A Deadly Family Secret

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Speaker 2 I'm Dan Rather. He was a a proud father of three, married to the same woman for 30 years.
But when Bob Dorotyk suddenly disappeared, the trail of suspicion led right back home. 48 hours, right now.

Speaker 3 Bob Dorotyk was a successful engineer and a proud father of three. His wife, Jane, was a medical company executive.

Speaker 4 That's our wedding picture.

Speaker 3 Married for 30 years, they lived with their daughter, Claire, on a beautiful horse farm.

Speaker 4 The family has always been incredibly important.

Speaker 3 Then one day...

Speaker 5 The minute I saw my mom's face, I knew right away something terrible had happened.

Speaker 3 Bob disappeared.

Speaker 4 He said he was going out for a jog. That was the last I talked to him.

Speaker 3 But the truth was more sinister than that.

Speaker 6 It was obvious to me that it was a homicide.

Speaker 3 Imagine the shock when the trail of suspicion led right back home. Aaron Moriarty investigates.

Speaker 8 There's plenty of blood in that bedroom.

Speaker 6 Only one person that could have done this.

Speaker 3 It's Jane who is charged with the murder.

Speaker 4 I would never hurt my husband.

Speaker 3 Daughter Claire swears her mother is innocent.

Speaker 5 My mom is in jail, and the killer is out there.

Speaker 3 But does Claire have something to hide?

Speaker 5 I have no further comments.

Speaker 3 A 48-hour mystery: a family torn apart.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 4 And many more.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 2 So it is with one family whose mystery involves murder.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 2 Aaron Moriarhe investigates by following a trail no one expected to travel.

Speaker 4 I always used to say this is the most peaceful place on the face of the earth.

Speaker 12 The beauty and drama of these foothills northeast of San Diego no longer give Jane Dorotyk any comfort.

Speaker 4 Nothing feels peaceful anymore. I'm just gonna pound this up.

Speaker 12 Jane's life has not been the same since her 55-year-old husband, Bob, disappeared.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 13 Just zoom in or zoom in or or zoom out.

Speaker 12 Bob, an engineer and avid jogger, says Jane.

Speaker 4 Very competitive, very methodical and logical.

Speaker 12 Went out for a run on a rainy Sunday afternoon and never returned.

Speaker 4 That's our wedding picture.

Speaker 12 Jane had lived almost half her life with Bob.

Speaker 4 This is me. Oh.
This is Bob. I was 23 when we were married.

Speaker 12 They raised three children.

Speaker 4 Alex is the oldest, Claire's in the middle, and Nick is the youngest.

Speaker 12 They look like happy kids, too.

Speaker 4 They're wonderful.

Speaker 4 You know, the family has always been incredibly important to both of us.

Speaker 12 Claire, then 24 years old and the only one still living at home, was away the weekend her dad disappeared.

Speaker 4 Sunday started out like any other day. Hi, guys.
My routine was always to get up first, go feed the horses.

Speaker 12 As Jane remembers it, it was a busy day at her ranch with thoroughbred horses to feed and expectant mares to watch.

Speaker 4 That was the day I decided to move all four mares up to the barn on top.

Speaker 12 Just before she left the house, Jane says, she saw Bob in the living room.

Speaker 4 Bob was sitting actually in this chair, facing the TV. He had the newspapers on the ottoman.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 12 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?

Speaker 4 You know, only

Speaker 4 a vague sense of, hmm, this is a longer run.

Speaker 4 But by five, it was beginning to get dark, and I decided to go out and look.

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 12 This kind of scares me just looking out in a car.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 12 By 7.30, Jane was getting scared.

Speaker 4 I said, enough, this is enough. Something is wrong.
And that's when I made the call to the sheriff's department.

Speaker 12 Deputy James Blackman was first on the scene.

Speaker 14 My first thought that night was maybe this man had a heart attack and fell down the embankment along Lake Wilford Road.

