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[Music] come on tell us who it's got to be loic speaking can only my name is Jane
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dtic I spent 20 years in prison for a crime I did not commit I thought truth and Justice was
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at the front of everything and it certainly has not been in my [Music] case I wish I just knew what really
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happened I wish there was some way to piece it together somebody to come forward with the truth
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on February 13 2000 Jane and Bob dork are living together in North San Diego he said he was going out for a jog
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that was it that was the last I talked to him she reports her husband missing there was a search for him as a missing
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person the next day he was found in a location 2 or 3 miles away from their home and I stop about right here I could
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see the body and and I said this is Mr dorti he was found to have blunt force trauma to his head he was found to have
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injuries consistent with strangulation it was obvious to me that it was a homicide they found Bob's blood
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in his bedroom the detectives decided because they saw some blood that they were in the crime scene and that Jane
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was the only one with access to that bedroom and to Bob there was only one person that could have done this to Mr
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dorak and that was his wife Jane dorak he said you're under arrest I was like what I would never hurt my husband
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police say circumstantial and blood evidence links Jane dtic to her husband's murder the bedroom was not a
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crime scene I don't doubt that this occurred at the home and I don't doubt that she's involved there was blood on
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the comforter there was blood on the pillow sham there was blood on the headboard when you have a home that's a
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working Ranch you're going to find blood around it's just problem on top of problem on top of problem I would
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declare this crime scene very contaminated they focused on one person and turn a blind eye to anything else
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Jane dtic chose murder over divorce it felt like a nightmare and I kept saying when am I going to wake up do you
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believe that Jane dork got a fair trial no I don't I'm in no position to say who
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did what I don't have a crystal ball to tell you what happened to that man what do you believe happened to Bob
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I believe Bob somehow fell into some kind of situation I don't know I lost my husband and then I lost
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my freedom [Music] [Music] Jane how would you describe what the last 22 years have been like for you
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it's been torturous in many ways I suppose many moments when I thought how do I keep
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going I always used to say this is the most peaceful place on the face of the Earth nothing feels peaceful
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anymore when we first met Jane dork in 2000 the stress of all of it on everyone has been
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incredible um the life she had once found so Serene in the Foothills outside of San Diego a life she had shared with
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her husband Bob had taken an unimaginable turn how can this be how can this happen surely I'll wake up and
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it's a dream Jane had become the prime suspect in Bob's murder authorities believe that she viciously attacked him
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in their home I certainly didn't do this I loved my husband Jane 53 years old at the time and Bob 55
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Shar more than half their lives together I was 23 when we were married Bob was a
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wonderful loving creative person and welcome everyone here those that who been here before and those who haven't
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Bob spent most of his career as an engineer Jane worked as a nurse and later as an executive in the healthc
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care industry the couple raised three children Alex Claire and Nick the family is has
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always been incredibly important to both of us also important to Jane were their horses you while
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Jane's passion was breeding and riding I'm having a good old Bob was an avid jogger and that says Jane is the last
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image she has of her husband Bob was sitting actually in this chair facing the TV he had Jame was Under Suspicion
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she allowed us into her home he said he was going out for a jog and he was actually had his jogging suit on was
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tying his shoes that was the last I talked to him it was around 100 p.m. on February 13th 2000 when Jane says Bob
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left to go for that run as hours passed without any word from him Jane says she grew concerned it was beginning to get
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dark I decided to go out and look this is the route Jane says she took to search for Bob driving up and down the
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hill where he sometimes ran by 7:45 p.m. Jane's concern turned to fear I said enough this is enough something is wrong
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and that's when I made the call to the Sheriff's Department my first thought that night
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was maybe this man had a heart attack and fell down the embankment along Lake Wolford Road as Deputy James Blackman
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and others from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department search for Bob concerned friends and family gathered at
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the door house the minute I saw my mom's face I knew right away something terrible had happened the DK's daughter
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Claire 24 at the time had spent the weekend visiting her aunt and returned home to a distraught Jane she was
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freaked out she was scared she was nervous she was crying it was a horrifying feeling
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that got more and more horrifying when he wasn't found and then in the preon hours of
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February 14th Deputy Blackman turned into this driveway several miles from the door Tock home and noticed a body
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off the road to this point I could see the shirt the pants and he was uh laying on his back from Jane's description he
