The Troubled Case Against Jane Dorotik | Full Episode + Post Mortem | Forensic Files

[Music] come on tell us who it's got to be loic speaking can only my name is Jane
dtic I spent 20 years in prison for a crime I did not commit I thought truth and Justice was
at the front of everything and it certainly has not been in my [Music] case I wish I just knew what really
happened I wish there was some way to piece it together somebody to come forward with the truth
on February 13 2000 Jane and Bob dork are living together in North San Diego he said he was going out for a jog
that was it that was the last I talked to him she reports her husband missing there was a search for him as a missing
person the next day he was found in a location 2 or 3 miles away from their home and I stop about right here I could
see the body and and I said this is Mr dorti he was found to have blunt force trauma to his head he was found to have
injuries consistent with strangulation it was obvious to me that it was a homicide they found Bob's blood
in his bedroom the detectives decided because they saw some blood that they were in the crime scene and that Jane
was the only one with access to that bedroom and to Bob there was only one person that could have done this to Mr
dorak and that was his wife Jane dorak he said you're under arrest I was like what I would never hurt my husband
police say circumstantial and blood evidence links Jane dtic to her husband's murder the bedroom was not a
crime scene I don't doubt that this occurred at the home and I don't doubt that she's involved there was blood on
the comforter there was blood on the pillow sham there was blood on the headboard when you have a home that's a
working Ranch you're going to find blood around it's just problem on top of problem on top of problem I would
declare this crime scene very contaminated they focused on one person and turn a blind eye to anything else
Jane dtic chose murder over divorce it felt like a nightmare and I kept saying when am I going to wake up do you
believe that Jane dork got a fair trial no I don't I'm in no position to say who
did what I don't have a crystal ball to tell you what happened to that man what do you believe happened to Bob
I believe Bob somehow fell into some kind of situation I don't know I lost my husband and then I lost
my freedom [Music] [Music] Jane how would you describe what the last 22 years have been like for you
it's been torturous in many ways I suppose many moments when I thought how do I keep
going I always used to say this is the most peaceful place on the face of the Earth nothing feels peaceful
anymore when we first met Jane dork in 2000 the stress of all of it on everyone has been
incredible um the life she had once found so Serene in the Foothills outside of San Diego a life she had shared with
her husband Bob had taken an unimaginable turn how can this be how can this happen surely I'll wake up and
it's a dream Jane had become the prime suspect in Bob's murder authorities believe that she viciously attacked him
in their home I certainly didn't do this I loved my husband Jane 53 years old at the time and Bob 55
Shar more than half their lives together I was 23 when we were married Bob was a
wonderful loving creative person and welcome everyone here those that who been here before and those who haven't
Bob spent most of his career as an engineer Jane worked as a nurse and later as an executive in the healthc
care industry the couple raised three children Alex Claire and Nick the family is has
always been incredibly important to both of us also important to Jane were their horses you while
Jane's passion was breeding and riding I'm having a good old Bob was an avid jogger and that says Jane is the last
image she has of her husband Bob was sitting actually in this chair facing the TV he had Jame was Under Suspicion
she allowed us into her home he said he was going out for a jog and he was actually had his jogging suit on was
tying his shoes that was the last I talked to him it was around 100 p.m. on February 13th 2000 when Jane says Bob
left to go for that run as hours passed without any word from him Jane says she grew concerned it was beginning to get
dark I decided to go out and look this is the route Jane says she took to search for Bob driving up and down the
hill where he sometimes ran by 7:45 p.m. Jane's concern turned to fear I said enough this is enough something is wrong
and that's when I made the call to the Sheriff's Department my first thought that night
was maybe this man had a heart attack and fell down the embankment along Lake Wolford Road as Deputy James Blackman
and others from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department search for Bob concerned friends and family gathered at
the door house the minute I saw my mom's face I knew right away something terrible had happened the DK's daughter
Claire 24 at the time had spent the weekend visiting her aunt and returned home to a distraught Jane she was
freaked out she was scared she was nervous she was crying it was a horrifying feeling
that got more and more horrifying when he wasn't found and then in the preon hours of
February 14th Deputy Blackman turned into this driveway several miles from the door Tock home and noticed a body
off the road to this point I could see the shirt the pants and he was uh laying on his back from Jane's description he
immediately knew it was Bob dor I got there a little after 700 in the morning San Diego County Sheriff's
detective Rick emson was called to the scene there was no evidence of any type of vehicle accident the evidence Epson
did find suggested something else I could see that he had uh blood on his face there was blood near the back of
his head and I could see that there was a rope around his neck Bob D IC had been
bludgeoned and strangled the onetime missing person case had turned into a homicide
investigation is there anybody you could think who would want to see your husband
dead nobody nobody as law enforcement asked Jane questions about Bob she let them into
her home come in search look for anything detective emson noticed a piece of rope hanging from the porch that
caught it his attention thinking he had just seen something similar on Bob dtic it appeared to be the exact same type of
rope that was found around his neck uh the sliding glass door going into the master bedroom and when investigators
got to Bob and Jane's bedroom they found something more troubling they believe they were looking at blood
spatter there was no question or M that this uh assault occurred in the master bedroom
they documented their findings in this diagram taking photos along the way of what they believed to be blood on
various items in the bedroom and of what appeared to be a large blood stain on the underside of the mattress I do know
when Bob had a nose bleed he made a comment about getting some blood on the mattress I Jane says there was a logical
explanation for some of the other blood too they had dogs who were injured and had blood this little dog had an abscess
on her cheek that was openly draining at the time and little drops of blood we'd
find as she sat on the couch the carpet pieces are what the detectives removed feeling that there
was blood on the carpet the spots of blood investigators said they found all over the bedroom surprised Jane do you
have any other explanation of how that blood spatter could have gotten there on the ceiling on the window on the wall
no adding to Authority's suspicions was this bloody syringe found in the bathroom garbage Jane told us she used
it to medicate her horses I know that I give the horses shots all the time if you go look in my fridge right now
you'll find horse syringes investigators theorize that Jane hit her husband with an object in