Speaker 12 As police began a search and rescue, concerned friends and family gathered at the Doratic house.

Speaker 5 The minute I saw my mom's face, I knew right away something terrible had happened.

Speaker 12 Claire had spent the weekend visiting Jane's sister, Bonnie.

Speaker 5 She was scared, she was nervous, she was crying. She was freaked out.

Speaker 12 It was a long night. What were you feeling by then?

Speaker 4 It was a horrifying feeling that got more and more horrifying when he wasn't found.

Speaker 12 And then, in the pre-dawn hours of February 14th, Deputy Blackman turned into this driveway.

Speaker 14 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.
Dorty.

Speaker 12 On Valentine's Day morning, Jane learned that the man she had been married to for 30 years was dead.

Speaker 4 They said they thought he had been hit by a car.

Speaker 12 The hardest part was telling her children.

Speaker 4 You know, it's such a hard thing to do, to call, say to your kid,

Speaker 4 your dad's been, is dead. Jane has such a big heart.

Speaker 12 Marilyn Ryan is Jane's younger sister.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 12 As Jane and her family began coping with the news.

Speaker 6 I got there a little after seven in the morning.

Speaker 12 Police detective Rick Empson was called in.

Speaker 6 There was no evidence of any type of vehicle accident.

Speaker 12 What Empson found was much worse.

Speaker 6 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.

Speaker 12 What did that say to you?

Speaker 6 It was obvious to me that it was a homicide.

Speaker 12 Bob Dorotyk had been severely bludgeoned and strangled.

Speaker 15 How severely?

Speaker 6 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.

Speaker 4 How could this happen? How could somebody take away his life like this?

Speaker 12 Is there anybody you could thank who would want to see your husband dead?

Speaker 4 Nobody. Nobody.
We sat and cried and prayed and wondered, how could this have happened?

Speaker 15 Who could have done this?

Speaker 4 None of us could figure it out. It was just pure, absolute shock.

Speaker 12 But the biggest shock was yet to come. Three days after Bob's body was found, the police made an arrest.

Speaker 6 There was only one person, in my opinion, that could have done this to Mr. Dorotek.
And that was his wife, Jane Dorotek.

Speaker 4 He said, you're under arrest. I was like, what?

Speaker 4 I just couldn't believe this would be happening.

Speaker 12 Next on 48 hours.

Speaker 4 I know I didn't do this, but how am I going to clear myself?

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Speaker 4 I know in my heart that I'm innocent.

Speaker 4 And everybody that knows me knows I'm innocent.

Speaker 12 In a matter of days, 53-year-old Jane Dortyk went from well-paid healthcare care executive and wife to widow to accused murderer.

Speaker 4 Here I am in jail, and this court is now accepting I'm innocent, and yet here I am.

Speaker 12 She's being held on an unusually high $2 million bail. But today she hopes the judge will listen to the people who are here to support her.
Her children.

Speaker 5 We have never known my mom to be violent in any sense.

Speaker 12 Old friends.

Speaker 7 I find it very difficult to believe that she should be guilty of such a thing.

Speaker 12 Even her boss.

Speaker 14 She's always conducted herself in a very responsible manner.

Speaker 18 Thank you.

Speaker 12 The judge agrees to reduce her bail.

Speaker 2 I only reduce bail to one million dollars.

Speaker 12 And after 23 days in jail, Jane goes home.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 12 Two Two months after getting out of jail and still awaiting her trial.

Speaker 4 We're moving the household today, the horses tomorrow, and hope we get everything done in two days.

Speaker 12 Jane is moving.

Speaker 4 I'm packing my crazy method. Just throw it in.

Speaker 12 She's leaving the ranch she shared with her husband until he was brutally murdered.

Speaker 4 I miss him terribly.

Speaker 4 Every time I... Go into another room, I still think I'm gonna see Bob sitting at his computer or reading a book.
I can't stay here with all of the memories that are here.

