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Murder follows common pattern
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laskipper



Joined: 17 Sep 2002
Posts: 1232
Location: Northern Ohio

PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 3:25 am    Post subject: Murder follows common pattern Reply with quote

The article below is about a woman that was killed and stuffed into her trunk. The husband is currently on trial. Sounds like the same basic pattern we see with the other murders.

The search for the missing woman, clues begin to surface pointing to the husband, it's discovered that he has a girlfriend...

There must be a script out there somewhere.

Let's hope the jury makes the right decision?


http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1090661486274560.xml

Fair use

Prosecutors: Woman lied for dad at murder trial
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Jim Nichols
Plain Dealer Reporter

Prosecutors attacked the strongest part of Jeffrey Krotine's defense - his daughter - as they wrapped up their case Friday against the Parma insurance agent accused of murdering his wife.

In his closing argument, Assistant County Prosecutor David Zimmerman said Jennifer Krotine, the couple's 22-year-old daughter, lied or shaded testimony out of denial or to protect her dad.


"She doesn't want to face the fact, or face the belief, that her dad committed this horrendous crime," Zimmerman said.

The prosecutor also laid out a motive - Krotine's affair with a woman he's now openly dating. And he highlighted evidence inconsistent with a defense scenario that Ramona Krotine was killed during a robbery on her way home from a party.

Ramona Krotine, 53, ran a fudge concession at the International Exposition Center and disappeared after leaving an after-work party at a nearby hotel around 2 a.m. on March 21, 2003. When she got home, police and prosecutors say, her husband bashed her head into their bed headboard and beat her.

Krotine, 53, wrapped her in a mattress cover, put her in her car, shot her in the neck, and put her in the trunk, they say. He left the car at a Regional Transit Authority park-and-ride lot in Brook Park and began cleaning up evidence at home.

She was found dead the next night. Hours before, Zimmerman reminded jurors, family members searched frantically for Krotine's wife while the defendant was on his computer, ordering a new mattress cover.

Jennifer worked with her mother at the fudge stand on March 20, and when Ramona went missing, Jennifer described to police jewelry her mother wore. Brook Park police found that jewelry in the Krotines' bedroom - proof, Zimmerman said, that Ramona returned home.

Jennifer also testified she heard no fight that night, and was in the couple's bedroom the next morning and saw no blood.

She was untruthful, Zimmerman said, because she can't face putting her father in prison. After Krotine became the prime suspect, Zimmerman noted, Jennifer refused to speak to detectives without a lawyer.

Zimmerman said Ramona was beaten bloody. Bloodstain patterns show she wasn't bludgeoned in the car, and there were no blood spatters in the RTA lot, so the car had to have been driven there after the assault, he said. There was no blood in the driver's compartment.

"It tells you that whoever got in that front seat to drive would have been at a place where he could change his clothes," Zimmerman said. "That happens, ladies and gentlemen, only in your own home and your own garage."

Further, while Ramona's purse, credit cards and checkbook were in the car, it made no sense that her keys were not, Zimmerman said, "unless that [assailant] needed the keys to get back in his house."

Zimmerman closed the case Friday because summation from defense lawyers took all of Thursday afternoon. The jury is to return to deliberations Monday.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jnichols@plaind.com, 216-999-4111
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Posts: 9273
Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 11:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent, excellent find, skipper. Over and over we see, when a woman such as Chandra disappears, the man she was involved with made her disappear.

rd
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laskipper



Joined: 17 Sep 2002
Posts: 1232
Location: Northern Ohio

PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 12:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks rd. Because this case is local (for me), I find it all the more interesting. The Parma Heights location of the murder scene, Krotine's house, is only about 5 miles from where I live and I would drive the house almost daily when I was working.

Krotine owned a State Farm (I believe) insurance agency. Trusted member of the community. Neighbors said he was aloof and arrogant. I met a woman that knew the now dead wife. Evidently, there is a local group of people that are routing for this jerk to get the death penalty. I'll have to find out where they meet.

The jury is still out. It's been a couple weeks now and some are getting fearful that he may get off. His daughter testified in a postive manner for him, but the woman told me that she (the daughter) was coerced and is now suffering a breakdown as a result.

The entire family is destroyed. What a shame.
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laskipper



Joined: 17 Sep 2002
Posts: 1232
Location: Northern Ohio

PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:30 pm    Post subject: Krotine murder Reply with quote

The verdict came in today. Hung jury. Krotine goes free. Jurors that were interviewed were asked why they could not agree and were told by 3 jurors that the police didn't provide them with the evidence that they felt would have proven his guilt, even though they knew that he was guilty. I would guess it would have to do with jury instructions?

One juror stated that they wanted DNA that could have been taken and the results provided but were not. Another just said that not enough information was given by prosecutors for them to make a decision but that what was given did point to Krotine as the murderer. 9/3 3 for 9 against convicting him.