the bedroom and strangled him she then dressed him in his jogging suit put him in their truck and dumped him along the
side of the road where his body was found why do they believe you killed your husband you
know I guess I've been through that one a billion times I don't know but investigators thought they knew
believing the motive was money and escaping a troubled marriage Jame was the main bread winner and they learned
the couple had split up for a year in 1997 I make any apologies for the fact that we had rough times but that doesn't
change the fact that we loved each other and that love says Jane is why they reconciled they have been back
living together as a couple for a year and a half before Bob was killed I really think the
separation caused us to really regroup and think about what was important they were getting along better than they ever
had in the past I was living there I can tell tell you that but law enforcement was unmoved and 3 days after Bob DK's
body was found Jane was arrested and charged with first-degree murder I know I didn't do this I know there's a killer
out there but how am I going to clear myself she's baffled cuz I don't think she knows what happened released on bail
Jane started preparing her defense hiring attorney Carrie stiger Walt she know that she's placed as the Killer and
she's not the Killer and at trial Jane's attorney would present a surprised suspect who he felt was responsible for
Bob DK's [Music] murder come on I know that I'm innocent but I don't have any more faith in the legal system
I believe I could be convicted for something that I didn't do and that's very scary while Jane worried about her
outcome at trial Claire dork was much more confident about her mother's chances my mom could not have done this
crime she didn't have the motive and she didn't have the opportunity but when the case went to
trial in 2001 a year after the murder prosecutor Bond hny Howard Regan described the DK's marriage as seriously
troubled and told jurors that Jane didn't want to pay Bob alimony in a divorce Bob dork never went jogging and
he never left that residence alive according to the state Bob had actually been killed Saturday night
nearly a day before Jane reported a missing the autopsy performed by Dr Christopher swell showed undigested Ed
food consistent with what Jane said they had for dinner that night are you able to give us an estimate of how long after
Mr dork ate how long after that he he was killed yes it was very shortly after he ate I would say it probably within a
couple of hours and he wasn't killed on the side of the road the prosecutor said
there wasn't enough blood there instead she said by B's blood was all over the bedroom lead detective Rick empson
testified he had asked Jane to explain that she had indicated initially that she had a dog that um had been bleeding
and then indicated that approximately a week prior Bob had a bloody nose over in
the corner by the stove and that Bob had cleaned it up there was evidence someone
cleaned the bedroom the carpet next to the pop belly stove and tile floor was wet and have blood stains
underneath did any of the blood from his nose bleed go on the carpet mhm do you know where mhm right next to
the tile cuz I'm the one that helped him clean it authorities dismissed Jane's explanations their theory was that Jane
hit bob in the head in their bedroom with an object while he was lying in bed although they never identified or found
any weapon Charles Meritt a criminalist and bloodstain pattern analyst for the San Diego County Sheriff's crime lab
recounted 20 locations where he saw blood stains on one of the pillows on a lamp this particular nightstand on the
pot belly stove was on the ceiling itself been on the underside of the mattress the jury was also shown this
evidence of tire tracks found near Bob's body the states expert Anthony Di Maria
said he matched the three different types of tires on door deex truck are you saying the measurements taken at the
scene were equal to the measurements taken off the actual vehicle yes the most telling evidence connecting Jane to
the murder according to the prosecutor was that syringe found in the bathroom it had traces of a horse tranquilizer
inside and even though there was no evidence that Bob had been injected with anything it had Bob's blood and a bloody
fingerprint on it the evidence will show that the fingerprint on this syringe was Jane dtic can you explain
that I can't really explain it other than um I know that I helped Bob clean up a nose bleed and if that's the same
time when I took the syringes and threw them in the trash and there was some blood on my hand that could have made
that happen but perhaps the most powerful Witnesses were the doric's two sons Nick and Alex they both testified
against their mother did you say anything specifically about the syringe well I asked her um
how it got there and what it was doing there and what was your mother's response she said that uh her biggest
fear in all of this was that the that us family members would start questioning her your mother always settled things
logically tried to no you wouldn't agree with that statement nope it would be my
mom basically saying this is what you have to accept and then my dad would either accept it
or there would be threats of divorce or something that's what I remember from growing
up Jane's attorneys Carrie stiger Walt and Cole Casey admitted it was a big blow would you say that's been the most
damaging testimony yeah it's not what what they said is the fact that they were there testifying for the
prosecution when it came time for the defense to present its case stiger Wald actually agreed with the prosecution on
a major point that the murder took place in the bedroom but he had a jawdropping
alternative suspect Claire dtic ladies and gentlemen Claire hated her father he claimed Claire an avid
horsewoman hated her father because he threatened to sell the animals she loved and suggested that she was capable of
murder that's what Claire is a hot-tempered explosive individual it was a risky strategy that Jane reluctantly agreed to
all I can do is trust what Carrie says is the best way to go are you at all concerned that the jury will wonder
about a woman who would allow herself to be defend by pointing the finger at her
daughter could that work against the two of you it may I don't know I think it is
the most viable defense and I think it's supported by the best evidence stiger Wald insisted Jame wasn't physically
able to commit the murder but Claire was she runs marathons and she's a personal
trainer she is as fit a woman as you will see at the age of 24 but remember Claire and her aunt said
they were together 2 hours away they call the aunt that's the extent of the investigation on The Alibi of CLA dork
did Miss CLA dork please step forward that alibi is nonsense uh you are going to assert your CRI Amendment rights
correct the jurors never heard from Claire or Jane who chose not to testify but they did hear from a woman
who said she thought she saw Bob the day he disappeared sitting between two men in a black pickup truck not far from
where his body was found who killed Robert dork was it Claire dork or ladies and gentlemen was it
someone else in his closing argument stiger Wald accused investigators of dismissing Witnesses like that woman and
focusing only on Jane the prosecution had focused on one person and that's not the way to conduct an investigation it's
not the way to run a case Jane dork and Bob dork were the only two people in that home that weekend Bonnie Howard
Regan says there's no need to investigate further when you have sufficient evidence they searched that
bedroom and they saw all the blood and they knew that was the crime scene what more investigation do they need to
do it took the jury 4 days to return a verdict we the jury in the above tile cause find the defendant Jane Margaret
