Who was targeting a beloved Pennsylvania teacher? | Forensic Files

[Music] imagine someone sending you a doll meant to look like you with a Cut Throat
something literally out of a horror movie in this story you are going to hear and see it all vicious Relentless
harassment that turned the lives of two women upside down I'm Olivia Lavo the Creator and host of the Bakersfield 3
podcast I've teamed up with Casey from case File to bring you some of their most memorable cases in a visual format
today's story is based on case number 189 it was a crisp Monday morning in 1994 as the school week was about to
begin faculty at the cool ba Learning Center facility in Pennsylvania were expecting students to arrive any minute
when suddenly a teacher noticed a handful of envelopes scattered on the floor near the front entrance they were
addressed to the school PR principal shortly after faculty noticed more envelopes thrown haphazardly around the
campus on the lawn the bushes and Pathways the letters had no stamp or return address and inside each envelope
was a copy of the same typed letter it was littered with profanities and grammatical errors and it was
essentially a scathing rant about one of the teachers going on about what a terrible educator she was it also
claimed that this teacher brought cannabis to school and quote showed it in the faculty room just like it was a
big joke the principal immediately called the teacher that the letters were about her name was Joanne Chambers
Joanne had been a first grade teacher at the school for 4 years she had an Immaculate record and was generally
known to be an incredible teacher which made the letters about her all the more surprising Joanne was stunned when she
read the letter and given how it focused on her teaching skills she assumed it was another staff member or parent of a
student but she couldn't imagine who it would be everyone at the school and all the parents seemed to love her Joanne
was known for her unconventional methods of teaching which involved singing and dancing to make her lessons more
interactive and fun for her young students other teachers at the school seem to really like this about her but
clearly whoever wrote that letter did not Joanne tried to shrug it off and hoped
it was just a cruel prank a one-off but it wasn't the letters kept coming over the next few weeks and one letter was
shoved into the all faculty members mail slots that accused Joanne of being an alcoholic and drinking in her classroom
shortly after Joanne opened her desk drawer one day to find an empty bottle of liquor and she noticed the framed
photo she always kept in her drawer of her and her son was missing whoever had it out for Joanne was making her life at
school pretty unpleasant but soon it was affecting her at home as well she started getting incessant hang-up phone
calls and harassing letters delivered to her doorstep and the letters were escalating to threats one read quote 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 [ __ ]
another letter threatened to poison Joanne saying quote you really are a clueless [ __ ] I had four chances to
drug your coffee this week or did I drug your coffee [ __ ] you make me sick and
then things got nasty Joanne sat down at her desk in her classroom one afternoon
and when she got up she rubbed her hands on the back of her dress and soon found
feces had been smeared all over her chair this prompted Joanne to go to the police she filled them in on all the
letters and the apparent theft of the photo of her and her son she also told them that in addition to the letters
sent to other faculty and some parents there had been a photo taped on a local storefront that was
pornographic specifically it was three women in a bathtub together and Joanne's face had been cut out from the photo of
her and her son and taped on one of the women's bodies written on top were the words it's not
over you die the police chief agreed with Joanne that it was likely someone in the school
system behind this a hidden camera was placed in her classroom to try to catch the culprit red-handed and some of the
letters were sent to the FBI for analysis they were able to extract a partial print from a couple of the
envelopes but not enough for a profile for comparison all the faculty at the school
were called into a meeting and told about the investigation in hopes that if one of them were behind it they'd be
scared into stopping now when the chief of police analyzed the footage from the hidden camera in Joanne's classroom he
noticed something interesting one day Joanne was seen speaking with another teacher before class was about to begin
the two of them then both left the classroom together and moments later the other teacher came
back and grabbed something off of Joanne's desk and walked out with it it was another first grade teacher Paula
naraki and she had taken Joanne's coffee cup Paula had been with the school district for 20 years she was well
respected within the school but she and Joanne were quite different and this was
something that faculty had noticed while Joanne liked to think outside the the box with her teaching style Paula was
much more by the book and while both teachers seemed to be adored by their students and the parents a few staff
members suspected that Paula might be jealous of Joann's reputation as a fun teacher as reported in the newspaper the
Times Tribune there was another reason some felt Paula looked suspicious in one of the letters about Joanne there was a
reference to the school superintendent to be clear not Joanne and his resemblance to a German commander on the
TV show Hogan's Heroes an employee immediately remembered a conversation where Paula made this exact comparison
but when questioned Paula was adamant she had nothing to do with any of it and with no direct evidence against her she
was able to keep her job at the school but the damage was pretty much done most of the other teachers wanted Paula to
stay far away from them and she was moved into a different building meanwhile Joanne was
transferred to a new school entirely for her safety as law enforcement continued
to investigate police's next order of business was to Ask Paula to do a polygraph test they also asked Joanne to
do one just so they could rule out the possibility that Joanne had potentially exaggerated any of the reported
incidents Joanne passed with flying colors but Paula did not when Flatout asked if she was involved in the making
or sending any of the threatening letters Paula said no and to that the polygraph examiner said that answer was
deceptive when told she failed Paula maintained her innocence but she did say something to the police chief apparently
along the lines of I don't think I'm doing it if I am I don't know he told Paula she was the Prime
Suspect and it was in her best interest to fess up to which she supposedly responded you'll never prove it was me
of course none of this is recorded unfortunately anyhow the failed polygraph and the weird comments to the
chief were not concrete enough to file charges but police did get a search warrant and seized numerous items of
stationary and a typewriter from her home and again she was their Prime Suspect and then things in this case
turned up a notch Joanne was leaving work after a particularly long school day when she reached her hand under the
car door handle and she jumped back in searing pain a razor blade had been placed under the handle and cut her
finger a few days later a letter was dropped off at her door that said quote you're
