
good deal of help from the community as far as cooperation and tips that turned to leads that they were followed up on
but the tips that once inundated the police in the weeks after the homicide of Christy Merrick well that slowed with
the passage of time law enforcement would not give up on solving this case however proof of such they U the antee
and they asked the FBI for their help the FBI behavior analyst unit in quano Virginia stepped in and they worked up a
profile of the killer christe's case received National media attention and Lieutenant Renee Schuler the lead
detective on The Merck case participated in an intensive 11-week training course
at the FBI Academy in quanico this took place in 1995 so let's review what the FBI and Lieutenant Schuler had come up
with this is the killer profile it is believed that this attack and murder is the work of a single individual one man
acting alone possibly 25 to 35 years old at the time of the murder this man had knowledge that at about 7 a.m. on Monday
December 2th first Christy Merrick would be alone getting ready for school in her
townhouse the murderer is described as someone who wouldn't stand out in a crowd he is an observer not the center
of attention or the life of a party he probably had not killed before but might have committed date rape he likely went
into a rage when Christie either rejected him or wouldn't stop resisting him this was a huge case and even bigger
investigation over, 1500 interviews were conducted and by 1995 forensic testing would exclude 60 suspects so 60 men
suspected tested and not a match to the evidence collected at the murder scene mhm then in 2002 another very sad part
to this story to this by 2002 now Cold Case christe's mother Jerry is dying from cancer and she makes a deathbed
plea in the newspaper for new information in the case Jerry and The Merck family spoke with the I believe it
was called either the Lancaster News or the Lancaster newspaper but since the murder in late
1992 so for over 25 years by this date this newspaper has covered this case every bit of it and they have done a
very thorough and excellent job by the way covering christe's case Jerry told the paper that she feared that she would
die before the 10-year anniversary of of her daughter's Murder She feared that she would die never knowing the truth
now we know how important these big anniversaries can be for a case and for an investigation and you had referenced
earlier the with the death of with the murders of two individuals that we later learned are not connected being killed
almost one year apart right how these anniversaries can mean something either to the uh perpetrator of these crimes it
also gets people talking in the community one of the reasons why we try to highlight different cases especially
around the time that they took place is that people start talking again and and sometimes it's as simple as somebody
overheard something at a party 5 years after the murder that could be the break that law enforcement needs yeah we'll
highlight a case and we'll show it to you know and remind everybody in the garage about it but locally on the local
level people start seeing news you know news reports report Gatherings and it reminds the it reminds
the masses that this is not solved you know when we when we met with that group and spoke at the crime and Corruption
event on Saturday they one of the questions we were asked was what are the general
misconceptions you see with some of the cases that you cover and our answer was that sometimes people think that there
is a conclusion to a case and there has not been right you know you even on a local level somebody disappears or
they're murdered 10 20 years go by and people just start to assume that it has been solved yeah during this interview
Jerry told the newspaper that her family was pretty much convinced that Christy knew her killer that she had opened the
door for someone she knew or even maybe someone she was expecting to see that morning Jerry was fighting her third
bout with cancer breast cancer that eventually metastasized to her brain Jerry said in the interview that she
wanted wanted to know who who and why and fighting through the tears she added quote was she that terrible a person
that they had to kill her they very sad to read through this interview with with
Christy's mother yeah her death didn't have anything to do with her personality or her character it had everything to do
with the animal that killed her's character yeah the monster that killed her and I think that's what you hear
like when when I when I read this I almost heard her mother Jerry saying it to me or as if I were in the room and
her fighting through the tears and saying was she that terrible of a person that they had to kill her meaning I've
gone nine years since my my daughter's been murdered and I have no answers and I I and I've been searching for these
for nine years and now I'm at the end right and I have no answers and I don't know what to say about this because it
makes no sense The Merck family Al also discussed their frustrations with the investigation not being able to produce
the Killer by this point Jerry's husband and Christy's father Vincent Merck said
we did whatever they asked us to do we assumed they told us everything we needed to know we didn't talk we didn't
say nothing to nobody the last thing we wanted to do was to jeopardize the case right and in this investigation it's
tough because it seems like the investigators and law enforcement and even media is doing everything that they
can and actually you know they're they're not coming up with the answers but they're checking things off the list
I mean if you test you know what0 60 something 6 zero people yeah that's a lot of seen um but you test that many
people and you cross them off the list yes you don't have um the evidence is still funneling towards the truth mhm
and Vincent said as of this article that we're referencing that that's from 2002 that at that time at that time he