dork guilty of the crime of Murder in the First Degree in violation of P code section when did Jane dork get a fair
trial no no because fairness means that you're presenting things accurately and it it
appears like it was not done accurately juror number eight yes juror number nine
yes juror number 10 yes go behind the scenes with the 48 Hours postmortem podcast it almost didn't register for a
minute it's like no this can't be I was so certain that I was walking out I thought they would see the truth Jane d
never imagined she'd be found guilty it's hard to keep going at the time of her conviction for the murder of her
husband she was 54 years old and sentenced to 25 years to life I mean I just I can't see my way clear to a life
in prison I just can't see it determined to prove the jury got it wrong Jane became her own Advocate working on her
case for many years we spoke with Jane again two decades later about her efforts all through the prison my prison
journey I continued to write all innocence projects I could think of asking for help at the same time
realized that I had to fight for myself Jane filed motions from prison citing such issues as insufficient evidence and
ineffective assistance of councel I would describe my defense as limited and inadequate
in her filings Jane indicated that she wanted to testify at her trial but had left that decision up to her attorney
and that had she testified she could have explained Bob's stomach contents stating that he sometimes ate leftovers
from the previous night she also described her attorney's alternate suspect Theory pointing to her daughter
Claire as a killer as absurd do you believe that your daughter Claire had anything to do with the death
of absolutely unequivocally not and my defense attorney everybody knew she was away for that
weekend okay in regard to that defense strategy Claire later wrote in a book how could I be angry at my mother when
all I did was worry about her Jane's lawyer whom we interviewed at the time of her trial did not speak with us
again that was the worst strategy of my life ever I said to my attorney if anything happens to Claire I'm going to
stand up and say I did it in her filings Jane also questioned why her defense attorney accepted the bad forensics
pointing to the bedroom as the murder scene rather than presenting other scenarios as to where and how Bob dork
could have been murdered did the defense too easily accept the bedroom as a crime I'm seeing
that is a very legitimate argument CBS News consultant Matthew troano a former prosecutor and
current defense attorney was not involved in the DOR case but he reviewed some of the court documents at our
request the defense made a strategic decision are we going to dispute that a crime happened in this location or are
we essentially going to concede that it happened there and then come up with a different narrative of how it happened
there and they chose the ladder and that decision troano says likely led the defense to point the finger at Claire
for the murder they had to blame somebody else for something that happened in a specific location and they at least as
it relates to the daughter you know went back to her having some disagreement with her father about something and it
was it was a risk have you ever seen that kind of Defense you you don't you don't say it I mean you could happen
when there are clear facts and evidence to support it but when there are none that's you know that's a
showstopper and in fact Claire was never charged with any wrongdoing in connection to her father's murder the
defense accepting the bedroom as the murder scene is especially puzzling to troyano as there were reports from
several eyewitnesses who said they saw a man jogging that day accounts consistent with Jane's
depiction of events not the prosecutions that's critical critical evidence and all of that was really not
pursued and I didn't know of all of the witnesses had there been a thorough investigation initially all of that
would have come out through the years in filings Jane raised problems with the entire case
against her arguing that authorities focused on her her from the very beginning of the investigation and
failed to follow other investigative leads but motion after motion was denied and regarding Jane's ineffective Council
Claims the judge rejected them all ruling that her attorney's performance was not deficient and that his actions
had not affected the outcome of the case there were many moments where I doubted when is this ever were going to
turn around many many moments still jane didn't give up she continued looking for
new evidence to clear her especially as DNA testing became more advanced in 2012
she filed a petition for DNA testing of that rope found around Bob's neck and other items like Bob's fingernail
clippings which had been saved but never tested and in 2015 the motion was granted
is that unusual that she finally even got testing based on her filing motions on her own yes it's it's very atypical
it was at this time that Jan finally got the attention of a wrongful conviction group lyola law school's project for the
innocent I get this wonderful letter from Lola saying you've contacted us and we're interested in your case and after
that lyola took over got the testing done and what that testing revealed as well as a fresh
examination of other evidence would change the course of the case that's really what flips the script to say that
there's more here this is more than just an inadequate investigation there is a different
narrative that's running through these test results there is physical evidence that another person could be involved
[Music] when you talk about the evidence in this case the subsequent testing reveals that
you might have a different explanation for things that really shed light on what may have happened here Jane dork
spent years behind bars asking for a new examination of the evidence used to convict her of her husband Bob's murder
now working with a team from lyola project for the innocent the court allowed them to have new DNA testing on
items such as the Rope found around Bob DK's neck his fingernails and clothing appeal filing state that foreign male
DNA was found on several items the results of that none of my DNA anywhere there is physical evidence from
fingernail clippings from a rope from his clothing that is foreign to Jane the team from lyola project for the
innocent declined to be interviewed we asked Nathan lent a professor of biology and forensic science at John J College
of Criminal Justice who was not involved in the case to review court documents about new evidence such as the DNA on
the robe while they didn't get a profile that would be good enough to search a database or even match to a suspect they
did get enough DNA uh that is not attributable to Bob or to Jane but while Jane and her team beli the results
pointed to her innocence the state came to a different conclusion stating in filines the DNA obtained was too low
level to make any reliable interpretation L agrees the DNA levels were low but he believes it was enough
to exclude Janes and that the absence of Jane's DNA on the Rope as well as under Bob's
fingernails or on his clothing is significant with the theory of crime that they presented you would expect a
lot of Jane's DNA on Bob and if if she had moved his body you know there's a lot of DNA transfer that might have
taken place there that wasn't found the appell team also reviewed the bedroom blood evidence the prosecutor told the
jury was fully tested and was bobbed now the evidence will show that all this blood has been described to you the
observations made in this bedroom that it was all sent out through DNA analysis and it all came back to Bob doric's
blood but according to the appeal not every single spot in the bedroom believed to be blood was tested instead