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immediately knew it was Bob dor I got there a little after 700 in the morning San Diego County Sheriff's
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detective Rick emson was called to the scene there was no evidence of any type of vehicle accident the evidence Epson
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did find suggested something else I could see that he had uh blood on his face there was blood near the back of
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his head and I could see that there was a rope around his neck Bob D IC had been
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bludgeoned and strangled the onetime missing person case had turned into a homicide
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investigation is there anybody you could think who would want to see your husband
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dead nobody nobody as law enforcement asked Jane questions about Bob she let them into
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her home come in search look for anything detective emson noticed a piece of rope hanging from the porch that
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caught it his attention thinking he had just seen something similar on Bob dtic it appeared to be the exact same type of
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rope that was found around his neck uh the sliding glass door going into the master bedroom and when investigators
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got to Bob and Jane's bedroom they found something more troubling they believe they were looking at blood
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spatter there was no question or M that this uh assault occurred in the master bedroom
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they documented their findings in this diagram taking photos along the way of what they believed to be blood on
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various items in the bedroom and of what appeared to be a large blood stain on the underside of the mattress I do know
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when Bob had a nose bleed he made a comment about getting some blood on the mattress I Jane says there was a logical
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explanation for some of the other blood too they had dogs who were injured and had blood this little dog had an abscess
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on her cheek that was openly draining at the time and little drops of blood we'd
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find as she sat on the couch the carpet pieces are what the detectives removed feeling that there
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was blood on the carpet the spots of blood investigators said they found all over the bedroom surprised Jane do you
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have any other explanation of how that blood spatter could have gotten there on the ceiling on the window on the wall
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no adding to Authority's suspicions was this bloody syringe found in the bathroom garbage Jane told us she used
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it to medicate her horses I know that I give the horses shots all the time if you go look in my fridge right now
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you'll find horse syringes investigators theorize that Jane hit her husband with an object in
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the bedroom and strangled him she then dressed him in his jogging suit put him in their truck and dumped him along the
00:11:01
side of the road where his body was found why do they believe you killed your husband you
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know I guess I've been through that one a billion times I don't know but investigators thought they knew
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believing the motive was money and escaping a troubled marriage Jame was the main bread winner and they learned
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the couple had split up for a year in 1997 I make any apologies for the fact that we had rough times but that doesn't
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change the fact that we loved each other and that love says Jane is why they reconciled they have been back
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living together as a couple for a year and a half before Bob was killed I really think the
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separation caused us to really regroup and think about what was important they were getting along better than they ever
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had in the past I was living there I can tell tell you that but law enforcement was unmoved and 3 days after Bob DK's
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body was found Jane was arrested and charged with first-degree murder I know I didn't do this I know there's a killer
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out there but how am I going to clear myself she's baffled cuz I don't think she knows what happened released on bail
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Jane started preparing her defense hiring attorney Carrie stiger Walt she know that she's placed as the Killer and
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she's not the Killer and at trial Jane's attorney would present a surprised suspect who he felt was responsible for
00:12:39
Bob DK's [Music] murder come on I know that I'm innocent but I don't have any more faith in the legal system
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I believe I could be convicted for something that I didn't do and that's very scary while Jane worried about her
00:13:10
outcome at trial Claire dork was much more confident about her mother's chances my mom could not have done this
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crime she didn't have the motive and she didn't have the opportunity but when the case went to
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trial in 2001 a year after the murder prosecutor Bond hny Howard Regan described the DK's marriage as seriously
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troubled and told jurors that Jane didn't want to pay Bob alimony in a divorce Bob dork never went jogging and
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he never left that residence alive according to the state Bob had actually been killed Saturday night
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nearly a day before Jane reported a missing the autopsy performed by Dr Christopher swell showed undigested Ed
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food consistent with what Jane said they had for dinner that night are you able to give us an estimate of how long after
00:14:09
Mr dork ate how long after that he he was killed yes it was very shortly after he ate I would say it probably within a
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couple of hours and he wasn't killed on the side of the road the prosecutor said
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there wasn't enough blood there instead she said by B's blood was all over the bedroom lead detective Rick empson
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testified he had asked Jane to explain that she had indicated initially that she had a dog that um had been bleeding
00:14:43
and then indicated that approximately a week prior Bob had a bloody nose over in
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the corner by the stove and that Bob had cleaned it up there was evidence someone
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cleaned the bedroom the carpet next to the pop belly stove and tile floor was wet and have blood stains
