A Deadly Family Secret

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He was a proud father of three, married to the same woman for 30 years. But when Bob Dorotick suddenly disappeared, the trail of suspicion led right back home.
48 hours, right now. Bob Dorotick was a successful engineer and a proud father of three.
His wife, Jane, was a medical company executive. That's our wedding picture.
Married for 30 years, they lived with their daughter, Claire, on a beautiful horse farm. The family has always been incredibly important.
Then one day... The minute I saw my mom's face, I knew right away something terrible had happened.
Bob disappeared. He said he was going out for a jog.
That was the last I talked to him. But the truth was more sinister than that.
It was obvious to me that it was a homicide. Imagine the shock when the trail of suspicion led right back home.
Erin Moriarty investigates. There's plenty of blood in that bedroom.
Only one person that could have done this.

It's Jane who is charged with the murder.

I would never hurt my husband.

Daughter Claire swears her mother is innocent.

My mom is in jail and the killer is out there.

But does Claire have something to hide?

I have no further comments.

A 48 hours mystery Mystery of Family Torn Apart. The ties that bind families together are so basic to our lives, it's easy, too easy, to take them for granted.
That is, until they're gone. And many more.
Nearly all families have their share of secrets, mysteries. But sometimes the burden of keeping those secrets can be so great even the closest of family ties can start to unravel.

So it is with one family whose mystery involves murder. This is the family that appeared to be living in harmony until one day, more than a year ago, when the usual peace and quiet was shattered, setting off a chain of events that would leave a family torn apart.
Aaron Moriarty investigates by following a trail no one expected to travel. I always used to say this is the most peaceful place on the face of the earth.
The beauty and drama of these foothills northeast of San Diego no longer give Jane Dorotek any comfort. Nothing feels peaceful anymore.
I'm just going to pound this up. Jane's life has not been the same since her 55-year-old husband, Bob, disappeared.
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.
Zoom in or zoom in or zoom out. Bob, an engineer and avid jogger, says Jane, Very competitive, very methodical and logical.
Went out for a run on a rainy Sunday afternoon and never returned. That's our wedding picture.
Jane had lived almost half her life with Bob. This is me.
Oh, this is great. This is Bob.
I was 23 when we were married. They raised three children.
Alex is the oldest, Claire's in the middle, and Nick is the youngest. They look like happy kids, too.
They're wonderful. You know, the family has always been incredibly important to both of us.
Claire, then 24 years old and the only one still living at home, was away the weekend her dad disappeared. Sunday started out like any other day.
Hi, guys. My routine was always to get up first, go feed the horses.
As Jane remembers it, it was a busy day at her ranch, with thoroughbred horses to feed and expectant mares to watch. That was the day I decided to move all four mares up to the barn on top.
Just before she left the house, Jane says, she saw Bob in the living room. Bob was sitting actually in this chair facing the TV.
He had the newspapers on the ottoman. He said he was going out for a jog.
And he was actually had his jogging suit on, was tying his shoes. That was it.
That was the last I talked to him. Three hours later, when Jane returned to the house, she says she was surprised that Bob hadn't returned.
Were you concerned at that point? You know, only a vague sense of, hmm, this is a longer run. But by 5, it was beginning to get dark, and I decided to go out and look.
This is the same route, Jane says she took that late afternoon to search for Bob, driving up and down the steep hill where he sometimes ran. This kind of scares me just looking out in a car.
Yeah, and there's very little shoulder. I thought, well, maybe he fell off the side of the road and he broke his ankle, and he's just sitting there calling, hoping somebody will hear him or find him.
By 7.30, Jane was getting scared. I said, enough, this is enough, something is wrong.
And that's when I made the call to the Sheriff's Department. Deputy James Blackman was first on the scene.
My first thought that night was maybe this man had a heart attack and fell down the embankment along Lake Wolford Road. As police began a search and rescue, concerned friends and family gathered at the Dorotick house.
The minute I saw my mom's face, I knew right away something terrible had happened. Claire had spent the weekend visiting Jane's sister, Bonnie.
She was scared, she was nervous, she was crying. She was freaked out.
It was a long night. What were you feeling by then? It was a horrifying feeling that got more and more horrifying when he wasn't found.
And then, in the pre-dawn hours of February 14th, Deputy Blackman turned into this driveway. I see something off in the brush, and I stop about right here.
I could see the body, the shirt, the red pants. He was laying on his back.
And I said, this is Mr. Dorothee.
On Valentine's Day morning, Jane learned that the man she had been married to for 30 years was dead. They said they thought he had been hit by a car.
The hardest part was telling her children. You know it's such a hard thing to do, to call, say to your kid, your dad's been, is dead.
Jane has such a big heart. Marilyn Ryan is Jane's younger sister.
I've never seen anybody with that much sadness put it aside and just hold on to her kids and be the strong one for her children. As Jane and her family began coping with the news...
I got there a little after 7 in the morning. Police detective Rick Empson was called in.
There was no evidence of any type of vehicle accident. What Empson found was much worse.
He had 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. What did that say to you? It was obvious to me that it was a homicide.
Bob Dorotick had been severely bludgeoned and strangled. How severely? He had extensive fractures to the skull, had lost a tremendous amount of blood, and strangulation was a contributing factor as to the cause of death as well as the bludgeoning.
How could this happen? How could somebody take away his life like this? Is there anybody you could think who would want to see your husband dead? Nobody. Nobody.
We sat and cried and prayed and wondered how could this have happened? Who could have done this? None of us could figure it out. It was just pure, absolute shock.
But the biggest shock was yet to come. Three days after Bob's body was found, the police made an arrest.