saw things differently saying quote nice people finish last Christy's sister said
I didn't get the feeling they were used to dealing with these kinds of things meaning murder investigation right now
her brother said that they had so many changes of hands down there referencing the police department stating every time
you talk to them somebody different was handling the case police response to the
family statements and a good one in my opinion Lieutenant Schuler who was the original investigator who who had been
working the case since the beginning said that she understands the family's frustrations and their doubts but assure
them and the public that the investigators have been diligent in gathering evidence and working to solve
this crime this case has been on every police officer's mind in this County and Lieutenant Schuler takes this personally
officers stated that although investigators have changed people get older move to new positions and retire
that does not change the continuity right and the officers took this opportunity to remind the public that
they will work this case until it is solved they believed that it can be solved and reminded the public for their
continued help with the case adding we are not on an island we need phone calls and letters to continue and I say
captain to these investigators God bless them right do you see you see what they
did here Captain they they handled it exactly exactly how I have said investigators should handle questions
and the media attention in regards to an open case these people are brilliant I tell you you go out there and you say
we're working the case very hard we still have some leads we are still collecting evidence we still need the
Public's help we believe this can be solved that's how you address the public and that we're getting closer that we
feel like we're getting closer not only because that that puts the pressure on them but you know and but you know the
family is going to have some Kickback after so many years and I I understand why they're frustrated but you know I
think their frustration went probably towards the wrong people sadly on November 4th 2002 this just a couple
months after the newspaper article that we just discussed Mrs Jerry Merrick just
not just 59 years old died at her home in shimoken death came just one day after CHR would have celebrated her 35th
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you can do that by going to Stitcher premium.com truecrime garage use promo code garage yeah and the thing is is we
have 12 episodes out now so we just did an update off the record I'm loving that
show Captain I love doing it and we've had fun doing it and we've received a a lot of praise and a lot of great
feedback so far and sometimes I'm allowed to to actually talk on that show we allow we allow Captain to talk from
time to time well here's the thing Captain regarding Christy Merrick in the open investigation into her murder her
family does something that is absolutely brilliant and it's it's it's following the advice of all the experts I've ever
spoken to all the experts that I've ever seen on TV or read about they all all say the same thing if a loved one of
yours is murdered or missing do your very best no matter how long no matter how many people you have to remind do
not let the case fade from the public eye keep it out in front of the public and remind them that your loved one
needs Justice or needs to be found and Christy Merrick's brother Vince in 2007 he puts up a couple Billboards uh
regarding his sister's murder ask asking for tips telling the public hey this is
a cold case and we need your help so applaud Vince there for his efforts and working on his sister's case that's a
good brother in 2009 Vince takes it a step further and he starts a Facebook page for his sister Christie's murder
and the investigation that followed now we would start to see some traction on this thing okay remember this when
when back when the crime was committed there was there was DNA that was collected and
when those samples were first tested they were put into a criminal database but at that time this was in 1993 when
they were placed into the database at that time there was no match right the perpetrator had no record he was not on
file for anything and this would be the case for many many years now in 2016 Mar case was transferred to the
district attorney in Lancaster Pennsylvania DNA left at the scene was sent to a new lab which created a DNA
phenotype composite of the of the Killer's attributes this including hair color eye color skin tone we've seen
this with the April Tinsley case it's almost like that we get an eyewitness composite sketch without there being an
eyewitness yeah the the phenotype report included visual composits of what the killer would look like at various ages
and these were released to the public in November of 2017 I think we've not referenc this as
the phenotype composite in the past when we discussed this but it's the lay term
is what something like snapshot DNA or snapshot uh identification based off of DNA so the Breakthrough came when the
DA's office started working with parabon nanolabs a DNA technology company to perform genetic testing on DNA samples
collected from the crime scene in 1992 basically they submitted a DNA profile that was found on the carpet underneath
of our victim right the da pointed out at this time because what you do is you submit this stuff and then you kind of
have to just sit back and wait to see what they come up with so the DNA pointed out to the public that although
this process has been used in other cases throughout the country it had not been used to solve a homicide in pen P
Sylvania now parabon nanolabs uploaded the mer suspect DNA to an open-source genetic DNA database called GED match
GED match shows the amount of shared DNA between two people and allowed parabon to find distant cousins of the suspect
so then they build family trees and then suggest a suspect's name to law enforcement that's very similar to like