representative samples were tested there were cases where just simply one swab with a control was taken
and it was rep representative of a variety of spots that's not good practice it just invites
misinterpretations when you're talking about blood spatter and you're trying to analyze how it got there you need to do
a fairly comprehensive test to be able to draw the conclusion that you're drawing but I think the prosecution
could argue you can't afford to test can you every single drop that looks like blood right but when you say we did
everything and that's not accurate that's where the problem lies in fact the appell team says that
several blood-like stains on items including a pillow sham the nightstand a lampshade turned out not to be blood and
there were those stains on the bed spread which criminalist Charles Merritt pointed to at trial and described as
Bob's blood two of the actual stains um circled by a little red dots Jane's lawyers learned those particular spots
were never tested at all and due to improper storage the beds sprad could not be tested again so we don't know
that it was blood at all the handling of the evidence over the course of the entire investigation was also raised on
appeal this one is hard to even look at um you have an investigator who definitely should know better um you
know handling murder evidence with his bare hands in addition to obviously depositing his own DNA all around this
crime scene he's also risking transferring evidence from among the various spots that he's collecting and
there's that syringe with Bob's blood and Jane's fingerprint found in the bathroom garbage something the appell
team and lent thought could be explained and if you throw that syringe in the garbage can Bob throws a bloody Kleenex
in that garbage can they could transfer transfer of DNA from one object to another in a trash can is not unexpected
lent feels the fact that the syringe was even found in the garbage points fingers
away from Jane if you're cleaning up after a murder you won't leave the bloody syringe in the waist back
basket but the state stood by its original investigation maintaining the bedroom was the murder scene stating
that the evidence still points to Jane dork as the Killer and that the defense arguments are largely derived from
speculation and misstatements of fact Jane's appella team though maintains the bedroom did not even look like a crime
scene something lent also believes there is not a consistent pattern to the evidence that indicates a violent
bludgeoning that took place in that bedroom if Bob were alive today and investigators had walked in his room no
one would say oh this looks like someone was murdered here if you just look at all of the pieces of evidence that lyola
was able to absolutely take apart and yet we know what was told to the jury in the original conviction so um how can
that happen as her attorneys reviewed evidence Jane dork in 2020 was temporarily and conditionally LED out of
prison due to covid health concerns the question now became was the New Evidence
her lawyers were finding enough to make her release permanent what do you think about the
new DNA test results chat now with Erin morti on [Music] X in the summer of 2020 Jane dork and
her team hoped a court would overturn the jury's verdict turning her temporary release from prison into lasting
Freedom what were their major points the testing that was done initially was insufficient the way that that testing
was presented to the jury was inaccurate there were a number of different arguments that they made a hearing was
scheduled but then suddenly the state requested an unplanned virtual hearing the people are willing to concede
petitioner new evidence claim the prosecution admitted what Jane's lawyers had argued all along the
DNA evidence as it exists now in 2020 is much different in quality and quantity than presented at trial in 2001 that the
new DNA test results as well as issues with how the sheriff's crime lab handled evidence cast doubt on the verdict but
what came next was even more unexpected the state requested that Jane's murder conviction be
overturned and the judge agreed I'm going to Grant the motion for the ri thank do your honor I always believ that
at some point the truth would come out the Jane's ordeal wasn't over 3 months later in another shocking move the DA's
office decided to retry her I don't think any of us thought that San Diego County would attt to retry me but they
did the state believes that she did this and they want to pursue it but in order
to retry the prosecution first had to demonstrate to the judge that there was still enough evidence to prove Jane kill
Bob despite the new DNA results and the questions about the initial testing we are back on the record all party then
you have this battle in court if you're conceding that there were problems how are you going to do it again essentially
with the same evidence it was astounding to sit in that courtroom and see what they try and put forward as actual
evidence and then also thrilling to see my team take it apart the you only state
that the Jane's attorneys questioned The credibility of several of the state's experts including Charles Merritt of the
sheriff's crime lab the judge ultimately ruled that the new trial could go ahead
but that some key evidence presented in her original trial would not be admissible including those tire tracks
near where Bob's body was found that were linked to Jane's truck you have a number of different trucks that could be
consistent with those tire tracks it's in essence kind of junk sciency in May 2022 just as jury selection was about to
begin the prosecution surprise everyone yet again remain seated and come to order this courtroom is now in session
we go into court as the jury is assembled and ready to come into the courtroom Monday morning and
Everything's changed we no longer feel that the evidence is sufficient to show proof
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and convince 12 members of the jury so we are requesting the court dismiss the charges
at this time thank you Store check you are free to go and good luck to you is overwhelming to realize that now
I can determine my own future something I've prayed for and hoped for after the hearing Jane's attorneys spoke about her
decades long fight Jane's dignity in standing up and stoically fighting for her innocence against every risk and
every threat that's why this case got dismissed today and as far as we're concerned we're moving on the District
Attorney's office and Sheriff's Department declined to speak with 48 Hours the case against Jane dork was
dismissed without prejudice which means if new evidence surfaces charges could be brought again someday but then
doesn't that leave still a shadow over Jane dork oh sure it does I mean there's no question about it from a practical
persp perspective do I think it's over yeah I think it's over but from a legal perspective
no Jane dork is working to rebuild her life after spending nearly two decades in prison my entire family has been
blown apart by this hurricane of events it's been heartbreaking on so many levels Claire Doric did not respond to
our request for comment but Jane says they are still close her son son Nick died in
2023 Alex dork did not provide a comment of 48 hours but according to filings by
the state he remains convinced his mother killed his father do you have hope that your family will come together
at some point of course I do of course I have hope Jane also has hoped that she could
make a difference in other people's lives as she works with advocacy groups that help incarcerated women to me it's
not just about my story and yes we can all sit here and say this is so horrendous and how did this happen to