There was only one person, in my opinion, that could have done this to Mr. Dorotek,

and that was his wife, Jane Dorotek.

He said, you're under arrest.

I was like, what?

I just couldn't believe this would be happening.

Next on 48 Hours.

I know I didn't do this but how am I gonna clear myself

I know in my heart and I'm innocent and everybody that knows me knows I'm innocent in a matter of In the last few days, 53-year-old Jane Dorotick went from well-paid healthcare executive and wife to widow to accuse murderer. Here I am in jail, and I'm innocent, and yet here I am.
She's being held on an unusually high $2 million bail. But today, she hopes a judge will listen to the people who are here to support her, her children.
We have never known my mom to be violent in any sense. Old friends.
I find it very difficult to believe that she should be guilty of such a thing. Even her boss.
She's always conducted herself in a very responsible manner. Thank you.
The judge agrees to reduce her bail.

I want to reduce bail to $1 million. And after 23 days in jail, Jane goes home.
I still sometimes think, how can this be? How can this happen? Surely I've been in a really long bad dream and I'll wake up and it won't be real anymore.

Two months after getting out of jail and still awaiting her trial.

We're moving the household today, the horses tomorrow,

and hope we get everything done in two days.

Jane is moving.

I'm cracking my crazy method. Just throw it in.

She's leaving the ranch she shared with her husband until he was brutally murdered. I miss him terribly.
Every time I go into another room, I still think I'm going to see Bob sitting at his computer or reading a book. I can't stay here with all of the memories that are here.
Helping are her sister Bonnie Long and two of her children. I think we have all the boxes up here.
Nick, her youngest, a construction worker and competitive snowboarder, and Claire, Where are the boxes? a personal trainer and horsewoman who is also in school getting her master's degree in psychology. Jane's oldest son, Alex, is away in law school.
Good horses. Is there any question in your mind whether your mom's innocent or not? Any question at all? Is there any question in my mind whether that sky is blue or not? No.
You know, my reality is my mom is not capable of things like that.

And that's the same for everybody in my family.

It's just not possible.

I loved my husband.

Thank you, Lord, for giving us Jane.

I would never hurt my husband.

Jane and Bob got married in 1970.

She was a nurse.