sliced but the next incident is undoubtedly the most chilling this time around Joanne received a package at her
school it was a small box wrapped in pink paper and inside was a Barbie wearing a Blue Dress similar to one that
Joanne often wore the Barbie's hair was cut to look similar to Joann's and then lodged inside the
doll's throat was a razor blade with red paint but there was a short time of relief for Joanne after this a few
months went by without any new threats but then Joanne was traveling down the highway on her usual route when she
noticed a car out of her rear viiew mirror that was rapidly speeding up behind her it pulled up next to her
before rapidly swerving which caused Joanne to go off the road Joanne instantly recognized the driver as Paula
Joanne later described this encounter in the series Medical detectives saying quote Paul is looking right at me I will
never forget that look she's looking right at me I will never forget that look never I will
never forget it she looked right at me after this the District Attorney's Office felt they had enough evidence to
make a case against Paula she was arrested during a lesson in front of her first grade class and charged with
reckless endangerment 78 counts of stocking 20 24 counts of making terroristic threats and two counts of
assault Paula's husband immediately hired a private investigator to try to exonerate his wife and apparently it was
Paula's idea to test the letters that were sent to Joanne and to the school for DNA which I think is pretty
impressive because keep in mind it was only 1995 so DNA was something most people at that time either didn't know
about yet or didn't really understand anyhow Paula also coughed up the $7,000 to do these tests she was very
confident in them apparently a private lab got to work and lifted a profile from saliva that was used to close the
letters and as it turned out the DNA was not a match to Paula now the Pi had to figure out who
DNA was it on a hunch the pi named James Anderson went to Joanne ch B's home and
noticed her trash can conveniently next to the curb Anderson pulled out a few tissues in an ear swab and went on his
way the lab told the private investigator that they pulled a male DNA sample and a female sample from the
letters the female sample was determined to be none other than Joanne Chambers the pi believed the male sample was most
likely that of Joanne's husband or her son really wish we had conclusive answer on that but anyhow after this
development Paula's defense attorney argued that the case against her should be dropped immediately but the judge
denied that request when confronted about the DNA results Joanne chamers seemed unfazed she said she wasn't
surprised given she had handled the letters she even voluntarily submitted more of her DNA for further testing to
be done when it was explained to her that her saliva was found to be on one of the stamps on one of the letters
Joanne said that was because she was handling one of the letters and a stamp fell off and without putting much
thought into it she said she quickly tried to put it back on first using her spit Joanne explained that that didn't
work though so she ended up using a glue stick to secure the stamp and that was that the trial against Paula nakaki went
ahead as scheduled if Paula were to be found guilty she faced up to 5 years in jail and a $10,000 fine for each count
that's quite a lot Paula ended up taking the stand in her own defense something fairly uncommon for defendants to do
Paula told the jury that she believed Joanne was harassing herself and of course trying to frame her and that she
was doing it all for attention when questioned about why Paula was seen on the hidden camera grabbing Joann's
coffee cup Paula said it was Joanne who asked her to go back and grab it for her
she also testified that her comments to the police chief the one along the lines
of you'll never prove it was me had been taken way out of context furthermore it
was determined during the trial that while Paula failed her polygraph test and Joanne passed hers Paula's test was
apparently much more rigorous and considered pretty different from Joann's which I think is interesting what also
pretty interesting is a chemist took the stand and discredited a seemingly small
comment Joanne had made when confronted about the DNA see remember Joanne said At first she tried to get a stamp that
fell off a letter back on by using her spit but then it didn't work so she used a glue stick well the chemist said had
glue been used they'd be able to tell and when they looked for traces of it they found none so it heed that Joanne
was lying about that which it's a weird thing to lie about right it's really in irrelevant detail but it is a lie
nonetheless after that testimony it was Joanne's turn to get on the witness stand reporters from The Morning Call
newspaper referred to her testimony as uneven and that it ranged from testy to sarcastic and then things got really
interesting the principal at a school that Joanne had worked for many years earlier told the jury about a day when
Joanne asked to go home because she said she had sat in feces remember this is something that
Joanne's supposed harasser had recently done to her and then more faculty from Joanne's early career in education spoke
up Paula's private investigator had found one witness in particular who described being called into a meeting at
one point over a decade ago where she and several other teachers were told that Joanne had been receiving
harassing phone calls and threats that her house would be burned down the witness said she believed Joanne was
purposely trying to get her and the other teachers in trouble and that after that they stayed far away from her Pi
James Anderson listed 16 incidents where Joan reported Anonymous threats against
her to authorities every crime that she's been a victim of is has some weirdness attached to it prior to the
incidents that Paula was now accused of being involved in Paula's defense team also told the jury that the only witness
to Paula allegedly trying to run Joanne off the road was Joanne herself when it was time to deliberate the jury took
less than 2 hours they acquitted Paula on all charges and jury members even hugged Paula after the verdict while
Joanne reportedly quickly slipped out of the courtroom soon after though Paula had to undergo another hearing this time
it was done by the school board and while in the end it was determined that Paula could keep her teaching job so
could Joanne the two were to remain teaching within the same district November 2000 Paula received a
$600,000 settlement from the school district she was also awarded a $25,000 settlement from Jo Chambers and
a lawsuit seeking compensation for the money that Paula spent on her defense for the criminal trial in the end both
Paula and Joanne remained teachers within the same district with lengthy and successful careers however Paula
said she still did have to deal with some Fallout from the allegations against her with some people still
thinking she probably really did do it now Joanne retired from her teaching career in 20 4 as a celebrated educator
over the years she obtained the prestigious status of a national board certified teacher and helped hundreds of
students with dyslexia learn how to read it was never proven that Joanne was behind the letters and the case
technically remains unsolved I would really love to hear what you guys think about this one in the comments thank you
all for watching until next time [Music]