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underneath did any of the blood from his nose bleed go on the carpet mhm do you know where mhm right next to
00:15:10
the tile cuz I'm the one that helped him clean it authorities dismissed Jane's explanations their theory was that Jane
00:15:18
hit bob in the head in their bedroom with an object while he was lying in bed although they never identified or found
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any weapon Charles Meritt a criminalist and bloodstain pattern analyst for the San Diego County Sheriff's crime lab
00:15:35
recounted 20 locations where he saw blood stains on one of the pillows on a lamp this particular nightstand on the
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pot belly stove was on the ceiling itself been on the underside of the mattress the jury was also shown this
00:15:54
evidence of tire tracks found near Bob's body the states expert Anthony Di Maria
00:16:01
said he matched the three different types of tires on door deex truck are you saying the measurements taken at the
00:16:08
scene were equal to the measurements taken off the actual vehicle yes the most telling evidence connecting Jane to
00:16:17
the murder according to the prosecutor was that syringe found in the bathroom it had traces of a horse tranquilizer
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inside and even though there was no evidence that Bob had been injected with anything it had Bob's blood and a bloody
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fingerprint on it the evidence will show that the fingerprint on this syringe was Jane dtic can you explain
00:16:43
that I can't really explain it other than um I know that I helped Bob clean up a nose bleed and if that's the same
00:16:50
time when I took the syringes and threw them in the trash and there was some blood on my hand that could have made
00:16:57
that happen but perhaps the most powerful Witnesses were the doric's two sons Nick and Alex they both testified
00:17:07
against their mother did you say anything specifically about the syringe well I asked her um
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how it got there and what it was doing there and what was your mother's response she said that uh her biggest
00:17:20
fear in all of this was that the that us family members would start questioning her your mother always settled things
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logically tried to no you wouldn't agree with that statement nope it would be my
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mom basically saying this is what you have to accept and then my dad would either accept it
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or there would be threats of divorce or something that's what I remember from growing
00:17:46
up Jane's attorneys Carrie stiger Walt and Cole Casey admitted it was a big blow would you say that's been the most
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damaging testimony yeah it's not what what they said is the fact that they were there testifying for the
00:18:02
prosecution when it came time for the defense to present its case stiger Wald actually agreed with the prosecution on
00:18:09
a major point that the murder took place in the bedroom but he had a jawdropping
00:18:16
alternative suspect Claire dtic ladies and gentlemen Claire hated her father he claimed Claire an avid
00:18:26
horsewoman hated her father because he threatened to sell the animals she loved and suggested that she was capable of
00:18:35
murder that's what Claire is a hot-tempered explosive individual it was a risky strategy that Jane reluctantly agreed to
00:18:48
all I can do is trust what Carrie says is the best way to go are you at all concerned that the jury will wonder
00:18:55
about a woman who would allow herself to be defend by pointing the finger at her
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daughter could that work against the two of you it may I don't know I think it is
00:19:06
the most viable defense and I think it's supported by the best evidence stiger Wald insisted Jame wasn't physically
00:19:15
able to commit the murder but Claire was she runs marathons and she's a personal
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trainer she is as fit a woman as you will see at the age of 24 but remember Claire and her aunt said
00:19:32
they were together 2 hours away they call the aunt that's the extent of the investigation on The Alibi of CLA dork
00:19:41
did Miss CLA dork please step forward that alibi is nonsense uh you are going to assert your CRI Amendment rights
00:19:49
correct the jurors never heard from Claire or Jane who chose not to testify but they did hear from a woman
00:19:57
who said she thought she saw Bob the day he disappeared sitting between two men in a black pickup truck not far from
00:20:06
where his body was found who killed Robert dork was it Claire dork or ladies and gentlemen was it
00:20:15
someone else in his closing argument stiger Wald accused investigators of dismissing Witnesses like that woman and
00:20:24
focusing only on Jane the prosecution had focused on one person and that's not the way to conduct an investigation it's
00:20:30
not the way to run a case Jane dork and Bob dork were the only two people in that home that weekend Bonnie Howard
00:20:39
Regan says there's no need to investigate further when you have sufficient evidence they searched that
00:20:45
bedroom and they saw all the blood and they knew that was the crime scene what more investigation do they need to
00:20:52
do it took the jury 4 days to return a verdict we the jury in the above tile cause find the defendant Jane Margaret
00:21:02
dork guilty of the crime of Murder in the First Degree in violation of P code section when did Jane dork get a fair
00:21:11
trial no no because fairness means that you're presenting things accurately and it it
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appears like it was not done accurately juror number eight yes juror number nine
00:21:27
yes juror number 10 yes go behind the scenes with the 48 Hours postmortem podcast it almost didn't register for a
00:21:48
minute it's like no this can't be I was so certain that I was walking out I thought they would see the truth Jane d
00:21:59
never imagined she'd be found guilty it's hard to keep going at the time of her conviction for the murder of her
00:22:07
husband she was 54 years old and sentenced to 25 years to life I mean I just I can't see my way clear to a life
00:22:18
in prison I just can't see it determined to prove the jury got it wrong Jane became her own Advocate working on her
00:22:26
case for many years we spoke with Jane again two decades later about her efforts all through the prison my prison
00:22:35
journey I continued to write all innocence projects I could think of asking for help at the same time
00:22:41
realized that I had to fight for myself Jane filed motions from prison citing such issues as insufficient evidence and
00:22:50
ineffective assistance of councel I would describe my defense as limited and inadequate
00:22:58
in her filings Jane indicated that she wanted to testify at her trial but had left that decision up to her attorney
00:23:06
and that had she testified she could have explained Bob's stomach contents stating that he sometimes ate leftovers
00:23:14
from the previous night she also described her attorney's alternate suspect Theory pointing to her daughter
00:23:21
Claire as a killer as absurd do you believe that your daughter Claire had anything to do with the death
00:23:30
of absolutely unequivocally not and my defense attorney everybody knew she was away for that
00:23:38
weekend okay in regard to that defense strategy Claire later wrote in a book how could I be angry at my mother when
00:23:46
all I did was worry about her Jane's lawyer whom we interviewed at the time of her trial did not speak with us