He was an engineer working for Lockheed. How would you describe Bob? Very much a high achiever and very much an independent kind of a person.
While Bob had a passion for hiking and jogging, Jane loved her horses. I've been breeding horses for 20 years.
Hi sweetie. I've always loved horses.
Go on. Despite the demands of her job as an executive, Jane's horse operation grew.
We buy three or four a year and hope to train them and resell them. He's looking a little lazy with his back legs.
And the money that went into the horses became a source of contention between Jane and Bob. My father wasn't a real big fan of the horses and the ranch and the operation, and that was always the source of a lot of conflict.
This and other strains in their marriage led Jane and Bob to split up in 1997. I don't make any apologies for the fact that we had rough times, but that doesn't change the fact that we loved each other.
Then a year later, they reconciled. They were getting along better than they ever had in the past.
I was living there. I can tell you that.
Jane and Bob had been back together as a couple a year and a half when he was killed. Before February, how would you have described your marriage? I would say better than ever.
I really think the separation caused us to really regroup and think about what was important. Then why, Jane? 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. I have read that in some very high percentage of cases, it's either a family member or somebody known.
My alibi of being up in the barn cleaning stalls is probably not a very good one in their mind. But, you know, I wish they would go to motive.
What motive would I have to kill my husband? The motive? According to police, the motive was money. Jane's money.

They contend her marriage was in trouble again. The prosecution is going to say you killed your husband because you thought you'd have to pay a large part of your income if you got divorced.
They can say whatever they want. They can think whatever they want.
It's just not the case. But more important than motive, police say, is evidence.
Evidence that shows Bob wasn't killed here where his body was found. His body was dumped here after he was killed.
And where was he killed? In his own bedroom. There was no question in our mind that this assault occurred in the master bedroom.
What first led Detective Rick Empson to suspect Jane was seeing a piece of rope hanging on the porch. It appeared to be the exact same type of rope that was found around his neck.
Investigators asked if they could search the house. I had said, come in, search, look for anything.
And when they got to the master bedroom, they found some blood. This is the master bedroom.
This is the alleged crime scene. Actually, police say a search of the room revealed massive amounts of blood.
Massive? I think massive was the word that was used. Is that possible? Well, I can't see how it's possible.
When I was sleeping in that same bed for three nights. My family's there in and through the room.
My two sisters and I sat on the foot of that bed and hugged after Bob was killed. Yeah, we were all in this room.
I didn't see any blood. But any blood, Jane says, is perfectly understandable.
I guess I don't doubt there is blood on the carpet.

We're in the country. We've lived here for two years.

Coming up...

There's blood spatter on the ceiling, on the headboard,

on the nightstand, tile, comforters, sheets.

The case against Jane.

She made mistakes, and we caught them.

Come on, guys. Hanging out in the shade? Is there any way that you can adequately describe what you've been going through for the last five months? I don't think so.
I mean, obviously, still, I'm on a roller coaster. I cry one minute.
I, you know, I worry about what the future is going to hold. Free on bail, but living under suspicion, Jane Dorotek can't believe the sudden turn her life has taken.
I know intellectually that the prosecution must feel that they have enough of a case to even go this far. But how can they possibly feel that? Jane is about to find out.
At her preliminary hearing, Jane and her family will see and hear, for the first time, the evidence against her. Carrie has said this is going to be your worst nightmare.
Carrie is Carrie Steigerwald, Jane's attorney. Jane, how are you? She's baffled because I don't think she knows what happened.
She knows that she's placed as the killer and she's not the killer. Do you have any question in your mind that Jane Dorotick killed her husband? No.
Absolutely none. It's prosecutor Bonnie Howard Regan's job to convince a judge there's enough evidence to take Jane Dorotick to trial.
Good morning, people in the state of California versus Jane Marguerite Dorotick. I think that the evidence is strong to show that this was a calculated, premeditated, deliberate murder.
According to the prosecutor, Bob Dorotick never went out for a jog on that cool, wet Sunday afternoon in February. Instead, she says, he was killed in his own bedroom.
There's plenty of blood in that bedroom, and it's all the victim's blood. So it's obvious that that is where the crime occurred.
Investigators say they found minute drops of blood all over the bedroom. There's blood spatter on the ceiling, on the headboard, on the nightstand, on a potbelly stove, on tile, on comforters, sheets.
Even worse. This is the stain I'm talking

about. When the detectives lifted the mattress, there was blood there.
Somebody laid there for

a while bleeding. He was struck on the bed at least two times.
He was also struck in the vicinity of

the potbelly stove. It was after Bob was killed that investigators believe he was dressed in