what they did with the Golden State killer as well it's actually the ex the exact same thing so they're exactly
right they're exactly right and it's performed by the exact same company so God bless this this parabon Nano labs
and hopefully I'm saying their name right because they are doing God's work I'm sure you're saying their name
exactly right and if the if the drinking game word is exactly um this episode then U we got a
lot of drunk listeners authorities would not say which relative of the suspect LED them to him but the suspect they
came up with well his name is Raymond row M the district attorney said that row had lived only a few miles from
where the victim lived at the time of the murder in fact he lived approximately four miles away he would
have been 24 years old at the time of christe's murder so he's one year younger than than Christie herself
correct um this guy was not like the profile would suggest who was somebody just another person in the prow this was
somebody that actually enjoyed some of the spotlight most of his adult life he went by DJ freeze was his stage name uh
someone who performed he I guess he started off as like a break dancer in the early 80s but I think everybody was
a break dancer in the early 80s uh and he started DJing shortly after he soon became a popular house party DJ by the
mid 80s after winning some local DJ battles and then in the early early 90s he he started DJing clubs and some of
these were rather big nightclubs with dance parties with people like five six 700 guest through the door yeah he he
looks like a real jackass though right yes yes he certainly does in 1997 he opened up a DJ Pro retail store called
the 12 spot selling DJ equipment records CDs and clothing then he launched his DJ
School based out of his retail store so this is somebody that spent a lot of years building this career as a DJ uh
he's also created this retail store and now he's training and teaching others to
go into the business as well the thing is though he's a POS right Captain he's one big POS
because his DNA matches the DNA that was found on our murder victim and on the carpet that was found underneath of her
body body right and we kind of told you how they ran the DNA through a system so
then we can get to having a suspect and yes his DNA matched but how did they get
his DNA because that's pretty interesting okay so right although parabon Labs played a crucial role in
finding the suspect for this case for this murder investigation yeah starting by finding the relatives and then
finding the suspect yeah well parabon saying hey law enforcement this is your guy this is not that's not enough on its
own because investigators have to be sure that Raymond row is in fact their guy so officers from the Pennsylvania
State Police they went undercover at an elementary school function where row was
playing music he was working as a DJ there must have been some short cops on May on May 31st of this year May 31st
2018 authorities observed row with a water bottle and chewing gum and obtained them when he threw them in the
trash they they took these items they T it be better if he threw it on the ground that son of a [ __ ] was littering
and we just picked up the gum but he had to you know he was thrown in the trash he threw it in the well the the exact
report says he abandoned them no he probably threw him on the ground the sick son of a [ __ ] which means one of
two things he he threw him in a trash can or he put the gum in the empty water bottle and left it on the table where he
was performing work and just you know just left it there so I think he put it on the ground they took these items that
he had abandoned quote abandoned uh and tested them for DNA of the against that of the suspect's profile it was
confirmed that the DNA from those items the gum and the water bottle matched the
Sean sample on the carpet and the samples that were found on Merck's body the odds of this being a match 1 in 200
octillion now I went to school for a computer so I do not know how big of a number octillion is MH I'm guessing
that's what like 200 followed by eight zeros I have no idea somebody will let us know somebody will let us
know how big of a number that is um the world's population is like seven and a half to maybe eight billion people
octillion I can tell you this I do know octillion is much bigger than than a billion more than more people on Earth
and Mars and Pluto combin correct so row was he was never a suspect at the time of the initial investigation and I
couldn't find anything to suggest that he was in fact the suspect at any time during the investigation yeah but he
knew her right you have to assume that you have to to assume that because it I think what where the profile was right
and where and this was something that you know police knew this I think they knew this before they asked the FBI for
additional help the the statement in the profile where it says it was a single individual acting alone that knew that
somehow knew Christy Merck would be alone at 7 a.m. on that December morning inside her townhouse that to me is the
number one factor inside that profile yeah well this guy lives like we said four miles away he's a DJ he's roughly
the same age so if she goes to any clubs he knows who she is 16,000 people in this community I live in a a pretty
small town I'd say about 45 50,000 people and there's a couple hole in the- wall bars I go there I know everybody
right doesn't matter which hole in the wall bar I pretty much know everybody if you if you go to the hull and wall bars
a couple times you pretty much know everybody that goes to them yeah so this guy he's been arrested less than two
months ago so what I'm curious to see is what's going to come out about him and the connection to Christie right you
know what what are we going to learn at the trial and now okay so Raymond row was arrested at his home and he's
charged with criminal homicide now keep this in mind captain we're talking about
