Forensic Files - Season 2, Episode 10 - Sealed with a Kiss - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] for more than a year angry hateful letters were sent to a first grade school teacher in a small Mountain
Village in Pennsylvania many were sexual in nature some threatened violence when scientists analyzed the
letters they found evidence that the stalker knew a lot about the victim more than anyone could possibly imagine
[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in 1993 some hate mail began to arrive at the cool ball Learning Center a public
elementary school in the Pocono Mountains in eastern Pennsylvania the letters were unsigned
and sent to the principal making serious allegations against a first grade reading teacher Joanne Chambers she had
been teaching in the school district for the past 8 years Chambers brought pot into school and
then showed it in the faculty room just like it was a big joke I thought it was just somebody a disgruntled employee
I just wanted to know who it was and I thought it was a thing that you could you know sit down with that person talk
it out and fix it soon letters were sent to Joanne Chambers herself at both home
and at school I can get you in one try no one will ever prove it they may not think so but I'm smarter
than all of you you stupid [ __ ] Joanne Chambers was popular with students and was an unlikely Target of a hate
campaign she was married with a 10-year-old son and had no known enemies I can speak with uh Assurance about
Joanne's teaching abilities uh she's highly recommended by uh other teachers in the district uh she was also highly
respected by parents uh she was an outstanding teacher all her recommendations show that it appeared
that someone had a grudge against her look in Chambers desk she seems to like Jack Daniels Chambers found the whiskey
bottle in her desk drawer and said personal items were missing there were things missing from
my drawers the picture of my child and myself and my friend and her daughter was taken from my desk the police
suspected that a fellow teacher or School employee was sending the letters since they often alluded to activities
going on inside the school one of the letters contained an interesting clue it was a snide reference to the school
superintendent as Colonel clink a character in The Hogan's Heroes television series a teacher in the
school was once overheard referring to the superintendent in this way her name was Paula Nori like Joanne Chambers
noaki also taught first grade and had worked in the school district for 18 years I was totally surprised I was
positive that it wasn't anybody in the building that it could be explained in some other
way the letters continued but soon there were other incidents the first was something Joanne Chambers found under
her desk I went to start my lesson with my children and sat down at a chair and had a dress on and put my hand
underneath to straighten the dress out and I was covered with feces and I couldn't even tell you what I felt
like I felt sick to my stomach I felt I was like it was not happening it was like this could not happen just a few
days later a hidden camera captured several teachers entering Joanne chambers's vacant classroom
one removed Chambers coffee cup from her desk it was Paula Nori the photograph of Joanne Chambers
stolen from her desk was pasted onto a nude picture photocopied and distributed throughout the schoolyard mailed to
parents' homes and a copy was taped to the door of a local store there were phone calls to parents saying that I was
a lesbian that um I had AIDS that you know that I shouldn't be teaching their children the FBI suggested that Joanne
Chambers be given a lie detector test to validate her various claims Paula noaki
also volunteered to take a lie detector test hoping to clear her name after suspicions arose from the colonel clink
reference and the coffee cup incident one of the two failed on the most crucial question of
[Music] all after 10 months of threatening letters x-rated pictures and hidden video surveillance police believed they
had a break in the stalking case Joanne Chambers and Paula noroi both took lie detector tests about their
knowledge of the threatening letters each was asked whether they were involved in making or sending any of the
harassing letters one passed the other failed I was told that I fail my polygraph Paula Nori became the primary
suspect I was very upset I I couldn't believe that it was making things worse instead of better Nori said she was
video vide tape taking Joanne Chambers coffee cup because Chambers had asked Paula to get it for her the surveillance
videotape shows that Joanne Chambers and Paula noroi were both in the classroom and left together just moments before
Paula returned for the coffee cup police asked noaki if they could search her home and once again she
voluntarily complied they took with them an old typewriter that we had they took
um different kinds of paper and different envelopes the analysis of Nori's typewriter revealed that it was
not the one used to type the threatening letters the paper and envelopes from noak's home did not match those used in
the threatening letters either Nori's reputation as a by the book teacher and strict disciplinarian was in sharp
contrast to Joanne Chambers lose and funloving classroom style the way the police saw it Paula was jealous of Joan
chambers's unconventional teaching style and the popularity that she gained from