The point was made by the reporter that they will try him again and hopefully the prosecutor will have enough evidence and present it in a convincing manner so that the next jury will convict.

Krotine has a girlfriend and has been involved with her since before the murder.


Last edited by laskipper on Thu Aug 05, 2004 1:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 3:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Certainly glad it was hung and they can retry better and get a verdict one way or another.

rd
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laskipper



Joined: 17 Sep 2002
Posts: 1232
Location: Northern Ohio

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

True, rd. I guess it could have been worse. Thing is, there is so much pointing to this mans' guilt. A police spokesman was on TV last night and he said that Krotine showed no concern when he was first informed that his wife was found dead. No tears. No change in his manner at all. Then, they found the jewelry at her home that she had worn the day she was murdered. The husband had stated that she didn't come home that night. Then, it was learned that he had a girlfriend. On and on. He was caught in numerous lies.

I plan to attempt to find the woman that I met who knows the wife. I gave her the link to this board and I'm hoping that she reads here. Could be that if she gives more info about what the family knows, some on the board could help the family somehow? Perhaps learn where the prosecutors' case was weak and attempt to get any information that could help support the next case?

His family must be in a state of shock. Especially the daughter. What a shame.
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laskipper



Joined: 17 Sep 2002
Posts: 1232
Location: Northern Ohio

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fair use

Mistrial declared; jurors fuming
Say officials botched Krotine murder case
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Jim Nichols
Plain Dealer Reporter
A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the murder and evidence-tampering trial of Jeffrey Krotine more than six weeks after it began.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty ended nine days of deadlocked deliberations by sending jurors home angry.


They were angry, they said afterward, at investigators and prosecutors who presented a case riddled with enough holes that three jurors could not get past doubts that Krotine did it and many of the others could understand why.

The majority believed Krotine, 53, was guilty of beating his wife, shooting her, dumping her body in Brook Park and then altering and hiding evidence more than a year ago. But three jurors insisted Krotine may be guilty, yet the state hadn't proven it.

Jurors lambasted Brook Park detectives who investigated the killing, experts from the county coroner's office who analyzed trace evidence and prosecutors.

"They're not done," said forewoman Shirley Tomasello of Cleveland, a lawyer who was in the jury's minority. "I think the taxpayers should expect a finished job."

Juror Gregg Barrows of Parma said Brook Park's investigation "was like Andy from Mayberry, and Barney Fife."

"I think there is evidence that could've been obtained that wasn't, either because of a lack of professionalism or inexperience," said Barrows, who voted for a guilty verdict. "I know there's not a murder a day in Brook Park, but there's nothing that says they couldn't have asked for help from a bigger department, like Cleveland."

Tomasello seethed that a killer - maybe Krotine, maybe someone else, she said - is free because of gaping holes in the case.

Kim Kowalski, a spokeswoman for County Prosecutor Bill Mason, said the office will retry the case.

"We firmly believe in our case and feel strongly that we presented the evidence to the best of our ability," she said.

Krotine, who spent days in court with a Bible in his lap as jurors debated, declined to comment. So did defense attorneys William "Bud" Doyle and Mark Stanton.

Brook Park police bore the brunt of jurors' criticism of a murder investigation that began when Ramona Krotine, missing for nearly two days, turned up dead in a Regional Transit Authority park-and-ride lot on March 22, 2003.

The 53-year-old woman, who ran a fudge concession at the International Exposition Center, disappeared after a post-work party in Middleburg Heights. Her brother, one of several relatives searching for her, found her in the trunk of her blood-spattered car.

Prosecutors contended she went home after the party and argued with her husband. Krotine bashed his wife's face against a bed headboard, beat her, then dragged her out in a mattress cover, prosecutors contended. He shot her in her Toyota Camry, stuffed her in the trunk and ditched the car, they said.

Trial evidence showed that as family members searched for his wife, Krotine went to his office, then returned home to hunt for a replacement mattress cover on the Internet. Over the coming weeks, Krotine recarpeted the bedroom and stairs, repainted the bedroom and had the house cleaned.

But jurors said things that were not shown at trial raised doubts.

Among the holes, some said, was a lack of proof that Ramona Krotine had returned home before her death in the predawn hours, rather than being robbed and killed en route, as the defense insinuated.

The Krotines' 22-year-old daughter, Jennifer, slept near the couple's bedroom; she testified her mom never came home and that she heard no fight. But Jennifer told police earlier that she may have heard her mom return home, and recanted a statement describing jewelry her missing mother was wearing after police later found it. Several jurors said they discounted Jennifer Krotine's testimony.

"To me, she perjured herself," said Lisa Yesko of Cleveland, who voted guilty.

Among faults jurors found:

Investigators never obtained a sample of Krotine's blood to compare it to unidentified blood on his wife's car.