When JoAnne Chambers was hired to teach at Coolbaugh Learning Centre in Pennsylvania she arrived with glowing reviews from her former school. So when an anonymous harasser began targeting the popular school teacher, she was left stunned. As the effort to tarnish her reputation turned into death threats and dangerous traps, JoAnne feared for her life. But who exactly had it out for her and why? JoAnne had her suspicions… a rival colleague named Paula Nawrocki.

00:00 Intro

Based on Case 189: JoAnne Chambers https://casefilepodcast.com/case-189-joanne-chambers/

CREDITS Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Jessica Forsayeth Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas

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#JoAnneChambers, #PennsylvaniaTeacher, #TeacherHarassment, #SchoolScandal, #TeacherInDanger, #CoolbaughLearningCentre, #RivalryRevealed, #DeathThreats, #AnonymousHarasser, #TeacherMystery

Brief Summary

Teachers Joanne Chambers and Paula Naraki faced a harassment case involving threats, stalking, and an unresolved investigation.

Key points

The Polygraph Test. Paula fails her polygraph test, raising suspicions about her involvement in the harassment.
The Doll Threat. A Barbie doll with a razor blade lodged in its throat sends chills down Joanne's spine.
The Acquittal. Paula is acquitted of all charges after a quick jury deliberation, leaving Joanne in shock.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You really are a clueless [ __ ]!

Threatening letter to Joanne Chambers

3:37WatchAug 9, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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