this woman but unless we look systemically how many others are we going to find and to me that's
critically important having a good old here many unanswered questions about this case
remain including perhaps the most important one what happened here we don't know
what happened to Bob dor where's Justice for Bob where's Justice for Robert [Music]
dorek need more time with 48 Hours go deep behind every True Crime episode with firsthand accounts from 48 Hours
investigations were you at all prepared for what happened in this case shock is the word that comes to mind get inside
the twists and turns and get in on the case listen to postmortem from 48 hours now available wherever you get your
[Music] podcasts hello hello everyone I'm anarie green welcome to postmortem this week we
are delving into the murder of Bob dwark and the wrongful conviction of his wife
Jane she spent nearly two decades in prison trying to prove her innocence it's really an emotional roller coaster
watching this hour joining me to discuss this incredible story our 48 Hours correspondent Aon Mor arti and producer
Ruth chenet thanks for joining us glad to be here I love this case because I think it's a great cautionary t and
every defense attorney should be paying attention to this case so true so listen
before we get into it Ruth I want you to give our listeners a bit of a recap of this case so Jane and Bob dork were
married they had three grown children and they lived in at the time probably considered a rural area outside of San
Diego and they had a ranch and horses and Bob was a big Runner so Jane says the last time she saw Bob was around 100
p.m. on February 13th 2000 and she says Bob left the house to go for a run and she grew concerned when hours passed and
he still hadn't returned so later that evening at 7:45 p.m. she decides I'm really worried and makes a call to the
Sheriff's Department to report that he was missing and they start looking and the next morning they found Bob's body
on the side of a road just a few miles from his home and they realized pretty quickly this wasn't a car accident this
wasn't that he died of natural causes because he had blunt force trauma to his head and a rope around his neck the
sheriff's department talked to Jane and in looking around at the bedroom they feel that they're seeing lots of blood
scattered throughout the bedroom and spots around the bedroom so three days after his body is found they arrest
Bob's wife Jane dorek and charge her with first-degree murder when I was watching the first part of this episode
I couldn't help but to think you know there seems to be some convincing evidence against Jane like what seemed
to be blood spatter found in the bedroom Ain over two decades that youve been reporting this case now did you ever
doubt Jean's innocence well pretty much I always thought she was innocent there's no question um I got on the
story because actually I was working with a producer who had met her first and said Aaron you got to do this this
when you meet her she acts the way we would act if we had been accused of a crime we didn't do um she answers every
question um and if she doesn't know it she's honest and says I don't know this doesn't make sense and this was a time
when with 48 hours we basically moved in with people I mean we were there for weeks and um she would let us in the
house she would always sit down and talk with me there was one time she wasn't as
open with me during an interview and that made me a little worried but I don't think I ever really changed in
thinking there's just no way this woman did this I think that's such an interesting Tibet that you gave us
because as I was watching the hour I thought to myself I bet you Jane likes Eric I thought that you know I thought
she liked you as a person and that's part of the reason she was being so open I liked her too you know I really but
now remember just put yourself back where I was here's this woman who says her husband went for run and then we're
hearing from the police and and there's an arrayment that says there's blood in the bedroom which is an absolute
contradiction of then of her story you're you're also thinking what to believe also one of the things is If
This Were happening today an attorney would have been sitting next to Jane throughout the entire thing I think
people are more suspect today of the media and more suspicious you know it's up to the individual person whether they
want to let us in and how much time they want to spend and who be there but it's
just different these days yeah um so let's get back to the blood stains in the dorex bedroom and in their home that
was a big reason why authorities zeroed in on Jane we learned that investigators
identified 20 locations of different blood stains even if their home was a working Ranch that that seems like a lot
right well yes and but now with benefit of hindsight I realize that I shouldn't have accepted did that quite so quickly
we did hear that there was blood spatter on the ceiling but but what had hit me was I saw a picture of a blood stain on
a mattress and what also struck me and worried me you know in my heart was the fact that the mattress had been turned
over so that was that seemed incriminating and Jane had an explanation for some of the blood not
all of it she said in terms of the mattress that Bob had had a nose bleed and and you know if you think about it
are you going to want to lay on the side that's bloody or might you turn it over
and they had a dog who had two dogs yeah uh I think one had one issue one one bled from the snout one
had a I want to say like a hangnail but whatever you call that in a dog so she had explanations for some of it but she
also said to Aaron I can't explain all of it but then why wouldn't they have at least say tested to see if there's dog
DNA there we have to go back remember this is 2000 all right we can't look at it through the lens of today where we
know that testing is is so much better but again I didn't know as a reporter to ask what kind of tests have you done and
and what they ended up doing and some of it was it was Bob's blood but if they saw like six little dots in one spot
they might have tested three of those you you test represent samples but then you can't say or
shouldn't say everything was tested and it all came back to Bob uh let's talk about another bit of evidence there was
a syringe in the bathroom trash with traces of horse tranquilizer inside which was normal yeah because it's a
ranch right but was there any horse tranquilizer found in Bob's system no no and so that was one of those pieces of
evidence that on the face of it looks like it's relevant you know but it's really not um let's listen to a clip
from the broadcast of Jane I can't really explain it other than um I know that I helped Bob clean up a nose bed
and if that's the same time when I took the syringes and threw them in the trash
and there was some blood on my hand that could have made that happen the importance I guess of that the syringe
it looked bad because there was uh Blood on the syringe uh Bob's blood and you have a fingerprint on the syringe and it
was Jane's fingerprint so it really wasn't relevant it just looked bad and one thing where you think well that's
weird that there's this bloody syringe in a garbage pal when we spoke to another expert Nathan lent
actually said in his mind that pointed fingers away from Jane because if you're going to be cleaning up a crime scene we
we all know criminals can do stupid things but would you leave a bloody syringe in the trash right and then so
here's kind of the other aspect of what the prosecution believed that Jane attacked her husband in the bedroom and
then transported him in a truck to dump his body I mean there's a reason why there's a phrase sort of dead weight I
mean people are heavy people are much heavier than they look um so I did think geez that would be really hard I