that style uh Paul nakaki was more of a bu to book conservative teacher who favored traditional teaching methods
whereas Joanne Chambers would show up in the classroom wearing jeans and a Mickey
Mouse t-shirt and she would do things like stage water fights with the school administrators which uh the police
believe angered Paul andachi and as the investigation continued so did the threatening letters letters went out to
parents to parents saying that I was molesting their children I thought my career was gone I thought I was going to
be in jail I thought I didn't know what was going to happen by the fall of 1994 the letters included death
threats you die for her own protection Joanne Chambers was transferred to another
school shortly after her transfer a box in pink wrapping paper was found at the front door of the
school inside was a Barbie doll the throat slashed with a razor blade and covered with paint the color of blood
the dress was identical to one often worn by Joanne Chambers the hair was cut and styled like Chambers as well I said
goodbye to my husband like I wanted him to remember me saying goodbye I lived every day thinking that it was
truly possible that it could be my last in November of 1994 Chambers said a car tried to run
her off the highway she said she saw the face of the driver I go off the road I pull over I look she's looking
right at me I will never forget that look now never I will never forget it she looked right at me she said the face
she saw was a face she [Music] knew when Joanne chambers called police to report that a car forced her off the
highway she said she recognized the face of the other driver I saw her she looked
at me I'm I know that Paula noaki was driving that car Paula noaki denied the allegation but was arrested and charged
with harassment stalking simple and aggravated assault making terroristic threats and recklessly endangering the
life of Joanne Chambers over 100 counts in all I was finding out that I was charged with many many horrendous things
I had never heard about before the school district suspended her from her teaching position with pay if convicted
she could serve 5 years in jail after Nori's arrest the letters threats and mailings stopped noroi maintained her
innocence and hired both an attorney and private investigator to help the investigator was a former state
policeman and even he admitted that Paula's situation did not look good my first thought was well she's probably
guilty it just looked overwhelming when you looked at the at at the whole complaint the FBI found some partial
fingerprints on the threatening letters but they did not match Paula Nori's the defense team wanted to see if any DNA
was present on the threatening letters the prosecutor would allow DNA testing by the defense only if the results were
fully disclosed regardless of the outcome Paula's defense team wanted to make sure she understood the
ramifications of such an agreement he asked would there be any possible reason that any of my DNA should be on any of
it any possibility whatsoever and I I said no Paula if we do this testing and your DNA is found on these stamps or or
envelope flaps your chance you're going to jail the cost of the DNA testing approximately
$7,000 would have to be paid by by Paula oraki blood samples from both Paula and
her husband were sent to a local DNA lab along with the threatening letters and the envelopes the amount of DNA that
would wind up on the back of a stamp or an envelope flap depends on how hard you
lick the envelope how much cells that you Shed from the inside of your mouth they're variables that it's hard to
predict exactly what the value would be but it is there in some cases there's more DNA than others first scientists
use steam to gently remove the stamps from the envelopes the back of each stamp and envelope flap was swabbed for
epithelial cells which come from saliva DNA was found on the back of one set of stamps and on one envelope flap
the number of cells recovered was so small that forensic scientists performed a process called polymerase Chain
Reaction or PCR which amplifies or copies the DNA in those few cells to make enough for testing what we're
looking for to see is how does um this DNA that we've extracted compare to somebody else's DNA now if the DNA is
from a similar Source you'll get the same pattern of blue dots on a White Strip This is the genetic profile of the
individual who licked the stamps when the DNA profile of pollen or rocki and and her husband were compared to the DNA
from the back of the stamps there was no match for example Paul andar rocki has two dots here and
um the DNA from the back of the Posta stamp only has one so therefore right away we can exclude paulen aroi with
just this one genetic marker we looked at five different genetic markers and four out of five can exclude pollen
rocki DNA was found and it did not match Paula and it did not match lenon which meant that someone licked that
those stamps and it wasn't Leonard Paul we thought it was going to blow apart the whole case we thought we thought we
were done now armed with the DNA profile of the stalker The Manhunt had just [Music]
begun when DNA testing of the stamps and envelope flap did not match Paula or rocky or her husband the defense team
went one step further they wanted to find the individual whose DNA was on the threatening letters if Paula didn't do