Speaker 12 Helping are her sister Bonnie Long and two of her children.

Speaker 10 I think we have all the boxes up here.

Speaker 12 Nick, her youngest, a construction worker and competitive snowboarder. And Claire.
Where are the boxes? A personal trainer and horsewoman

Speaker 12 who is also in school getting her master's degree in psychology. Jane's oldest son, Alex, is away in law school.

Speaker 5 Good horses.

Speaker 12 Is there

Speaker 12 any question in your mind whether your mom's innocent or not? Any question at all?

Speaker 5 Is there any question in my mind whether that sky is blue or not?

Speaker 5 No. You know, my reality is my mom is not capable of things like that.

Speaker 5 And that's the same for everybody in my family. It's just not

Speaker 5 possible.

Speaker 19 I loved my husband.

Speaker 13 And thank you, Lord, for giving us Jane.

Speaker 4 I would never hurt my husband.

Speaker 12 Jane and Bob got married in 1970. She was a nurse.
He was an engineer working for Lockheed. How would you describe Bob?

Speaker 4 Very much a high achiever.

Speaker 4 And very much an independent kind of a person.

Speaker 12 While Bob had a passion for hiking and jogging,

Speaker 12 Jane loved her horses.

Speaker 4 I've been breeding horses for 20 years.

Speaker 12 I've always loved horses. Go on.
Despite the demands of her job as an executive,

Speaker 12 Jane's horse operation grew.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 12 And the money that went into the horses became a source of contention between Jane and Bob.

Speaker 5 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.

Speaker 12 This and other strains in their marriage led Jane and Bob to split up in 1997.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 12 Then a year later, they reconciled.

Speaker 5 They were getting along better than they ever had in the past. I was living there.
I can tell you that.

Speaker 12 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?

Speaker 4 I would say better than ever. I really think the separation caused us to really regroup and think about what was important.

Speaker 12 Then why, Jane? Why do they believe you killed your husband?

Speaker 4 You know,

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 4 What motive would I have to kill my husband?

Speaker 12 The motive? According to police, the motive was money. Jane's money.
They contend her marriage was in trouble again.

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 4 They can say whatever they want.

Speaker 4 They can... They can think whatever they want.
It's just not the case.

Speaker 12 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?

Speaker 12 In his own bedroom.

Speaker 6 There was no question in our mind that this assault occurred in the master bedroom.

Speaker 12 What first led Detective Rick Empson to suspect Jane was seeing a piece of rope hanging on the porch.

Speaker 6 And appeared to be the exact same type of rope that was found around his neck.

Speaker 12 Investigators asked if they could search the house.

Speaker 4 I had said, come in, search, look for anything.

Speaker 12 And when they got to the master bedroom, they found some blood.

Speaker 4 This is the master bedroom. This is the alleged crime scene.

Speaker 12 Actually, police say a search of the room revealed massive amounts of blood. Massive?

Speaker 4 I think massive was the word that was used.

Speaker 12 Is that possible?

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 12 But any blood, Jane says, is perfectly understandable.

Speaker 4 I guess I don't doubt there is blood on the carpet. We're in the country.
We've lived here for two years.

Speaker 8 Coming up. There's blood spatter on the ceiling, on the headboard, on the nightstand, tile, comforters, sheets.

Speaker 12 The case against Jane.

Speaker 6 She made mistakes and we caught them.

Speaker 4 Come on guys, hanging out in the shade?

Speaker 12 Is there any way that you can adequately describe what you've been going through for the last five months?

Speaker 4 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

Speaker 4 what the future is going to hold.

Speaker 12 Free on bail, but living under suspicion, Jane Dorotek can't believe the sudden turn her life has taken.

Speaker 4 I know, intellectually, that the prosecution must feel that they have enough of a case to even go this far.

Speaker 4 But how can they possibly feel that?