00:23:54
again that was the worst strategy of my life ever I said to my attorney if anything happens to Claire I'm going to
00:24:04
stand up and say I did it in her filings Jane also questioned why her defense attorney accepted the bad forensics
00:24:12
pointing to the bedroom as the murder scene rather than presenting other scenarios as to where and how Bob dork
00:24:21
could have been murdered did the defense too easily accept the bedroom as a crime I'm seeing
00:24:28
that is a very legitimate argument CBS News consultant Matthew troano a former prosecutor and
00:24:37
current defense attorney was not involved in the DOR case but he reviewed some of the court documents at our
00:24:44
request the defense made a strategic decision are we going to dispute that a crime happened in this location or are
00:24:53
we essentially going to concede that it happened there and then come up with a different narrative of how it happened
00:24:59
there and they chose the ladder and that decision troano says likely led the defense to point the finger at Claire
00:25:07
for the murder they had to blame somebody else for something that happened in a specific location and they at least as
00:25:16
it relates to the daughter you know went back to her having some disagreement with her father about something and it
00:25:24
was it was a risk have you ever seen that kind of Defense you you don't you don't say it I mean you could happen
00:25:29
when there are clear facts and evidence to support it but when there are none that's you know that's a
00:25:38
showstopper and in fact Claire was never charged with any wrongdoing in connection to her father's murder the
00:25:45
defense accepting the bedroom as the murder scene is especially puzzling to troyano as there were reports from
00:25:54
several eyewitnesses who said they saw a man jogging that day accounts consistent with Jane's
00:26:01
depiction of events not the prosecutions that's critical critical evidence and all of that was really not
00:26:09
pursued and I didn't know of all of the witnesses had there been a thorough investigation initially all of that
00:26:17
would have come out through the years in filings Jane raised problems with the entire case
00:26:24
against her arguing that authorities focused on her her from the very beginning of the investigation and
00:26:31
failed to follow other investigative leads but motion after motion was denied and regarding Jane's ineffective Council
00:26:41
Claims the judge rejected them all ruling that her attorney's performance was not deficient and that his actions
00:26:50
had not affected the outcome of the case there were many moments where I doubted when is this ever were going to
00:26:59
turn around many many moments still jane didn't give up she continued looking for
00:27:05
new evidence to clear her especially as DNA testing became more advanced in 2012
00:27:12
she filed a petition for DNA testing of that rope found around Bob's neck and other items like Bob's fingernail
00:27:20
clippings which had been saved but never tested and in 2015 the motion was granted
00:27:30
is that unusual that she finally even got testing based on her filing motions on her own yes it's it's very atypical
00:27:41
it was at this time that Jan finally got the attention of a wrongful conviction group lyola law school's project for the
00:27:49
innocent I get this wonderful letter from Lola saying you've contacted us and we're interested in your case and after
00:27:56
that lyola took over got the testing done and what that testing revealed as well as a fresh
00:28:03
examination of other evidence would change the course of the case that's really what flips the script to say that
00:28:12
there's more here this is more than just an inadequate investigation there is a different
00:28:19
narrative that's running through these test results there is physical evidence that another person could be involved
00:28:32
[Music] when you talk about the evidence in this case the subsequent testing reveals that
00:28:43
you might have a different explanation for things that really shed light on what may have happened here Jane dork
00:28:50
spent years behind bars asking for a new examination of the evidence used to convict her of her husband Bob's murder
00:28:58
now working with a team from lyola project for the innocent the court allowed them to have new DNA testing on
00:29:06
items such as the Rope found around Bob DK's neck his fingernails and clothing appeal filing state that foreign male
00:29:16
DNA was found on several items the results of that none of my DNA anywhere there is physical evidence from
00:29:26
fingernail clippings from a rope from his clothing that is foreign to Jane the team from lyola project for the
00:29:36
innocent declined to be interviewed we asked Nathan lent a professor of biology and forensic science at John J College
00:29:44
of Criminal Justice who was not involved in the case to review court documents about new evidence such as the DNA on
00:29:52
the robe while they didn't get a profile that would be good enough to search a database or even match to a suspect they
00:29:59
did get enough DNA uh that is not attributable to Bob or to Jane but while Jane and her team beli the results
00:30:08
pointed to her innocence the state came to a different conclusion stating in filines the DNA obtained was too low
00:30:17
level to make any reliable interpretation L agrees the DNA levels were low but he believes it was enough
00:30:26
to exclude Janes and that the absence of Jane's DNA on the Rope as well as under Bob's
00:30:33
fingernails or on his clothing is significant with the theory of crime that they presented you would expect a
00:30:40
lot of Jane's DNA on Bob and if if she had moved his body you know there's a lot of DNA transfer that might have
00:30:46
taken place there that wasn't found the appell team also reviewed the bedroom blood evidence the prosecutor told the
00:30:54
jury was fully tested and was bobbed now the evidence will show that all this blood has been described to you the
00:31:02
observations made in this bedroom that it was all sent out through DNA analysis and it all came back to Bob doric's
00:31:10
blood but according to the appeal not every single spot in the bedroom believed to be blood was tested instead
00:31:19
representative samples were tested there were cases where just simply one swab with a control was taken
00:31:27
and it was rep representative of a variety of spots that's not good practice it just invites
00:31:34
misinterpretations when you're talking about blood spatter and you're trying to analyze how it got there you need to do
00:31:40
a fairly comprehensive test to be able to draw the conclusion that you're drawing but I think the prosecution
00:31:47
could argue you can't afford to test can you every single drop that looks like blood right but when you say we did
00:31:55
everything and that's not accurate that's where the problem lies in fact the appell team says that
00:32:04
several blood-like stains on items including a pillow sham the nightstand a lampshade turned out not to be blood and
00:32:14
there were those stains on the bed spread which criminalist Charles Merritt pointed to at trial and described as
00:32:21
Bob's blood two of the actual stains um circled by a little red dots Jane's lawyers learned those particular spots
00:32:32
were never tested at all and due to improper storage the beds sprad could not be tested again so we don't know
00:32:41
that it was blood at all the handling of the evidence over the course of the entire investigation was also raised on
00:32:48
appeal this one is hard to even look at um you have an investigator who definitely should know better um you
00:32:55
know handling murder evidence with his bare hands in addition to obviously depositing his own DNA all around this
00:33:01
crime scene he's also risking transferring evidence from among the various spots that he's collecting and
00:33:07