it there's only one other person that could have done it because there's only one other person that knew the
circumstances of all these letters that knew everything that was going on that was joyan
Chambers was it possible that the El alleged victim wrote the threatening letters and mailed them to
herself the defense uncovered some information which pointed in that very Direction police in the neighboring town
of Carbondale Pennsylvania told defense investigators the chambers had a history
of reporting suspicious incidents from burglaries to fires they said every crime that she's been a victim of is has
some weirdnesses attached to it and just off the top of their heads they started relating different uh
crimes as supposedly she's been a victim of when Anderson researched chambers's employment history he learned the
chambers reported similar threatening letters and also reported finding feces on her classroom chair while in another
school district years earlier to find out if it was Joan and Chambers DNA on the threatening letters Jim Anderson
needed her DNA profile for that he looked in her trash once trash is placed at the curbside the owner gives up all
legal rights to what's inside one plastic drinking straw one used looks like toilet tissue plastic
straws used tissues and a cotton swab with ear wax all items with possible genetic material were sent to the DNA
lab for testing Dr lion walner identified two different DNA profiles from the mucus saliva and ear wax
samples from the chambers's trash the DNA from the uh one of the household members was similar to the uh DNA on the
back of the stamps and the envelope with these DNA results the defense team demanded that all charges against Paul
and or rocky be dropped the prosecution fused and Joanne Chambers provided a blood sample for further DNA testing
once again Joan Chambers blood DNA matched the DNA from the stamps and the envelope flap you can see how all five
genetic markers line up perfectly between the DNA of Joanne Chambers and the DNA from the back of the postage
stamps the odds of someone in the random US population having the same combination
of five genotypes tested was one in [Music] [Music] the circumstantial evidence against
Paula nocki including the coffee cup incident and the colonel clink reference in one of the threatening letters for
the defense teachers from Joanne Chambers former School District testified that she made similar claims
of harassment years earlier but it was the DNA evidence that stunned most courtroom observers the DNA was
definitely the bombshell um to hear that uh Joan Chambers saliva was found on the stamps of one of the
the threatening letters and the flap of another envelope it was just unbelievable but on the witness stand
under oath Joanne Chambers had an explanation she said the prosecutor left her alone with the evidence and the
stamps fell off one of the envelopes she said she licked the stamps to reattach them and when that didn't work
used a glue stick at the very least she showed poor judgment and at the most she
tampered with uh important evidence Dr lton walner testified that she saw no glue stick residue on the stamps when
she removed them for DNA testing as a lifelong stamp collector she has experienced distinguishing glue stick
residue from regular stamp adhesive I know gum from knowing stamps and it would looked to me just like the gum on
recent US stamps and it's smooth and glistening and looked just like that there was no outward evidence that a
glue stick had been used the trial lasted 5 days and it took the jury less than 2 hours to reach a
verdict they found Paula nor Rocky not guilty reaction after the verdict was the most amazing thing I've ever seen
the alleged victim was being treated as the defendant and the defendant was being treated as the victim
in the hallway jurors sought out Paula nari and hugged her and told her how much they loved her while Joan Chambers
left the courthouse uh virtually ignored Joanne Chambers denies that she created
the campaign of threats against her I could never ever do this stuff to myself I don't think that I could
be functioning in a world as a parent as a teacher as a wife if I were that sick to do that to myself
I think julan Chambers did it to herself yes I think she sent the Barbie doll I think uh this was all a stage for
jilan I hope the lesson that people could learn from this is that you really are supposed to be innocent until proven
guilty and you aren't supposed to be guilty until proven innocent I've never seen anything like this and if I cover
cases for another 40 years I think I'll give you that same answer still [Music] War
[Music] [Applause] [Music]

Brief Summary

A teacher's harassment case reveals shocking twists and DNA evidence implicating the alleged victim, leading to her colleague's acquittal.

Key points

The Stalking Begins. For over a year, Joanne Chambers received threatening letters, some of which were sexual in nature.
The Investigation. As the investigation unfolds, both Chambers and her colleague Paula Nori take lie detector tests.
The Shocking Verdict. In a surprising turn, Paula Nori is found not guilty, leaving Chambers in a precarious position.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I thought it was just a disgruntled employee.

Joanne Chambers reflects on the initial hate mail.

1:40WatchSep 16, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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