remember and this was an issue for us when the reason why I believed her you know she was probably my size um you
know my height and she had a bad back and the idea like you talk about dead weight of not only getting her husband
out of the bedroom but getting him onto that truck seemed inconceivable and the prosecution didn't seem to be troubled
by that but was there any evidence of blood found in the truck when they tested initially they found a very small
stain um in the wheel well of the truck that had Bob's DNA um but it's Bob's truck it's a working Ranch it wasn't
that there were puddles and pools of blood yeah so was that significant hard to know authorities arrest Jane though I
mean three days three days after the murder that seems really quick cuz we've talked about some 48 Hours episodes
where you know the the suspect is walking around for months until they collect enough evidence 3 days well it's
too quick for really two reasons one big one is they didn't even have all their test results back so they're making
basically this assumption and and making it public and you know saying this woman
is accused of killing her husband and then for the other reason why it was too early is you can't go back on it then
you know they haven't investigated the reports of seeing a man out there jogging but how do you back track after
you've already said we have evidence strong evidence to indicate this woman killed her husband when you don't even
have your test results yeah so then it's a year later in 2001 a year after Bob's
murder and the case finally goes to trial for me what made this trial you know particularly shocking was of course
Jane's sons who testify against their mother at trial this is her son Alex on the stand being questioned by the
defense your mother always settled things like logically tried to no you wouldn't agree with that statement nope
it would be my mom basically saying this is what you have to accept and then my dad would either accept it
or there would be threats of divorce or something that's what I remember from growing
up okay so he's describing you know which is something that's not the happiest marriage but anyone who's
married knows that sometimes things EB and flow but I mean this must have broken Jane's heart
and it did it did the idea that not one but both sons testified against their mother at a murder trial is very very
damaging and and was very difficult for her and and I think in terms of the prosecution one of the things they're
trying to explain to the jury is you know the motive and the motive was that the marriage was on the rocks and they
didn't get along as great as people thought so the sons provided in their mind I'm sure like eyewitnesses to that
fact yeah the prosecution told the jurors that this was a broken marriage she was the primary bread winner and she
didn't want to pay alimony and that was that was what the jury was told so you have the sons testifying against her and
then on the other hand you have Jane's daughter Claire she remained convinced that her mother could not have committed
this murder Claire didn't testify a trial but she gets pulled into the the defense's argument in a really
surprising way Jane's attorney claims that Claire is the one that killed her father how did Claire feel about this
defense it's risky Amry I have to tell you that decision on the part of the defense attorneys to try to save a
mother by pointing to the daughter was shocking to me then and is shocking to me now and had to be devastating for
Jane realized there was absolutely no no physical evidence to tie Claire to this
murder and there was that alibi that Claire was at her aunt's house at the time Bob was murdered but it was a an
attempt to raise Reasonable Doubt in the mind of the the jurors like well maybe it wasn't the mother maybe it was the
daughter it it was shocking Claire later wrote in a book that she was so worried
about her mother that she felt she didn't have a choice but to go along with it that she was more worried then
angry and Jane subsequently told Aaron that you think your defense lawyers know the best strategy so she reluctantly
went along with it but Claire was never charged with any wrongdoing in regard to
her father's murder Claire never talked to us about this um as much as I would have loved to have heard but in her book
that uh Ruth had mentioned she did describe how it was just kind of you know put in her plate she didn't have a
say in it no one went to her and said how about you know we point the finger it it was a done deal and she had to
accept it I I can't even imagine being in the position of Jane trying to save yourself by pointing at your daughter
number one or being the daughter knowing that your mother's life is on the line and you're going to be the other suspect
I I can't imagine this it's like Shak experience I was just you read my mind I was actually thinking it's some sort
it's like a drama in mythology it's just it's all bad choices oh and it didn't save her the worst part it didn't save
Jane so here's the thing yeah you're right it doesn't save her um uh the jury is not convinced on June 12th 2001 Jane
was found guilty of first-degree murder and then she sentenced to 25 years to life Erin were you able to speak to Jane
after the verdict it must have felt like it like unreal to her uh and to me as well I have to tell you um I I will
never forget that cuz I was not allowed to bring my producer in with me or a crew and uh I remember leaving the car
going into the jail because she was still in a jail at that point and Jane was Jane Jane was still talking the way
I'd always heard Jane and I was like I think this woman is innocent and she's GNA spend the rest of her life in prison
and it it was very disturbing all right so when we come back Jan's 22-year fight for Justice from behind
bars and the miraculous breakthrough in her case welcome back everyone so after Jane
is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison she becomes her own Advocate meticulously working on her case year
after year it is a daunting task how did she do this you know she she filed document after document um motion after
motion and everything would be turned down and she'd just keep she would keep going and from the beginning she also
tried to get the attention of Innocence groups but that didn't immediately come so she was like okay I have to do this
on my own but I want to remind people cuz I don't think people are aware when you say she had to do it on her own
you're not entitled to an attorney after your very first postconviction appeal that's it and so everyone usually unless
they're wealthy um they have to do it on their own some people just give up Jane
did not she never gave up so in prison as you mentioned she files motions some of them claiming that she had
ineffective assistance of counsel she says that she originally wanted to testify a trial and that she disagreed
with the defense's Strat stry to point the finger at her daughter Claire in your experience covering wrongful
conviction cases how successful are ineffective Council Claims really really tough very rarely and in in fact in this
case too um Jane did not win that right and the judge said well we don't really think it would have made much of a
difference um if you had a different kind of attorney or a different argument um Jane also argued that authorities
pegged her from the very start and they really failed to follow up up on other leads and personally I was really
curious as to why authorities chose not to look into some witness reports that say they saw a man around the same time
out there possibly jogging why didn't they follow up on any of that stuff well according to Matt trano who is the legal
consultant that we talked to I me he felt after looking at many of the documents that this was a matter of