there's that syringe with Bob's blood and Jane's fingerprint found in the bathroom garbage something the appell
00:33:14
team and lent thought could be explained and if you throw that syringe in the garbage can Bob throws a bloody Kleenex
00:33:22
in that garbage can they could transfer transfer of DNA from one object to another in a trash can is not unexpected
00:33:29
lent feels the fact that the syringe was even found in the garbage points fingers
00:33:35
away from Jane if you're cleaning up after a murder you won't leave the bloody syringe in the waist back
00:33:42
basket but the state stood by its original investigation maintaining the bedroom was the murder scene stating
00:33:51
that the evidence still points to Jane dork as the Killer and that the defense arguments are largely derived from
00:33:59
speculation and misstatements of fact Jane's appella team though maintains the bedroom did not even look like a crime
00:34:08
scene something lent also believes there is not a consistent pattern to the evidence that indicates a violent
00:34:17
bludgeoning that took place in that bedroom if Bob were alive today and investigators had walked in his room no
00:34:24
one would say oh this looks like someone was murdered here if you just look at all of the pieces of evidence that lyola
00:34:32
was able to absolutely take apart and yet we know what was told to the jury in the original conviction so um how can
00:34:42
that happen as her attorneys reviewed evidence Jane dork in 2020 was temporarily and conditionally LED out of
00:34:52
prison due to covid health concerns the question now became was the New Evidence
00:34:58
her lawyers were finding enough to make her release permanent what do you think about the
00:35:07
new DNA test results chat now with Erin morti on [Music] X in the summer of 2020 Jane dork and
00:35:22
her team hoped a court would overturn the jury's verdict turning her temporary release from prison into lasting
00:35:31
Freedom what were their major points the testing that was done initially was insufficient the way that that testing
00:35:40
was presented to the jury was inaccurate there were a number of different arguments that they made a hearing was
00:35:48
scheduled but then suddenly the state requested an unplanned virtual hearing the people are willing to concede
00:35:56
petitioner new evidence claim the prosecution admitted what Jane's lawyers had argued all along the
00:36:03
DNA evidence as it exists now in 2020 is much different in quality and quantity than presented at trial in 2001 that the
00:36:13
new DNA test results as well as issues with how the sheriff's crime lab handled evidence cast doubt on the verdict but
00:36:22
what came next was even more unexpected the state requested that Jane's murder conviction be
00:36:30
overturned and the judge agreed I'm going to Grant the motion for the ri thank do your honor I always believ that
00:36:39
at some point the truth would come out the Jane's ordeal wasn't over 3 months later in another shocking move the DA's
00:36:51
office decided to retry her I don't think any of us thought that San Diego County would attt to retry me but they
00:36:59
did the state believes that she did this and they want to pursue it but in order
00:37:06
to retry the prosecution first had to demonstrate to the judge that there was still enough evidence to prove Jane kill
00:37:13
Bob despite the new DNA results and the questions about the initial testing we are back on the record all party then
00:37:22
you have this battle in court if you're conceding that there were problems how are you going to do it again essentially
00:37:29
with the same evidence it was astounding to sit in that courtroom and see what they try and put forward as actual
00:37:38
evidence and then also thrilling to see my team take it apart the you only state
00:37:45
that the Jane's attorneys questioned The credibility of several of the state's experts including Charles Merritt of the
00:37:52
sheriff's crime lab the judge ultimately ruled that the new trial could go ahead
00:37:59
but that some key evidence presented in her original trial would not be admissible including those tire tracks
00:38:07
near where Bob's body was found that were linked to Jane's truck you have a number of different trucks that could be
00:38:15
consistent with those tire tracks it's in essence kind of junk sciency in May 2022 just as jury selection was about to
00:38:25
begin the prosecution surprise everyone yet again remain seated and come to order this courtroom is now in session
00:38:34
we go into court as the jury is assembled and ready to come into the courtroom Monday morning and
00:38:40
Everything's changed we no longer feel that the evidence is sufficient to show proof
00:38:46
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and convince 12 members of the jury so we are requesting the court dismiss the charges
00:38:51
at this time thank you Store check you are free to go and good luck to you is overwhelming to realize that now
00:39:05
I can determine my own future something I've prayed for and hoped for after the hearing Jane's attorneys spoke about her
00:39:13
decades long fight Jane's dignity in standing up and stoically fighting for her innocence against every risk and
00:39:22
every threat that's why this case got dismissed today and as far as we're concerned we're moving on the District
00:39:30
Attorney's office and Sheriff's Department declined to speak with 48 Hours the case against Jane dork was
00:39:38
dismissed without prejudice which means if new evidence surfaces charges could be brought again someday but then
00:39:48
doesn't that leave still a shadow over Jane dork oh sure it does I mean there's no question about it from a practical
00:39:57
persp perspective do I think it's over yeah I think it's over but from a legal perspective
00:40:02
no Jane dork is working to rebuild her life after spending nearly two decades in prison my entire family has been
00:40:13
blown apart by this hurricane of events it's been heartbreaking on so many levels Claire Doric did not respond to
00:40:22
our request for comment but Jane says they are still close her son son Nick died in
00:40:29
2023 Alex dork did not provide a comment of 48 hours but according to filings by
00:40:36
the state he remains convinced his mother killed his father do you have hope that your family will come together
00:40:46
at some point of course I do of course I have hope Jane also has hoped that she could
00:40:53
make a difference in other people's lives as she works with advocacy groups that help incarcerated women to me it's
00:41:01
not just about my story and yes we can all sit here and say this is so horrendous and how did this happen to
00:41:09
this woman but unless we look systemically how many others are we going to find and to me that's
00:41:16
critically important having a good old here many unanswered questions about this case
00:41:24
remain including perhaps the most important one what happened here we don't know
00:41:33
what happened to Bob dor where's Justice for Bob where's Justice for Robert [Music]
00:41:55
dorek need more time with 48 Hours go deep behind every True Crime episode with firsthand accounts from 48 Hours
00:42:02
investigations were you at all prepared for what happened in this case shock is the word that comes to mind get inside
00:42:09
the twists and turns and get in on the case listen to postmortem from 48 hours now available wherever you get your
00:42:17
[Music] podcasts hello hello everyone I'm anarie green welcome to postmortem this week we
00:42:31
are delving into the murder of Bob dwark and the wrongful conviction of his wife
00:42:36
Jane she spent nearly two decades in prison trying to prove her innocence it's really an emotional roller coaster
00:42:43
watching this hour joining me to discuss this incredible story our 48 Hours correspondent Aon Mor arti and producer
00:42:50