Speaker 12 Jane is about to find out.

Speaker 12 At her preliminary hearing, Jane and her family will see and hear for the first time the evidence against her.

Speaker 4 Carrie has said this is going to be your worst nightmare.

Speaker 12 Carrie is Carrie Steigerwald, Jane's attorney.

Speaker 2 Jane, who are you?

Speaker 18 Well, 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.

Speaker 12 Do you have any question in your mind that Jane Dorotyk killed her husband?

Speaker 15 No.

Speaker 8 Absolutely none.

Speaker 12 It's prosecutor Bonnie Howard Regan's job to convince a judge there's enough evidence to take Jane Dorotyk to trial.

Speaker 20 Good morning, people of the state of California versus Jane Marguerite Dorotyk.

Speaker 8 I think that the evidence is strong to show that this was a calculated, premeditated, deliberate murder.

Speaker 12 According to the prosecutor, Bob Dorotyk never went out for a jog on that cool, wet Sunday afternoon in February. Instead, she says, he was killed in his own bedroom.

Speaker 8 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.

Speaker 12 Investigators say they found minute drops of blood all over the bedroom.

Speaker 8 There's blood spatter on the ceiling, on the headboard, on the nightstand, on a potbelly stove, on tile, on comforters, sheets.

Speaker 12 Even worse.

Speaker 17 This is the stain I'm talking about.

Speaker 8 When the detectives lifted the mattress, there was blood there.

Speaker 2 Somebody laid there for a while bleeding.

Speaker 8 He was struck on the bed at least two times. He was also struck in the vicinity of the potbelly stove.

Speaker 12 It was after Bob was killed that investigators believe he was dressed in his jogging clothes.

Speaker 21 It was a muddy day.

Speaker 6 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.

Speaker 6 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. Dortek.

Speaker 12 This would be his normal route.

Speaker 12 Remember how Jane says she was driving along this road, searching for her missing husband when it got dark?

Speaker 4 I thought, well, maybe he fell off the side of the road.

Speaker 12 Prosecutor Howard Regan says that's when Jane dumped Bob's body here. The tire impressions at the scene match Jane's truck.

Speaker 8 Without question. And there were three different tires on that truck.
What are the chances of another truck having the same three different tires?

Speaker 12 Investigators never found a weapon or any blood-stained clothing.

Speaker 8 It appears that Jane Dorotyk disposed of the weapon and any bloody clothes, shoes.

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 8 There's nothing back there but a number of dumpsters.

Speaker 12 But the most damaging evidence by far, the one piece that seems to directly connect Jane Dorotik to the murder, is a syringe found in Jane's bathroom.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 12 But this syringe had Jane's fingerprint in Bob's blood. How can you explain that?

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 12 At this point in the court proceedings, Jane is not allowed to respond to the evidence.

Speaker 4 I know that they have presented a lot of evidence to support that the bedroom is a crime scene.

Speaker 12 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?

Speaker 4 Not really.

Speaker 12 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?

Speaker 12 I don't know. Jane can come up with only one explanation.

Speaker 4 I do know when Bob had a nosebleed, he made a comment about getting some blood on the mattress.

Speaker 12 So do you still think that that blood could have come from a nosebleed?

Speaker 4 I think some of it could have come from a nosebleed.

Speaker 12 But I mean there there was some on the ceiling.

Speaker 4 That doesn't make a lot of sense.

Speaker 12 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?

Speaker 4 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?

Speaker 12 Yet there is evidence someone cleaned up. Bob's blood was found on a bottle of cleaning fluid, and there was wet carpeting with bloodstains underneath.

Speaker 12 Carrie, who else would kill Bob there and then clean up afterwards?

Speaker 6 That's a problem.

Speaker 18 It's a problem for us in Jane's case.

Speaker 10 Another problem.

Speaker 12 Stories told to investigators by Bob's former co-workers.