They ignored an apparently fresh footprint in the car, never comparing it to the defendant's shoes or shoe size.

Police never interviewed the Krotines' neighbors.

A fiber removed from the car that could have been compared to materials in the Krotines' home was lost.

"The jury has to deal with what they've got," Brook Park police Capt. Gregory Ditlevson said. "Unfortunately, if they're critical of our Police Department or the evidence, that's their opinion. But we stand by our investigation."

Plain Dealer news researcher Jo Ellen Corrigan contributed to this story.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jnichols@plaind.com, 216-999-4111



© 2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Posts: 9273
Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Juror Gregg Barrows of Parma said Brook Park's investigation "was like Andy from Mayberry, and Barney Fife."


Why do we see this over and over? It's like police donlt think they have to investigate if they decide someone is innocent or guilty.

rd
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laskipper



Joined: 17 Sep 2002
Posts: 1232
Location: Northern Ohio

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think part of the problem is because we watch shows such as NYPD Blue and Law and Order or CSI and start to believe that is the way LE really works.
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 3225

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 7:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Twenty-odd years ago Susan Nelles, an innocent nurse from Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children,
was arrested when she told police who arrived at her apartment door that she wanted a lawyer present
while answering questions. Bang, they assumed she must be responsible for the unexplained deaths,
and arrested her on the spot. Eventually it became clear she couldn't have been the one (when
one infant was given the fatal dose of digoxin, she was in Ottawa being a bridesmaid - an ironclad
alibi.) The deaths were never solved, although the head nurse in the unit was found doing weird
things, such as vandalizing her own locker and blaming it on Nelles - seems like maybe the head
nurse was the guilty one.

The deaths weren't even investigated until parents from Northern Ontario insisted on having their
previously healthy, only in the hospital for tests, baby flown to Sudbury for the post-mortem.
It was found he'd been given a fatal dose of digoxin
and the investigation began and other murders came to light. Still not solved, over 20 years later.
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 8:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just checked on the Sick Children story and a Scholastic account has the hospital doing its own
internal investigation - that's not the way I remember it. Either my memory is faulty or the hospital
did some major spin and damage control.
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 8:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can pretty much count on it.

rd
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 3225

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got off-topic - the main point I wanted to raise was how ridiculous the police were in that case -
arresting a person because she refused to answer their questions without a lawyer present. I can
see why this could raise eyebrows - but to make an arrest and lay charges based on only
that?
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laskipper



Joined: 17 Sep 2002
Posts: 1232
Location: Northern Ohio

PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 7:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sounds like the cops were way off base in the deaths at the childrens' hospital. Could ruin someones' life. What a shame.

The Krotine case was not a case of the arrest of an innocent man, however. I'll post a few more articles that give more details soon.

I went to edit the above post where I give the jury info. First I heard was 9 voted guilty, 3 innocent. That was Fox news.

Then, I read at the ABC Channel 3 (local news) board that it was 3 guilty and 9 innocent, so I changed it thinking I heard wrong.

Today, I read on another link that it was 9 guilty and 3 innocent so I went to change the info and, once again, I have no edit button.

In any case, this is the article: Channel 5 news board


Trial Of Man Accused Of Killing Wife Results In Hung Jury

Living Legal 2004-08-05 04:51:14 - - Chet - 0 Comments

A jury for a Cleveland man on trial for killing his wife could not reach a verdict.

NewsChannel5's Tony Gaskins spoke with four of the jurors, who said that they needed more evidence to decide if Jeffrey Krotine (pictured, left) was guilty of murder.

The judge dismissed jurors Wednesday after they told him they were deadlocked in the decision.

Krotine, a 53-year-old insurance agent, is accused of beating and shooting his wife, Ramona Krotine, last March, and then stuffing her body in the trunk of her car.

"It just was hard. There was no concrete evidence," said juror Lisa Yesko. "We were left with a lot of questions that were hard to answer."

Juror Antwain Jackson said, "A lot of stuff was presented like it should have been and we couldn't come to a conclusion."

The trial took four weeks, and the jury deliberated for nine days. The jury was at first split six to six, but then later deadlocked at nine voting guilty and three voting not guilty.

"If the state changes the way they present this, I don't know how you could not convict him with some of the information that we had," said juror Peggy Depalmo.

http://poe-news.com/ (fair use)
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 3225

PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi skipper - I know there's the big difference between arresting someone innocent, in the case I
mentioned, as opposed to arresting someone actually guilty. But where I saw a similarity was in
what apparently is driving police - their gut feeling (the best expression I can think of). They
should be thinking more about evidence and less about their gut feeling. The problem with
gut feeling is that it can lead to pursuing an innocent suspect or overlooking a guilty
suspect. Even when it leads to the guilty person, it is not enough to convict.

Profiling is just as bad as following gut feeling, and can lead to similar consequences.
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