tunnel vision I mean you can kind of understand in the sense that if you truly believe as investigators that
there's blood in the bedroom and that he was killed in the bedroom then you're wasting time chasing down Witnesses who
say they saw a jogger since you don't believe he was out jogging but they should have and also some of the
descriptions didn't exactly match Bob the wrong age the wrong weight so yes a jogger in the area in around the correct
time from the investigator standpoint well the other thing seems like a more viable explanation of what happened
because these people didn't quite describe Bob to a te I mean you would think considering
the area how rural it is there aren't a ton of people out jogging and we do know
that eyewitnesses sometimes could be not great with the details you know there a
good possibility it was him and it could raise Reasonable Doubt even if the person didn't
match yeah so in 2015 though Jane had a breakthrough in her case when a judge granted her motion to get DNA testing
done on several items that had not been tested back in 2000 including the Rope around Bob's neck his fingernail
clippings his clothes how rare is it for a judge to approve this kind of DNA testing according to Matthew troano it's
really rare it's hard I think it's going to get more and more common as tests become more valuable I think but uh it
it is very difficult uh it's expensive and uh so it was very very lucky for Jane in this case and it and it really
was what turned this case around and when the court did Grant that that was right before an innocence group got
involved so even more unusual that it was based on Jane's filing at that point Jane that did it whenever anybody asked
really how did Jane get get out I'm always say Jane yes Jane was helped by um an
Innocence Project but she was the one who really got the ball rolling she was the one who got the permission to do the
testing and it made a huge difference in this case so this testing changes the course of the the case because when they
look at the rope and they look under the fingernails they find foreign male DNA but just as important as what they don't
find which is Jane's DNA is not there so Jane's appell team also raises the issue
of how the sheriff's department originally handled the evidence I want to play a clip from the broadcast of uh
Nathan lent a professor at John J College of Criminal Justice reviewing a photo of investigators at the original
crime scene this one is hard to even look at um you have an investigator who definitely should know better um you
know handling murder evidence with his bare hands in addition to obviously depositing own DNA all around this crime
scene he's also risking transferring evidence from among the various spots that he's
collecting I gasped when I saw that picture when this case was first investigated was that normal for
authorities to handle evidence like that I'm kicking myself I've got to be honest
I saw those pictures back then and didn't realize that at the very least it reflects kind of a laxness in standards
in the sense that you know you're touching evidence with your bare fingers and if anybody should know it would be a
criminalist you look at it now and it's shocking it is other investigators had gloves on they did some did some didn't
look investigators are human and maybe he wasn't the one actually swabbing but you know who knows what was going
through well all it takes is that one photo to make you question the ENT entire way the uh crime scene was
handled so in 2020 Jane's appell team presented its findings and the state requested that Jane's murder conviction
be overturned the state asked it yes yes well I said this was an emotional roller
coaster to watch CU you're like oh that's great and then only three months later the da decided to retry her a
judge ruled that a new trial could go ahead but that certain evidence presented in her original trial would
not be admissible at this time I'm wondering what Jane was feeling cuz she talks in the hour about essentially just
losing her faith in the justice system I I don't think anybody can actually say what she was feeling but you can't
imagine this was a woman who had fought so hard to get to that point she is out in 2020 she had been out because of
covid you know so she has a taste of Freedom um she's finally seeing like an end after fighting so long think about
it it's like you know nearly 20 years and then they decide they're going to retry her and to go through a trial
again I mean I don't think anybody can imagine what had to be going through that woman's head and
heart back on the emotional roller coaster the prosecution ultimately decided that there was not sufficient
evidence for them to show proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt in a new trial and requested the court dismiss the charges
Jane's case was dismissed without prejudice but what exactly does that mean okay so when you hear without
prejudice that sounds good and it is it means that um all the charges against her are dropped but without prejudice
means that if somehow new evidence came up very strong evidence obviously that she was involved they could refile it's
not likely to ever happen but she has no charges against her she's as if she had
never been charged with murder um did Jane ever talk about the loss of her husband I know this hour was about her
fight for Freedom um but I kept on also thinking boy did she even get a chance to grieve I remember her talking about
that that she never did because think how quickly she was charged she never did and um you know all of a sudden then
she's in a fight for her life so you know the there are so many reasons um to avoid void a wrongful conviction or a
questionable conviction and that's one of them yeah what's next for Jane she works with trying to help women in
prison that's sort of become her focus is working with wrongful conviction groups as well as groups just helping
women in prison and then women when they get out of prison I mean she had always
been in the healthare field that's what she was in before she was charged and convicted and so it fits with that um
but I you know I can't help but be overwhelmed with sadness over this of what everyone in that family lost you
know with the loss of Bob and then this prosecution you know a family was destroyed and I remain so cuz we can see
in the hour that she's not um close with her sons she is close with her daughter
one son has since passed away and the other son um has not not spoken publicly but uh has indicated through filings
that he believes that she she was involved in his father's death and so yes this is a family divided and it's
heartbreaking biggest takeaways from this case and Ruth I'll start with you as Erin had said it's a cautionary tale
and it's always easier looking back but you almost have to approach cases thinking okay when people look back at
this what should we be careful about you know it's a lesson for defense attorneys
for prosecutors crime scene investigators for everybody on all sides and reporters question question question
I think to question more H um well it's an amazing hour and uh I was absolutely riveted because there are so many twists
and turns and it I mean still there's an unsolved murder out there you know um Aaron Ruth thank you so much for joining
me again thanks amarie thank you you can join us next Tuesday for another postmortem and watch 48 Hours of course
it's Saturday's 109 Central on CBS and streaming on Paramount plus and if you're liking the show please rate and
review 48 Hours on Apple podcast and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcast you can also listen ad free on
the Amazon music and W app or with a 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcast
[Music]