Speaker 21 He told me to tell somebody to help him, and that's what I'm trying to do as a friend.

Speaker 12 Jim Googe remembers a chilling conversation he once had with Bob.

Speaker 21 He said, if anything ever happens to me, send the police to my wife, direct them to her.

Speaker 12 Chuck Piper says Bob told him the same thing.

Speaker 6 If anything ever happens to me,

Speaker 2 come looking for my wife. He had fear, genuine fear.

Speaker 8 The defendant is a very dangerous person. This was a vicious attack.

Speaker 12 After three days of testimony, there are still a lot of people who insist Jane simply couldn't have killed Bob.

Speaker 5 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.

Speaker 5 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.

Speaker 15 Count one, murder.

Speaker 12 Nevertheless, the judge rules that Jane should stand trial.

Speaker 15 Penal Code Section 187.

Speaker 12 No one is prepared for what the judge does next.

Speaker 15 Bail will be enhanced to $3 million.

Speaker 15 Their client is remanded to the custody of the sheriff pending posting of bail.

Speaker 12 The judge suddenly raises Jane's bail to $3 million,

Speaker 12 One of the highest ever for a spousal murder in this country.

Speaker 18 I'm devastated. I'm devastated.

Speaker 18 I didn't expect the bail to be raised. I did not expect the bail to be raised.

Speaker 12 Unable to raise that kind of money, Jane goes back to jail until her trial.

Speaker 12 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?

Speaker 19 Yes.

Speaker 12 Because who else would do that?

Speaker 18 Well, you're down to but a handful of people, aren't you?

Speaker 12 Next, someone else is accused of killing Bob.

Speaker 2 More than a year after Bob Dorotyk was murdered, his body dumped by a mountain road near San Diego, his widow Jane faces trial.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 2 She's been in prison nearly six months, unable to raise the unusually high bail in the case, $3 million.

Speaker 2 And Jane Dorotyk'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 Moriarty.

Speaker 2 Happy birthday to

Speaker 2 you

Speaker 4 and many more.

Speaker 12 Bob Dortyk's murder took more than a a life.

Speaker 12 It destroyed his entire family.

Speaker 4 It's so hard in here.

Speaker 4 I work really hard every day to stay positive because

Speaker 4 it's such a difficult environment.

Speaker 12 Accused of his murder is his wife of 30 years, Jane, who now sits in county jail.

Speaker 5 The situation is not very good all the way around.

Speaker 12 Jane's daughter Claire has been forced to put the family ranch on the market.

Speaker 5 We just do what we can do to get through today. And then we face tomorrow, tomorrow.

Speaker 4 It's very hard on her. It's very hard.

Speaker 12 But what concerns Claire and her mother even more

Speaker 12 is that neither Alex nor Nick

Speaker 12 have come to see their mother in jail. Does that make you sad?

Speaker 4 Yes, of course.

Speaker 4 It's a hard time for all of us.

Speaker 12 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?

Speaker 5 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.

Speaker 12 Jane's sons won't say why they've stayed away, but the evidence in this case is damaging.

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 12 But Jane's attorney says she's not the the only one who fits that description. Who does he say killed Bob Dorotyk?

Speaker 18 I'm more convinced than ever that it was Claire who killed her father.

Speaker 12 Claire Dorotyk. 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.

Speaker 12 When did you first start thinking that it wasn't Jane at all, but her daughter?

Speaker 18 To me, no stranger did this homicide.

Speaker 12 That it had to be someone who knew Bob. Had to be.

Speaker 14 Had to be.

Speaker 12 Because of the blood in the bedroom?

Speaker 18 The blood in the bedroom compounded with the cleanup. And the cleanup was done with the cleanup ingredients found in the home.

Speaker 12 And Steigerwald claims Claire had a reason to kill her father.

Speaker 18 It's clear Claire loathed her father. She did not like him at all.

Speaker 5 He could be a jerk sometimes.