Ruth chenet thanks for joining us glad to be here I love this case because I think it's a great cautionary t and
00:42:57
every defense attorney should be paying attention to this case so true so listen
00:43:03
before we get into it Ruth I want you to give our listeners a bit of a recap of this case so Jane and Bob dork were
00:43:09
married they had three grown children and they lived in at the time probably considered a rural area outside of San
00:43:18
Diego and they had a ranch and horses and Bob was a big Runner so Jane says the last time she saw Bob was around 100
00:43:26
p.m. on February 13th 2000 and she says Bob left the house to go for a run and she grew concerned when hours passed and
00:43:35
he still hadn't returned so later that evening at 7:45 p.m. she decides I'm really worried and makes a call to the
00:43:43
Sheriff's Department to report that he was missing and they start looking and the next morning they found Bob's body
00:43:51
on the side of a road just a few miles from his home and they realized pretty quickly this wasn't a car accident this
00:43:59
wasn't that he died of natural causes because he had blunt force trauma to his head and a rope around his neck the
00:44:07
sheriff's department talked to Jane and in looking around at the bedroom they feel that they're seeing lots of blood
00:44:15
scattered throughout the bedroom and spots around the bedroom so three days after his body is found they arrest
00:44:22
Bob's wife Jane dorek and charge her with first-degree murder when I was watching the first part of this episode
00:44:29
I couldn't help but to think you know there seems to be some convincing evidence against Jane like what seemed
00:44:35
to be blood spatter found in the bedroom Ain over two decades that youve been reporting this case now did you ever
00:44:43
doubt Jean's innocence well pretty much I always thought she was innocent there's no question um I got on the
00:44:51
story because actually I was working with a producer who had met her first and said Aaron you got to do this this
00:44:57
when you meet her she acts the way we would act if we had been accused of a crime we didn't do um she answers every
00:45:05
question um and if she doesn't know it she's honest and says I don't know this doesn't make sense and this was a time
00:45:12
when with 48 hours we basically moved in with people I mean we were there for weeks and um she would let us in the
00:45:20
house she would always sit down and talk with me there was one time she wasn't as
00:45:24
open with me during an interview and that made me a little worried but I don't think I ever really changed in
00:45:30
thinking there's just no way this woman did this I think that's such an interesting Tibet that you gave us
00:45:36
because as I was watching the hour I thought to myself I bet you Jane likes Eric I thought that you know I thought
00:45:42
she liked you as a person and that's part of the reason she was being so open I liked her too you know I really but
00:45:49
now remember just put yourself back where I was here's this woman who says her husband went for run and then we're
00:45:55
hearing from the police and and there's an arrayment that says there's blood in the bedroom which is an absolute
00:46:02
contradiction of then of her story you're you're also thinking what to believe also one of the things is If
00:46:08
This Were happening today an attorney would have been sitting next to Jane throughout the entire thing I think
00:46:16
people are more suspect today of the media and more suspicious you know it's up to the individual person whether they
00:46:23
want to let us in and how much time they want to spend and who be there but it's
00:46:27
just different these days yeah um so let's get back to the blood stains in the dorex bedroom and in their home that
00:46:35
was a big reason why authorities zeroed in on Jane we learned that investigators
00:46:40
identified 20 locations of different blood stains even if their home was a working Ranch that that seems like a lot
00:46:48
right well yes and but now with benefit of hindsight I realize that I shouldn't have accepted did that quite so quickly
00:46:59
we did hear that there was blood spatter on the ceiling but but what had hit me was I saw a picture of a blood stain on
00:47:07
a mattress and what also struck me and worried me you know in my heart was the fact that the mattress had been turned
00:47:14
over so that was that seemed incriminating and Jane had an explanation for some of the blood not
00:47:22
all of it she said in terms of the mattress that Bob had had a nose bleed and and you know if you think about it
00:47:28
are you going to want to lay on the side that's bloody or might you turn it over
00:47:33
and they had a dog who had two dogs yeah uh I think one had one issue one one bled from the snout one
00:47:42
had a I want to say like a hangnail but whatever you call that in a dog so she had explanations for some of it but she
00:47:50
also said to Aaron I can't explain all of it but then why wouldn't they have at least say tested to see if there's dog
00:47:58
DNA there we have to go back remember this is 2000 all right we can't look at it through the lens of today where we
00:48:06
know that testing is is so much better but again I didn't know as a reporter to ask what kind of tests have you done and
00:48:16
and what they ended up doing and some of it was it was Bob's blood but if they saw like six little dots in one spot
00:48:23
they might have tested three of those you you test represent samples but then you can't say or
00:48:30
shouldn't say everything was tested and it all came back to Bob uh let's talk about another bit of evidence there was
00:48:37
a syringe in the bathroom trash with traces of horse tranquilizer inside which was normal yeah because it's a
00:48:44
ranch right but was there any horse tranquilizer found in Bob's system no no and so that was one of those pieces of
00:48:53
evidence that on the face of it looks like it's relevant you know but it's really not um let's listen to a clip
00:49:00
from the broadcast of Jane I can't really explain it other than um I know that I helped Bob clean up a nose bed
00:49:08
and if that's the same time when I took the syringes and threw them in the trash
00:49:12
and there was some blood on my hand that could have made that happen the importance I guess of that the syringe
00:49:21
it looked bad because there was uh Blood on the syringe uh Bob's blood and you have a fingerprint on the syringe and it
00:49:32
was Jane's fingerprint so it really wasn't relevant it just looked bad and one thing where you think well that's
00:49:40
weird that there's this bloody syringe in a garbage pal when we spoke to another expert Nathan lent
00:49:48
actually said in his mind that pointed fingers away from Jane because if you're going to be cleaning up a crime scene we
00:49:56
we all know criminals can do stupid things but would you leave a bloody syringe in the trash right and then so
00:50:04
here's kind of the other aspect of what the prosecution believed that Jane attacked her husband in the bedroom and
00:50:11
then transported him in a truck to dump his body I mean there's a reason why there's a phrase sort of dead weight I
00:50:18
mean people are heavy people are much heavier than they look um so I did think geez that would be really hard I
00:50:24
remember and this was an issue for us when the reason why I believed her you know she was probably my size um you
00:50:32
know my height and she had a bad back and the idea like you talk about dead weight of not only getting her husband
00:50:40
out of the bedroom but getting him onto that truck seemed inconceivable and the prosecution didn't seem to be troubled
00:50:47
by that but was there any evidence of blood found in the truck when they tested initially they found a very small
00:50:54
stain um in the wheel well of the truck that had Bob's DNA um but it's Bob's truck it's a working Ranch it wasn't
00:51:05