Unpacking two decades of reporting on the case of Jane Dorotik, who was convicted for the murder of her husband Bob.

Watch "The Troubled Case Against Jane Dorotik" and then catch up with "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty and producer Ruth Chenetz on "Post Mortem" as they explore a conviction that was overturned 21 years later. They discuss what authorities described as the couple’s bloodstained bedroom, the original defense team’s strategy to point to the couple’s daughter as a suspect, and Jane’s long fight for freedom from behind bars.

CASE UPDATE: Jane Dorotik sued the County of San Diego and reached a settlement in which the county will pay Dorotik $499,000. It does not include any admissions of wrongdoings.

00:00 The Troubled Case Against Jane Dorotik 41:28 Listen to a post-mortem on the episode

Listen to "Post Mortem" wherever you get your podcasts: https://apple.co/4il89vp

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

For video licensing inquiries, contact: licensing@veritone.com

Brief Summary

Jane Dork spent 20 years in prison for her husband's murder, later exonerated by new DNA evidence, while the case remains unsolved.

Key points

Jane's Arrest. Jane is arrested for the murder of her husband Bob after circumstantial evidence points to her.
Claire's Testimony. Jane's daughter Claire testifies against her mother, complicating the defense strategy.
Trial and Conviction. Jane is found guilty of first-degree murder despite her claims of innocence.
Jane's Fight for Freedom. After nearly two decades in prison, Jane's conviction is finally overturned.
The Shocking Dismissal. In a surprising turn, the prosecution requests to dismiss charges against Jane.
Lingering Questions. Despite her release, questions about Bob's murder and Jane's innocence remain.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I would never hurt my husband.

Jane's denial of the accusations against her.

2:03WatchDec 13, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from 48 Hours

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.