Speaker 12 In an earlier interview, Claire said her relationship with her father had been strained. Was there a conflict between you and your dad?

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 5 I wasn't that close with him. We had our rocky points.
We argued a lot.

Speaker 4 I think he hurt her greatly emotionally.

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 12 It doesn't have to be more than she just didn't like her father to kill him in that brutal manner.

Speaker 18 Let me tell you something. Claire's life right now

Speaker 18 is the horses.

Speaker 12 As Steigerwald sees it, Claire, who is devoted to her horses, became enraged when her father threatened to sell them.

Speaker 18 And included in that letter that she wrote is just a threat. Don't you dare

Speaker 18 think about taking those horses from me.

Speaker 12 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 Dorotyk was killed.
So what do you think happened?

Speaker 18 I think Claire

Speaker 18 snapped.

Speaker 12 Prosecutor Bonnie Howard Regan confirms the letter exists, but reads it very differently.

Speaker 8 It shows a troubled relationship between a father and daughter, not motive to kill.

Speaker 12 When you first heard the defense was going to point the finger at Claire, did you have a moment of doubt?

Speaker 8 No, the thought did cross my mind that Claire might be involved somehow, along with her mother.

Speaker 12 But she says Claire wasn't home the weekend Bob was murdered.

Speaker 8 There's no evidence to connect Claire Dor to the crime.

Speaker 5 I went to my aunt's house.

Speaker 12 Claire has always said she was in Long Beach, two hours away.

Speaker 4 Claire was with me Saturday night.

Speaker 12 And her aunt Bonnie backs her story. Is there any possibility in your mind that Claire might have killed her dad?

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 18 Police never did anything to verify this alibi.

Speaker 12 Steigerwald says that Claire changed details of how she got to Long Beach, even what she did when she got there.

Speaker 18 It's almost beautiful for me she gave such a lie.

Speaker 12 Even today, no one has actually checked out Claire's alibi.

Speaker 8 As best they could, they attempted to, but they couldn't verify. No, they could not verify that she was there.

Speaker 4 Do you think it's at all possible that Claire could have hurt her dad?

Speaker 4 I absolutely don't.

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 18 I have come across something that could be real, real important.

Speaker 4 I trust Carrie.

Speaker 4 I hope we get what we need.

Speaker 12 But this is pointing a finger at someone in your own family.

Speaker 4 You know,

Speaker 4 the prosecution has already gone there, so it's not news to them.

Speaker 12 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?

Speaker 18 I would not put my neck out on the line like that without having a basis, in fact, for making that statement.

Speaker 12 As for Claire, suddenly the center of a media frenzy, we'd like to know she's not speaking to anyone.

Speaker 5 I have no further comments.

Speaker 18 Got everything important, right?

Speaker 12 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?

Speaker 12 Could that work against the two of you?

Speaker 18 It may. I don't know.

Speaker 18 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.

Speaker 12 Coming up, Claire, can we ask you some questions? Will Claire take the stand

Speaker 12 and the prosecution surprise witnesses against Jane Dorotyk?

Speaker 19 Do you know Jane Dorotyk?

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 15 How is it that you know her?

Speaker 11 She's my mother.

Speaker 12 Jane Dortyk's murder trial

Speaker 12 is unlike any other in San Diego County.

Speaker 23 It's very rare for a journalist to be involved in a trial of this magnitude and one that is certainly attracting national attention.

Speaker 17 Please be seated.

Speaker 12 Jane's the one on trial.

Speaker 4 Robert Dorotyk was a victim of a cold, calculated, and brutal slaying.

Speaker 12 But she's not the only one accused.

Speaker 18 Ladies and gentlemen,

Speaker 2 Claire hated her father.

Speaker 12 The defense will try to convince jurors that it was Claire who murdered Bob Dorotyk in his bedroom.

Speaker 18 The scene is one that can only be described as explosive.