The struck on the bed at least two times. He was also struck in the vicinity of the potbelly stove.
It was after Bob was killed that investigators believe he was dressed in his jogging clothes. It was a muddy day.
It was raining and there was no evidence of any type of a splash mark on the shoes. There was no mud on the shoes and each one of the shoes were tied with the shoelaces tied on the outside of the shoe as if somebody had put the shoes on Mr.
Dorotech. This would be his normal route? Mm-hmm.
Remember how Jane says she was driving along this road searching for her missing husband when it got dark? I thought, well, maybe he fell off the side of the road. Prosecutor Howard Regan says that's when Jane dumped Bob's body here.
The tire impressions at the scene match Jane's truck. Without question.
And there were three different tires on that truck. What are the chances of another truck having the same three different tires? Investigators never found a weapon or any blood-stained clothing.
It appears that Jane Dorotick disposed of the weapon and any bloody clothes, shoes. The prosecutor claims Jane disposed of the evidence at this shopping center, where on the day Bob disappeared, a friend saw her driving to an area behind the stores.
There's nothing back there but a number of dumpsters. But the most damaging evidence by far, the The one piece that to directly connect Jane Dorotick to the murder, is a syringe found in Jane's bathroom.
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.
But this syringe had Jane's fingerprint in Bob's blood. How can you explain that? I can't really explain it other than I know that I helped Bob clean up a nosebleed, and if that's the same time when I took the syringes and threw them in the trash.
At this point in the court proceedings, Jane is not allowed to respond to the evidence. I know that they have presented a lot of evidence to support that the bedroom is a crime scene.
So we gave her a chance to try explaining some things, like the blood found in her own bedroom. Do you have any other explanation of how that blood spatter could have gotten there? Not really.
On the ceiling, on the window, on the walls? No. What about the large amount of blood that was on the other side of the mattress? I don't know.
Jane can come up with only one explanation. I do know when Bob had a nosebleed, he made a comment about getting some blood on the mattress.
So do you still think that that blood could have come from a nosebleed? I think some of it could have come from a nosebleed. But I mean, there was some on the ceiling.
That doesn't make a lot of sense. And what about pieces of a rope, much like the rope found around Bob's neck, that were on Jane's porch and in her house? Would I really be so sloppy as to leave it right out sitting on the coffee table for days, knowing that everyone is searching everything? Would I really be that stupid? Yet there is evidence someone cleaned up.
Bob's blood was found on a bottle of cleaning fluid, and there was wet carpeting with blood stains underneath. Kerry, who else would kill Bob there and then clean up afterwards? That's a problem.
It's a problem for us in Jane's case. Another problem.
Stories told to investigators by Bob's former co-workers. He told me to tell somebody to help him, and that's what I'm trying to do as a friend.
Jim Goudz remembers a chilling conversation he once had with Bob. He said if anything ever happens to me, send the police to my wife, direct them to her.
Chuck Piper says Bob told him the same thing. If anything ever happens to me, come looking for my wife.
He had fear, genuine fear. The defendant is a very dangerous person.
This was a vicious attack. After three days of testimony, there are still a lot of people who insist Jane simply couldn't have killed Bob.
They can find all the circumstantial evidence they want and they can blow it up and they can make it look really bad if they want. In fact, they've done that.
But that doesn't change the fact that my mom could not have done this crime. She didn't have the motive, and she didn't have the opportunity.
Everything else is irrelevant. Count one, murder.
Nevertheless, the judge rules that Jane should stand trial. Penal code section 187.
But no one is prepared for what the judge does next. Bail will be enhanced to $3 million.
Your client is remanded to the custody of the sheriff pending posting of bail. The judge suddenly raises Jane's bail to $3 million.
One of the highest ever for a spousal murder in this country. I'm devastated.
I'm devastated. I didn't expect the bail to be raised.
I did not expect bail to be raised. Unable to raise that kind of money, Jane goes back to jail until her trial.
Isn't it going to be very hard for the jury to believe that somebody else killed Bob, then cleaned up, and then moved his body somewhere else? Yes. Because who else would do that? Well, you're down to a handful of people, aren't you? Next, someone else is accused of killing Bob.
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Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