is he married uh I don't know if he was married at the time of his um arrest but
what I do have here in my notes that he's been divorced three times oh real winner uh he also does not have much of
a criminal history he's probably like it was it was all their faults and maybe the the most surprising thing to me
anyway was that he was still living in Lancaster at the time MH you know sometimes these people move far away
yeah so here's what I want to know is how did this guy that we don't see an obvious connection to our victim how did
how is the profile right in the fact that he knew she was alone inside of that home by herself well that's what
I'm saying I think I think the direct connection is that he DJs at clubs and he probably saw
her and she's attractive female and followed her home or or knew her through the clubs I
mean she might have enjoyed dancing you know I was I was married to a a lady that enjoyed dancing so what does she do
when you go to the club she tells the DJ what she wants to hear so she can dance
to it right then she kind of gets to know the DJ a little bit probably same thing happened here you know or the
group of girls knew the DJ I mean this guy is a douche wagon for sure but he you know he's not a badl looking
gentleman I shouldn't even call him gentleman he's not a badl looking douchebag but so I just think think you
got this um a very small town probably not a lot to do and you probably knew the local DJ if you went out she was 25
years old I get that what I'm saying is for the for this crime to have been carried out in the way that it was MH
that this individual had to know specific knowledge about the victim MH meaning he knew she was home alone at
that time that when she when he for whatever reason that he approached her well he might have been a creep and and
stalked her that's what I was asking you if you thought maybe he had followed her
home uh watched her got to know her routine or could it be something a you know maybe not first thought but maybe
did he know the roommate and then and and some kind of turn knew christe's movements through that so I'm curious to
see how it's going to come out and what will come of it of how this perpetrator VI victim relationship was not to
suggest that they had a relationship but what how did he know her and how did he
know her movements also curious to know if he turns out to be the man that the neighbors said that they saw on the day
of the crime right can we figure I couldn't find out what kind of car this guy was driving at the time of the
murder I just said douche wagon cuz we have a description of that vehicle 1991 douche wagon well and given what he did
to Christie and regarding what we know about this crime and this murder you have to wonder first of all you have to
wonder has he ever raped other women oh yeah and like we said you know probably date rape I mean he's in
the you know he's put in himself he's probably a Serial date rapist uh that that I'm going to put money on that
right now I'm just going to go on a limb or could just be a rapist May has nothing to do with with
dating no no but that's I think you're getting that confused cuz what I'm saying is he's a DJ in a club and look
even if you're feeding he might get drinks for free right gets paid a little bit of money get some drinks for free
hey if you're feeding a girl too many drinks that's a form of Date Rape right so I think this guy was put in this guy
is a creepo he has serious issues and he was put himself in situations over and over
and I guarantee you that he probably had some drug problems throughout the years
as well well I question just rape outside of Date Rape or whatever you want to call it because regarding the
crime we know he has committed even though he's not been convicted yet it's 200 octillion one in 200 octillion it
looks to me like this guy came and pushed in someone's door knocked them to the ground and raped them on the floor
right and that that is much different than feeding some somebody drinks or going out with them or anything well
it's still rape and I and I hope you know his generals get cut off in prison well you also have to wonder did anybody
else know I mean because and I say that because 25 years has passed did he tell anybody I think people in this because
this is the case that um as it was coming out as it was unfolding we had a great listener of ours I will not use
her name but she I think I can motor band her band is freaking awesome they're called alien knife fight she
grew up in this town and this guy constantly hit on her constantly tried to date her constantly was kind of
creepy towards her and she constantly said no I'm not interested um so if you get a chance
check out alien Knife Fight great ban um but yeah so I think maybe they didn't know but it was known in this community
that this guy was a little bit of a creepo well and here's what's great about this
case you know so we have the we have the Golden State killer case and we know the
outcome of that they finally after all these years been able to arrest the believed perpetrator of those rapes and
murders right from California as of this last weekend and we discussed this at length on our other
show off the record on yesterday's off the Record the April Tinsley case there's been a major break and now an
arrest in that case M because of this parabon nanolabs and then we have Christy Merrick's case 25 years old
case an arrest and and a DNA match that is one in 200 octillion so what I'm getting at here is
this is the future my friends and what a great future it is for law enforcement what a great future it is for all the
families of victims of C cases that are out there because I I have to wonder how
many other cases will be solved this way the information that I could find Captain if you have a good DNA sample a
good dnaa profile of your suspect of a killer or of a rapist you can submit that to parabon