Speaker 6 That's what Claire is:

Speaker 18 a hot-tempered, explosive individual.

Speaker 12 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 Dortyk and convict Jane and then have Claire later charged?

Speaker 18 It's a genuine risk.

Speaker 11 But it's a risk we pretty much have to take at this point.

Speaker 8 Something similar to this hammer was used to strike Mr. Dortyk on the head.

Speaker 12 Prosecutor Bonnie Howard Regan begins with the physical evidence.

Speaker 6 I walked into the room and I had seen blood on the ceiling and I saw some blood across the comforter on the bed.

Speaker 12 The syringe with Jane's fingerprint in Bob's blood and the tire tracks from Jane's truck in the area where Bob Dorotyk's body was found.

Speaker 8 When you look at all the evidence, it will point to one thing. Jane Dorotyk chose murder over divorce.

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 12 And then, by convincing the jurors, Claire is.

Speaker 11 She runs marathons, and she's a personal trainer.

Speaker 14 She is as fit a woman as you will see at the age of 24.

Speaker 12 But right away, Carrie Seigerwald runs into trouble. Could Ms.

Speaker 19 Claire Dortyk please step forward?

Speaker 12 With the jury outside of the court, Claire takes the fifth.

Speaker 19 You are going to assert your Fifth Amendment rights, correct?

Speaker 12 Which means jurors will never see or hear from Claire and never be told why.

Speaker 19 Ms. Dortyk may not be called in front of the jury.

Speaker 12 The most Carrie Steigerwald can say is that Claire is unavailable.

Speaker 19 You are excused at this time.

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 22 As we said, that's a crucial part of the defense of this case. And yeah, it makes it difficult.
No doubt it makes it difficult.

Speaker 20 Did you kill your father?

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 18 You appear to me to be very antagonistic, contentious, and controlling. I must take all precautionary measures to protect myself from you, underline.

Speaker 18 That letter speaks volumes, whether you have clear there or not. That letter is screaming that something's wrong here in Denmark.

Speaker 13 Zoom in or zoom in or zoom out.

Speaker 12 At the same time, the defense wants the jury to believe that Jane couldn't have murdered her husband.

Speaker 18 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.

Speaker 2 She couldn't do it.

Speaker 12 But there's contrary evidence in court.

Speaker 19 Soldiers are again present.

Speaker 12 And it comes from the most unlikely source. Ms.

Speaker 19 Howard Regan, you may call your next witness.

Speaker 12 Jane's own sons. Alex.

Speaker 11 I remember in 93 or 94

Speaker 11 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.

Speaker 12 And Nick.

Speaker 18 If I asked you whether, in your opinion, your mother would be able to lug around a hundred pound bag of seed, you think she'd be able to?

Speaker 14 Yes. You think so?

Speaker 18 Yes.

Speaker 6 With her hip condition the way it is?

Speaker 10 Yes.

Speaker 12 And they damaged Jane's case even further.

Speaker 18 Your mother always settled things logically,

Speaker 18 tried to? Nope. You wouldn't agree with that statement? Nope.

Speaker 11 It would be my mom basically saying this is what you have to accept.

Speaker 11 And then my dad would either accept it or

Speaker 11 there would be threats of divorce or something. That's what I remember from growing up.

Speaker 4 I know they're going through tremendous pain, too. I just am struggling so hard as a mom to know

Speaker 4 what happened, why.

Speaker 12 It is suddenly clear why Jane's sons never came to see her in jail.

Speaker 8 Did you say anything specifically about the syringe?

Speaker 17 Well, I asked her how it got there and what it was doing there.

Speaker 8 And what was your mother's response?

Speaker 17 She said that her biggest fear in all of this was that

Speaker 17 us family members would start questioning her.

Speaker 19 Mr. Dortick, thank you, sir, for coming in.
You are excused at this time.

Speaker 12 Would you say that's been the most damaging testimony?