More than a year

after Bob Dorotek was murdered,

his body dumped by a mountain road near San Diego, his widow Jane faces trial. Although she firmly denies any involvement in the crime, there is troubling evidence to overcome, especially blood evidence taken from the master bedroom of the couple's hillside home.
She's been in prison nearly six months, unable to raise the unusually high bail in the case, $3 million. And Jane Dorotick's lawyers are weighing a risky strategy, one that seems certain to fan the flames of animosity in a family whose better days are but a flickering memory.
Here again is Erin Moriard. Happy birthday to you, and many more.
Bob Dortik's murder took more than a life. Happy birthday to you.
It destroyed his entire family. It's so hard in here.
I work really hard every day to stay positive because it's such a difficult environment. Accused of his murder is his wife of 30 years, Jane, who now sits in county jail.
The situation is not very good all the way around. Jane's daughter Claire has been forced to put the family ranch on the market.
We just do what we can do to get through today and then we face tomorrow tomorrow. It's very hard on her.
It's very hard. But what concerns Claire and her mother even more is that neither Alex nor Nick have come to see their mother in jail.
Does that make you sad? Yes, of course. It's a hard time for all of us.
You are very sure about your mom's innocence, but it doesn't seem like your brothers are quite as sure. Why do they have doubts? I don't know whether I'd say they have doubts or not.
I think that they're very frustrated and they're very angry that we still don't know the truth. Jane's sons won't say why they've stayed away, but the evidence in this case is damaging.
It points to a killer who knew the victim, who had a reason to kill him, who also had a reason to clean up the crime scene afterwards. But Jane's attorney says she's not the only one who fits that description.
Who does he say killed Bob Dorotick? I'm more convinced than ever that it was Claire who killed her father. Claire Dorotick, Jane and Bob's 25-year-old daughter.
It is a shocking development that Carrie Steigerwald and his associate, attorney Cole Casey, say they intend to prove in court. When did you first start thinking that it wasn't Jane at all but her daughter? To me, no stranger did this homicide.
That it had to be someone who knew Bob? Had to be? Had to be. Because of the blood in the bedroom? The blood in the bedroom compounded with the cleanup.
The cleanup was done with the cleanup ingredients found in the home. And Steigerwald claims Claire had a reason to kill her father.
It was clear Claire loathed her father. She did not like him at all.
He could be a jerk sometimes. In an earlier interview, Claire said her relationship with her father had been strained.
Was there conflict between you and your dad? Yes. I wasn't that close with him.
We had our rocky points. We argued a lot.
I think he hurt her greatly emotionally. But was Claire angry enough to kill her own father? As proof, the attorney points to a letter an irate Claire wrote to her father.
I know that I have been resented by you always. It doesn't have to be more than she just didn't like her father to kill him in that brutal manner.
Let me tell you something. Claire's life right now is the horses.
As Steigerwald sees it, Claire, who is devoted to her horses, became enraged when her father threatened to sell them. And including that letter that she wrote is just a threat.
Don't you dare think about taking those horses from me. Your history of betrayal of trust, lack of respect and vicious threats cannot ever be forgotten.
The letter was written about a year before Bob Dorotick was killed. So what do you think happened? I think Claire snapped.
Prosecutor Bonnie Howard Regan confirms the letter exists, but reads it very differently. It shows a troubled relationship between a father and daughter, not motive to kill.
When you first heard the defense was going to point the finger at Claire, did you have a moment of doubt? No. The thought did cross my mind that Claire might be involved somehow, along with her mother.
But she says Claire wasn't home the weekend Bob was murdered. There's no evidence to connect Clark Dorit to the crime.
I went to my aunt's house. Claire has always said she was in Long Beach, two hours away.
Claire was with me Saturday night. And her aunt Bonnie backs her story.
Is there any possibility in your mind that Claire might have killed her dad? No. It's too unbelievable that she's going to murder her father and come up and go for a nice walk with me, go for dinner.
Police never did anything to verify this alibi. Steigerwald says that Claire changed details of how she got to Long Beach, even what she did when she got there.
It's almost beautiful for me she gave such a lie. Even today, no one has actually checked out Claire's alibi.
As best they could, they attempted to, but they couldn't verify, no. They could not verify that she was there.
Do you think it's at all possible that Claire could have hurt her dad? I absolutely don't. But if Jane really believes that, why would she allow her attorney to point to her daughter as the killer, the daughter Jane clearly loves? I have come across something that could be real, real important.
I trust Carrie. I hope we get what we need.
But this is pointing a finger at someone in your own family. You know, the prosecution has already gone there, so it's not news to them.
But is this just a trial strategy? Do you honestly believe that Claire killed her dad, or is this just a way to get, to confuse the jurors and to get Jane off? I would not put my neck out on the line like that without having a basis in fact for making that statement As for Claire suddenly the center of a media frenzy She's not speaking to anyone. I have no further comments Got everything important right are you at all concerned that the jury will wonder about a woman who would allow herself to be defended 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. I think it's the best defense to present.
Coming up... Claire, can we answer some questions? Will Claire take the stand?