that there were puddles and pools of blood yeah so was that significant hard to know authorities arrest Jane though I
00:51:16
mean three days three days after the murder that seems really quick cuz we've talked about some 48 Hours episodes
00:51:23
where you know the the suspect is walking around for months until they collect enough evidence 3 days well it's
00:51:31
too quick for really two reasons one big one is they didn't even have all their test results back so they're making
00:51:38
basically this assumption and and making it public and you know saying this woman
00:51:44
is accused of killing her husband and then for the other reason why it was too early is you can't go back on it then
00:51:50
you know they haven't investigated the reports of seeing a man out there jogging but how do you back track after
00:51:57
you've already said we have evidence strong evidence to indicate this woman killed her husband when you don't even
00:52:03
have your test results yeah so then it's a year later in 2001 a year after Bob's
00:52:07
murder and the case finally goes to trial for me what made this trial you know particularly shocking was of course
00:52:14
Jane's sons who testify against their mother at trial this is her son Alex on the stand being questioned by the
00:52:23
defense your mother always settled things like logically tried to no you wouldn't agree with that statement nope
00:52:31
it would be my mom basically saying this is what you have to accept and then my dad would either accept it
00:52:39
or there would be threats of divorce or something that's what I remember from growing
00:52:44
up okay so he's describing you know which is something that's not the happiest marriage but anyone who's
00:52:50
married knows that sometimes things EB and flow but I mean this must have broken Jane's heart
00:52:56
and it did it did the idea that not one but both sons testified against their mother at a murder trial is very very
00:53:06
damaging and and was very difficult for her and and I think in terms of the prosecution one of the things they're
00:53:13
trying to explain to the jury is you know the motive and the motive was that the marriage was on the rocks and they
00:53:20
didn't get along as great as people thought so the sons provided in their mind I'm sure like eyewitnesses to that
00:53:29
fact yeah the prosecution told the jurors that this was a broken marriage she was the primary bread winner and she
00:53:37
didn't want to pay alimony and that was that was what the jury was told so you have the sons testifying against her and
00:53:45
then on the other hand you have Jane's daughter Claire she remained convinced that her mother could not have committed
00:53:52
this murder Claire didn't testify a trial but she gets pulled into the the defense's argument in a really
00:53:58
surprising way Jane's attorney claims that Claire is the one that killed her father how did Claire feel about this
00:54:06
defense it's risky Amry I have to tell you that decision on the part of the defense attorneys to try to save a
00:54:13
mother by pointing to the daughter was shocking to me then and is shocking to me now and had to be devastating for
00:54:24
Jane realized there was absolutely no no physical evidence to tie Claire to this
00:54:29
murder and there was that alibi that Claire was at her aunt's house at the time Bob was murdered but it was a an
00:54:36
attempt to raise Reasonable Doubt in the mind of the the jurors like well maybe it wasn't the mother maybe it was the
00:54:43
daughter it it was shocking Claire later wrote in a book that she was so worried
00:54:50
about her mother that she felt she didn't have a choice but to go along with it that she was more worried then
00:54:58
angry and Jane subsequently told Aaron that you think your defense lawyers know the best strategy so she reluctantly
00:55:09
went along with it but Claire was never charged with any wrongdoing in regard to
00:55:14
her father's murder Claire never talked to us about this um as much as I would have loved to have heard but in her book
00:55:21
that uh Ruth had mentioned she did describe how it was just kind of you know put in her plate she didn't have a
00:55:28
say in it no one went to her and said how about you know we point the finger it it was a done deal and she had to
00:55:36
accept it I I can't even imagine being in the position of Jane trying to save yourself by pointing at your daughter
00:55:44
number one or being the daughter knowing that your mother's life is on the line and you're going to be the other suspect
00:55:53
I I can't imagine this it's like Shak experience I was just you read my mind I was actually thinking it's some sort
00:55:59
it's like a drama in mythology it's just it's all bad choices oh and it didn't save her the worst part it didn't save
00:56:08
Jane so here's the thing yeah you're right it doesn't save her um uh the jury is not convinced on June 12th 2001 Jane
00:56:16
was found guilty of first-degree murder and then she sentenced to 25 years to life Erin were you able to speak to Jane
00:56:22
after the verdict it must have felt like it like unreal to her uh and to me as well I have to tell you um I I will
00:56:30
never forget that cuz I was not allowed to bring my producer in with me or a crew and uh I remember leaving the car
00:56:37
going into the jail because she was still in a jail at that point and Jane was Jane Jane was still talking the way
00:56:44
I'd always heard Jane and I was like I think this woman is innocent and she's GNA spend the rest of her life in prison
00:56:51
and it it was very disturbing all right so when we come back Jan's 22-year fight for Justice from behind
00:56:59
bars and the miraculous breakthrough in her case welcome back everyone so after Jane
00:57:16
is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison she becomes her own Advocate meticulously working on her case year
00:57:24
after year it is a daunting task how did she do this you know she she filed document after document um motion after
00:57:35
motion and everything would be turned down and she'd just keep she would keep going and from the beginning she also
00:57:43
tried to get the attention of Innocence groups but that didn't immediately come so she was like okay I have to do this
00:57:49
on my own but I want to remind people cuz I don't think people are aware when you say she had to do it on her own
00:57:55
you're not entitled to an attorney after your very first postconviction appeal that's it and so everyone usually unless
00:58:05
they're wealthy um they have to do it on their own some people just give up Jane
00:58:10
did not she never gave up so in prison as you mentioned she files motions some of them claiming that she had
00:58:18
ineffective assistance of counsel she says that she originally wanted to testify a trial and that she disagreed
00:58:25
with the defense's Strat stry to point the finger at her daughter Claire in your experience covering wrongful
00:58:31
conviction cases how successful are ineffective Council Claims really really tough very rarely and in in fact in this
00:58:40
case too um Jane did not win that right and the judge said well we don't really think it would have made much of a
00:58:46
difference um if you had a different kind of attorney or a different argument um Jane also argued that authorities
00:58:52
pegged her from the very start and they really failed to follow up up on other leads and personally I was really
00:58:59
curious as to why authorities chose not to look into some witness reports that say they saw a man around the same time
00:59:06
out there possibly jogging why didn't they follow up on any of that stuff well according to Matt trano who is the legal
00:59:14
consultant that we talked to I me he felt after looking at many of the documents that this was a matter of
00:59:21
tunnel vision I mean you can kind of understand in the sense that if you truly believe as investigators that
00:59:28