Speaker 22 Yeah.

Speaker 22 It's not what they said, it's the fact that they were there testifying for the prosecution.

Speaker 18 That, yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 4 They broke my heart, you know, they just broke my heart.

Speaker 12 Kerry thinks it's too risky for Jane to take the stand.

Speaker 18 You know, what good is it going to do?

Speaker 12 He's worried about prosecution questions that he knows Jane can't answer.

Speaker 18 Explain this, explain that. Things that I know she's incapable of explaining, or at least hasn't been able to explain to me.

Speaker 15 I really can't, I'm sorry.

Speaker 12 But there are questions the prosecution can't answer either.

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 12 The defense hopes those questions will raise reasonable doubt as to who really killed Bob Dorotek.

Speaker 18 Was it Jane Dorotek?

Speaker 18 Was it Claire Dorotek?

Speaker 18 Or ladies and gentlemen, was it someone else? Was it truly, truly someone else?

Speaker 7 Coming up. They just read the verdict.
They did? Yeah.

Speaker 12 The verdict.

Speaker 4 Attesting one, two, three, four, five, six.

Speaker 23 Well, Michael, jurors have wrapped up their first few hours of deliberations in this case.

Speaker 23 They'll be returning tomorrow as they go behind closed doors once again and debate the future of Jane Dorotik.

Speaker 12 After deliberating for four days,

Speaker 12 the jury returns with a verdict.

Speaker 19 Would you hand the verdict forms to the bailiff, please?

Speaker 19 Thank you.

Speaker 19 Madam clerk please read a verdict

Speaker 4 we the jury in the above 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 PRNA as charged almost didn't register for a minute it's like no this can't be

Speaker 4 I was so certain

Speaker 4 that I was walking out

Speaker 4 what made you feel that during the trial because I'm innocent because I thought they would see the trial.

Speaker 4 Do you have any statements you'd like to make about the verdict?

Speaker 12 It's a terrible defeat for Carrie Steigerwald, who hoped the jury would believe an angry daughter could have committed the crime.

Speaker 4 I'm at a loss for answers.

Speaker 18 I honestly am. I never thought a jury would conclude it was Jane.

Speaker 18 I'm disappointed in myself that I wasn't able to convey what I perceive to be reasonable doubt to this jury.

Speaker 12 What if, in fact, she killed her husband

Speaker 12 there was nothing you could do?

Speaker 18 Maybe I'm a fool for not believing it. I don't believe it.

Speaker 4 Congratulations.

Speaker 12 Prosecutor Bonnie Howard Regan.

Speaker 8 All I could think about was that justice was served for those boys.

Speaker 12 One of those boys, Jane's son Alex, was in court for the verdict.

Speaker 6 Any reaction at all? No comment for Alex.

Speaker 12 Did Alex want to see his mom convicted?

Speaker 8 Yes, he believes that his mother is responsible for the death of of his father.

Speaker 12 Since we last aired this broadcast, neither Alex nor his brother Nick have spoken with or seen their mother.

Speaker 8 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.

Speaker 12 The verdict officially ends speculation that Claire, not her mom, killed Bob Dorotyk. But it doesn't answer all the questions.

Speaker 19 We will probably never know all of the participants in aiding and abetting either before or after the fact of this homicide.

Speaker 12 Weeks later, when Jane is sentenced,

Speaker 19 Judge Joan Weber wonders out loud, does that in any sense mean that Jane Dortyk was not the killer? Absolutely not.

Speaker 19 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.

Speaker 18 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.

Speaker 4 It's hard to keep going.

Speaker 12 In a noisy, crowded jail, Jane Dorotyk is all alone.

Speaker 4 I mean, I just,

Speaker 4 I can't see my way clear to a life in prison. I just can't see it.

Speaker 9 After new DNA testing, Jane Dorontik's murder conviction was overturned just before a planned retrial in 2022. The charges were dropped.

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