Nano labs and guess what it cost to do the work that they done on Golden State do the work that they did on Christy
Merck's case and now April Tinsley's case what does it cost $2,000 for $2,000 you could submit that
DNA profile that's not a lot of money when a community is is concerned about a killer on the loose no and you could
clear a case off of your books and we're talking about some these cases these three cases that I've just referenced
today these are famous cases these are cases that within their state people still wonder today who killed that
individual who who killed these individuals in California who killed that little girl in Indiana right and
you get a big case like that off of your books you remind the community then and
there with that action that we will not stop we will stop at nothing to pursue Justice for the victims well and you're
also letting these freaking dirt bags no your days are numbered cuz you said so in this you said so in off the Record
episode yesterday you said you think that we're we're going to be in the Golden Age of cold cases being solved
and I think you're right my friend yes get ready for it because I believe that there will be countless there will be a
countless number of cases being solved this way and what will end up coming to light is people that that were never
suspected and people that you would never expect will be getting arrested for crimes from their past maybe from
their distant past too this is a trend that is trending up and it's just in fact it's just starting mhm and the
other thing too that you have to wonder is what effect will this have on on a suspect holding a secret for so long and
what I mean by that is people out there that killers that are hiding in the shadows out there for all these years
pay attention to what's going on well they're paying attention pay attention because now you you have a limited
amount of time you have a limited opportunity to go and say look I'm not proud of this this is what I did I'm
turning myself in you have a limited amount of time because if they got your DNA on profile
it's only it's it's going to it's going to be like a domino effect tick tick tick tick boom we're going to get to you
eventually right you also have to wonder mhm will we see an increase in suicides
over the fear of these killers hiding in the shadow their their past catching up
with them yeah I think you're going to see that you're going to see that for them
to save face uh with their family and maybe with their community cuz maybe if uh if I'm dead they won't
test my DNA yeah I think that's some people are going to view it that way but for the
other ones you're going to get caught and uh I hope severely bad things happen to you in in prison because I
think that's what you got coming to you yeah I I can't wait and it's so interesting of a time right now for law
enforcement and to and to be involved in True Crime mhm because it's with with the three that we've had so far like I
said all very famous cases well-known cases to you and I and to all the listeners out there it's like man when
you sent me that text the other day saying that there was an arrest in the April Tinsley case now when I when my
phone buzzes anymore I'm wondering what case is next what famous case that we've
wondered about all these years is next who did they bust and why and how you know we're we're living in the Golden
Age of it and like I said get ready for it there will be a countless number of cases being solved this way one that
jumps off the page to me Captain that I thought of immediately as I was wrapping
up my research and talking to you about this case will this be the way that they
catch the Lane Bryant [Music] killer Captain I want to get back to giving out a little recommended reading
this week we are recommending a book called tiny crimes very short Tales of mystery and murder each week Captain you
and I you and I dive into heartbreaking real life stories on our show so this last week I needed a little fiction in
my life to take the edge off and let me escape for a bit and Tiny crimes was the
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Christy Mirack /// Part 2 /// 225

Part 2 of 2

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December, 1992 - Inside Christy Mirack's sixth grade classroom, her students waited for her arrival. She was the type of teacher that went above and beyond. Unfortunately, she never made it out the front door of her home. Someone brutally attacked this young woman and left her lifeless body inside her townhouse. The investigation started. The usual suspects were interviewed, and all leads were followed. Then the case went cold as the winter dragged on. This week we discuss the murder of a young and promising woman and the hunt for her killer. Beer of the Week - Gold Star Pilsner by Lancaster Brewing Co.Garage Grade - 3 and a half bottle caps out of 5

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses Christy Merrick's murder, the investigation, and Raymond Row's arrest through DNA evidence.

Key points

The Murder of Christy Merrick. A young teacher is brutally murdered just before Christmas, shocking a safe community.
A Mother's Plea for Justice. Christy's mother, Jerry, makes a heartbreaking plea for information on her daughter's murder.
DNA Breakthrough in Cold Case. In 2016, DNA evidence from Christy's murder is re-examined, leading to new developments.
DNA Technology Breakthrough. Parabon Nano Labs uses DNA technology to identify a suspect in a 1992 homicide case.
Incredible DNA Match Odds. The DNA match in the case has odds of 1 in 200 octillion, highlighting its significance.
A New Era for Law Enforcement. Advancements in DNA technology signal a promising future for solving cold cases.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This was such a safe Community; murders just don't happen that often.

Commentary on the shock of the community after the murder.

4:47WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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