And the prosecution surprise witnesses against Jane Dorotick. Do you know Jane Dorotick? Yes.
How is it that you know her? She's my mother. Jane Dorotick's murder trial...
...is unlike any other in County. It's very rare for a journalist to be involved in a trial of this magnitude and one that is certainly attracting national attention.
Please be seated. Jane's the one on trial.
Robert Dorotek was a victim of a cold, calculated, and brutal slain. But she's not the only one accused.
Ladies and gentlemen, Claire hated her father. The defense will try to convince jurors that it was Claire who murdered Bob Dorotick in his bedroom.
The scene is one that can only be described as explosive. That's what Claire is.
A hot-tempered, explosive individual. But it's a tricky maneuver.
Do you run the risk that the jury could hear this and think that both Jane and Claire killed Bob Dorotek and convict Jane and then have Claire later charged? It's a genuine risk. But it's a risk we pretty much have to take at this point.
Something similar to this hammer was used to strike Mr. Dorotick on the head.
Prosecutor Bonnie Howard Regan begins with the physical evidence. I walked into the room and I had seen blood on the ceiling and I saw some blood across the comforter on the bed.
The syringe with Jane's fingerprint in Bob's blood and the tire tracks from Jane's truck in the area where Bob Dorotick's body was found. When you look at all the evidence, it will point to one thing.
Jane Dorotick chose murder over divorce. Faced with such damaging evidence, the defense has only one option, to put serious doubt in the minds of the jurors.
First, by proving Jane wasn't physically capable of committing murder. And then, by convincing the jurors, Claire is.
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 right away, Carrie Steigerwald runs into trouble. Ms.
Claire Dortick, please step forward. With a jury outside of the court, Claire takes the fifth.
You are going to assert your fifth amendment rights? That's correct.

Which means jurors will never see or hear from Claire and never be told why.

Ms. Dortick may not be called in front of the jury.

The most Carrie Steigerwald can say is that Claire is unavailable.

You are excused at this time.

Isn't the jury going to wonder, you've been talking about Claire, and the jury never sees her and never knows why she doesn't appear? As we said that's a crucial part of the defense of this case and it yeah it makes it difficult no doubt it makes it difficult. The defense can still let the jurors hear from Claire through the angry letter she wrote to her father one year before he was killed.

You appear to me to be very antagonistic, contentious, and controlling.

I must take all precautionary measures to protect myself from you, underlined.

That letter speaks volumes.

Whether you have Claire there or not, that letter is screaming that something's wrong here in Denmark. Zoom in or zoom in or zoom out.
At the same time, the defense wants the jury to believe that Jane couldn't have murdered her husband. She was in a horrible automobile accident and barely can mount a horse.
She just is physically incapable of moving a dead person's weight. She couldn't do it.
But there's contrary evidence in court. All jurors are again present.
And it comes from the most unlikely source. Ms.
Howard Regan, you may call your next witness. Jane's own sons, Alex.
I remember in 93 or 94 moving irrigation pipes, my mom moving them along with us.

They're either 20 or 40 foot long irrigation pipes and we take them two at a time.

And Nick.