there's blood in the bedroom and that he was killed in the bedroom then you're wasting time chasing down Witnesses who
00:59:38
say they saw a jogger since you don't believe he was out jogging but they should have and also some of the
00:59:45
descriptions didn't exactly match Bob the wrong age the wrong weight so yes a jogger in the area in around the correct
00:59:55
time from the investigator standpoint well the other thing seems like a more viable explanation of what happened
01:00:03
because these people didn't quite describe Bob to a te I mean you would think considering
01:00:09
the area how rural it is there aren't a ton of people out jogging and we do know
01:00:14
that eyewitnesses sometimes could be not great with the details you know there a
01:00:18
good possibility it was him and it could raise Reasonable Doubt even if the person didn't
01:00:24
match yeah so in 2015 though Jane had a breakthrough in her case when a judge granted her motion to get DNA testing
01:00:33
done on several items that had not been tested back in 2000 including the Rope around Bob's neck his fingernail
01:00:41
clippings his clothes how rare is it for a judge to approve this kind of DNA testing according to Matthew troano it's
01:00:48
really rare it's hard I think it's going to get more and more common as tests become more valuable I think but uh it
01:00:58
it is very difficult uh it's expensive and uh so it was very very lucky for Jane in this case and it and it really
01:01:07
was what turned this case around and when the court did Grant that that was right before an innocence group got
01:01:15
involved so even more unusual that it was based on Jane's filing at that point Jane that did it whenever anybody asked
01:01:23
really how did Jane get get out I'm always say Jane yes Jane was helped by um an
01:01:30
Innocence Project but she was the one who really got the ball rolling she was the one who got the permission to do the
01:01:38
testing and it made a huge difference in this case so this testing changes the course of the the case because when they
01:01:46
look at the rope and they look under the fingernails they find foreign male DNA but just as important as what they don't
01:01:54
find which is Jane's DNA is not there so Jane's appell team also raises the issue
01:02:00
of how the sheriff's department originally handled the evidence I want to play a clip from the broadcast of uh
01:02:06
Nathan lent a professor at John J College of Criminal Justice reviewing a photo of investigators at the original
01:02:14
crime scene this one is hard to even look at um you have an investigator who definitely should know better um you
01:02:20
know handling murder evidence with his bare hands in addition to obviously depositing own DNA all around this crime
01:02:27
scene he's also risking transferring evidence from among the various spots that he's
01:02:32
collecting I gasped when I saw that picture when this case was first investigated was that normal for
01:02:39
authorities to handle evidence like that I'm kicking myself I've got to be honest
01:02:44
I saw those pictures back then and didn't realize that at the very least it reflects kind of a laxness in standards
01:02:55
in the sense that you know you're touching evidence with your bare fingers and if anybody should know it would be a
01:03:01
criminalist you look at it now and it's shocking it is other investigators had gloves on they did some did some didn't
01:03:08
look investigators are human and maybe he wasn't the one actually swabbing but you know who knows what was going
01:03:15
through well all it takes is that one photo to make you question the ENT entire way the uh crime scene was
01:03:22
handled so in 2020 Jane's appell team presented its findings and the state requested that Jane's murder conviction
01:03:29
be overturned the state asked it yes yes well I said this was an emotional roller
01:03:34
coaster to watch CU you're like oh that's great and then only three months later the da decided to retry her a
01:03:44
judge ruled that a new trial could go ahead but that certain evidence presented in her original trial would
01:03:51
not be admissible at this time I'm wondering what Jane was feeling cuz she talks in the hour about essentially just
01:03:58
losing her faith in the justice system I I don't think anybody can actually say what she was feeling but you can't
01:04:05
imagine this was a woman who had fought so hard to get to that point she is out in 2020 she had been out because of
01:04:14
covid you know so she has a taste of Freedom um she's finally seeing like an end after fighting so long think about
01:04:24
it it's like you know nearly 20 years and then they decide they're going to retry her and to go through a trial
01:04:31
again I mean I don't think anybody can imagine what had to be going through that woman's head and
01:04:37
heart back on the emotional roller coaster the prosecution ultimately decided that there was not sufficient
01:04:44
evidence for them to show proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt in a new trial and requested the court dismiss the charges
01:04:52
Jane's case was dismissed without prejudice but what exactly does that mean okay so when you hear without
01:04:58
prejudice that sounds good and it is it means that um all the charges against her are dropped but without prejudice
01:05:07
means that if somehow new evidence came up very strong evidence obviously that she was involved they could refile it's
01:05:17
not likely to ever happen but she has no charges against her she's as if she had
01:05:23
never been charged with murder um did Jane ever talk about the loss of her husband I know this hour was about her
01:05:31
fight for Freedom um but I kept on also thinking boy did she even get a chance to grieve I remember her talking about
01:05:41
that that she never did because think how quickly she was charged she never did and um you know all of a sudden then
01:05:48
she's in a fight for her life so you know the there are so many reasons um to avoid void a wrongful conviction or a
01:05:57
questionable conviction and that's one of them yeah what's next for Jane she works with trying to help women in
01:06:05
prison that's sort of become her focus is working with wrongful conviction groups as well as groups just helping
01:06:14
women in prison and then women when they get out of prison I mean she had always
01:06:18
been in the healthare field that's what she was in before she was charged and convicted and so it fits with that um
01:06:26
but I you know I can't help but be overwhelmed with sadness over this of what everyone in that family lost you
01:06:33
know with the loss of Bob and then this prosecution you know a family was destroyed and I remain so cuz we can see
01:06:44
in the hour that she's not um close with her sons she is close with her daughter
01:06:50
one son has since passed away and the other son um has not not spoken publicly but uh has indicated through filings
01:06:59
that he believes that she she was involved in his father's death and so yes this is a family divided and it's
01:07:08
heartbreaking biggest takeaways from this case and Ruth I'll start with you as Erin had said it's a cautionary tale
01:07:17
and it's always easier looking back but you almost have to approach cases thinking okay when people look back at
01:07:24
this what should we be careful about you know it's a lesson for defense attorneys
01:07:29
for prosecutors crime scene investigators for everybody on all sides and reporters question question question
01:07:37
I think to question more H um well it's an amazing hour and uh I was absolutely riveted because there are so many twists
01:07:45
and turns and it I mean still there's an unsolved murder out there you know um Aaron Ruth thank you so much for joining
01:07:52
me again thanks amarie thank you you can join us next Tuesday for another postmortem and watch 48 Hours of course
01:08:02
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