If I asked you whether in your opinion your mother would be able to lug around a 100 pound bag of seed,

you think she'd be able to?

Yes.

You think so?

Yes.

With her hip condition the way it is?

Yes.

And they damaged Jane's case even further. 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.
I know they're going through tremendous pain, too. I just am struggling so hard as a mom to know what happened, why.
It is suddenly clear why Jane's sons never came to see her in jail. Did you say anything specifically about the syringe? Well, I asked her how it got there and what it was doing there.
And what was your mother's response? She said that her biggest fear in all of this was that us family members would start questioning her. Mr.
Dorotick, thank you, sir, for coming in. You are excused at this time.
Would you say that's been the most damaging testimony? Yeah. It's not what they said.
It's the fact that they were there testifying for the prosecution. That, yeah, no doubt.
They broke my heart, you know. They just broke my heart.
Carey thinks it's too risky for Jane to take the stand.

You know, what good is it going to do?

He's worried about prosecution questions that he knows Jane can't answer. Explain this, explain that.
Things that I know she's incapable of explaining or at least hasn't been able to explain to me. I really can't.
I'm sorry. But there are questions the prosecution can't answer either.
Here at the location where Bob's body was dumped, footprints were found, but none of them were Jane's. And there's a witness who says she saw Bob alive on this driveway the day he disappeared.
Court is now in session. The defense hopes those questions will raise reasonable doubt as to who really killed Bob Dorotek.
Was it Jane Dorotek? Was it Claire Dorotek? Well ladies and gentlemen, was it someone else? Was it truly, truly someone else? Coming up... They just read the verdict.
They did? Yeah. The verdict., two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Well, Michael, jurors have wrapped up their first few hours of deliberations. In this case, they'll be returning tomorrow as they go behind closed doors once again and debate the future of Jane Dorotek.
After deliberating for four days, the jury returns with a verdict. Could you hand the verdict forms to the bailiff, please? Thank you.
Madam Clerk, please read the verdict. We the jury in the imbevel title cause find the defendant, Jane Marguerite Dorotek, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree in violation of Penal Code Section 187, PRN8.
They almost didn't register for a minute. It's like, no, this can't be.
I was so certain that I was walking out. What made you feel that during the trial? Because I'm innocent.
Because I thought they would see the truth.

Do you have any statements you'd like to make about the verdict? It's a terrible defeat for Carrie Steigerwald, who hoped the jury would believe an angry daughter could have committed the crime. I'm at a loss for answers.
I honestly am. I never thought a jury would conclude it was Jane.
I'm disappointed in myself that I wasn't able to convey what I perceived to be reasonable doubt to this jury. What if in fact she killed her husband and there was nothing you could do?

Maybe I'm a fool for not believing it. I don't believe it.

Congratulations.

Prosecutor Bonnie Howard Regan.

All I could think about was that justice was served for those boys. One of those boys, Jane's son Alex, was in court for the verdict.
Any reaction at all? No comment for Alex. Did Alex want to see his mom convicted? Yes, he believes that his mother is responsible for the death of his father.
Since we last aired this broadcast, neither Alex nor his brother Nick have spoken with or seen their mother. But at the same time, those poor kids, they have lost both, their mother and father, knowing that their mother is responsible for killing their father in a very brutal fashion.
The verdict officially ends speculation that Claire, not her mom, killed Bob Dorotick. But it doesn't answer all the questions.
We will probably never know all of the participants in aiding and abetting, either before or after the fact, of this homicide. Weeks later, when Jane is sentenced, Judge Joan Weber wonders out loud.

Does that in any sense mean that Jane Dortick was not the killer?

Absolutely not.

The fact remains that there is substantial evidence tying defendant to this crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

Defendant is committed to the term prescribed by law of 25 years to life. Jane will die in prison.
If she doesn't get a new trial, if she doesn't get an appeal, nothing is going to save her. And in California, life means life.
It's hard to keep going.

In a noisy, crowded jail, Jane Dorotick is all alone.

I mean, I just...

I can't see my way clear to a life in prison.

I just can't see it. After new DNA testing, Jane Dorotick's murder conviction was overturned.

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