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people think some huge trauma needs to happen before you can use therapy but really you can use therapy to get
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help navigate life 44 year old jeanette castraon suffered from a disability that made it very
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difficult to walk and travel on her own in june 2015 while waiting as her mother
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took a brief stop at a park restroom jeanette vanished she would not be the last
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join investigative journalist otavia mchenry as she uncovers the secrets behind jeanette's sudden disappearance
00:00:50
with interviews from jeanette's family law enforcement and criminal behaviour experts otavia uncovers much more in the
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[Music] the young students of the coolbore learning center in pennsylvania were due
00:03:18
to arrive any minute shortly beforehand a teacher entered the school's main entrance and stumbled
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across an odd scene scattered on the ground by the front doors were multiple sealed envelopes
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addressed to the principal more were found throughout the school grounds haphazardly thrown on the lawn
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on the concrete paths and in bushes they were unstamped with no return details each envelope contained a copy of the
00:03:49
same type written letter littered with grammatical errors and profanities it was scathing of a member
00:03:57
of staff and her teaching ability it also alleged that she brought cannabis onto school property quote
00:04:05
then showed it in the faculty room just like it was a big joke the principal summoned the teacher at
00:04:13
the center of the letter's allegations joanne chambers had been employed as a grade one teacher at coolboar elementary
00:04:21
for four years she arrived in mid-1989 with glowing reviews from her previous school where she was praised
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for her professionalism and organisational skills joanne was stunned by the letter
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given its contents focused on her work it appeared as though it had been written by either a member of coolboar's
00:04:44
staff or someone connected to the school but as far as joanne was concerned she was embraced by the school community and
00:04:53
had a good rapport with her colleagues her somewhat unconventional methods of teaching involved dancing and singing
00:05:01
making her popular with students and parents alike other staff members seemingly embraced
00:05:08
her playful nature in the warmer months joanne would stage water balloon fights with the school
00:05:14
administrators to the delight of her students respected and well-regarded joanne was
00:05:22
nothing like the letter's author depicted joanne assumed that the letters had been
00:05:28
sent by someone out of jealousy as a nasty prank she hoped the author would come forward
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so they could resolve the matter but whoever was responsible remained anonymous [Music]
00:06:00
[Music] more letters started appearing around the school over the coming weeks and
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months shoved into the teacher's mail slots in the faculty room was a letter accusing
00:06:20
joanne of being an alcoholic and drinking in the classroom on march 14 1994 joanne opened the
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drawer to her classroom desk to find an empty bottle of whiskey inside while looking for anything else out of
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the ordinary she noticed a framed portrait of her and her son had been stolen from her desk
00:06:44
up until this point the harassment had been confined to the school grounds however it wasn't long before joanne
00:06:52
started receiving hang-up phone calls and letters arriving on her doorstep at home
00:06:59
the letters were becoming threatening one read i can get you in one try no one will ever prove it
00:07:09
they may not think so but i'm smarter than all of you you stupid [ __ ] another threatened to poison joanne
00:07:20
you really are a clueless [ __ ] i had four chances to drug your coffee this week
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or did i drug your coffee [ __ ] you make me sick joanne would not be intimidated by her
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unknown detractor and continued teaching at the coolboar learning center exactly one month after finding the
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whiskey bottle in her desk drawer joanne stood behind the same desk to begin teaching for the day
00:07:53
she was wearing a long dress and as she sat down in her chair joanne smoothed the fabric out from under her thighs
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she then felt something unpleasant feces had been smeared all over her seat joanne complained to the coolboar
00:08:16
township police department and chief anthony flugel was assigned to the case joanne relayed the past incidents
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including the one involving the photograph taken from her school desk a letter had also been sent to the
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school administrators parents and even taped to a local store door it depicted a pornographic image of
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three naked women in a bathtub joanne's face had been cut from the photo on her desk and superimposed onto
00:08:50
the face of one of the women written alongside it using a stencil with the words
00:08:57
it's not over you die [Music] chief flugel agreed that joanne was likely being targeted by someone in the
00:09:07
school system a hidden camera was placed in her classroom to try and catch the culprit
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red-handed the threatening letters were sent to an fbi lab in virginia who were able to
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extract partial prints from some of the envelopes but not enough to make a match
00:09:28
joanne's fellow teachers were called to a meeting where it was explained that police were investigating the attacks
00:09:34
against her if the perpetrator was among them it was hoped this information would scare them
00:09:42
into stopping chief anthony floogal examined the footage taken from the hidden camera in
00:09:49
joanne's classroom at 8 18 one morning before the commencement of class the camera
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captured something peculiar joanne could be seen talking to a fellow teacher after collecting a few items the pair
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left the classroom a few moments later the other teacher returned to the empty room
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she took something from joanne's desk and walked out of the room with it it was fellow first grade teacher paula
00:10:22
noraki and she had taken joanne's coffee cup described by colleagues as diplomatic
00:10:32
honest and peaceful paula nooroki had been a teacher in the monroe county school district for 20 years
00:10:40
unlike joanne who was outgoing and searched for fun and creative ways to teach her class
00:10:47
paula was quiet favored traditional teaching methods and followed procedures by the book
00:10:54
the pair differed not only in personality but in appearance joanne was tall with green eyes and
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blonde hair that she wore in loose locks to her shoulders while paula was of a slight build with
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hazel eyes and short brown hair she styled into a perm caring and professional paula noraki was
00:11:17
popular with parents and students like joanne she received positive feedback from her superiors
00:11:26
however other staff had commented that they thought paula was jealous of joanne's reputation as the fun teacher
00:11:36
as reported in the newspaper the times tribune another incident also aroused suspicion amongst the teaching staff
00:11:44
in one of the threatening letters sent to joanne a reference was made regarding the school superintendent and his
00:11:52
similarity to german commander colonel clink in the television series hogan's heroes
00:11:59
an employee recalled a conversation with paula norocki in which she made this exact comparison
00:12:08
paula denied any involvement in the attacks against the joanne chambers with no evidence connecting her to the
00:12:16
crimes she was allowed to continue teaching however paula was snubbed by fellow teachers who were convinced of her guilt
00:12:25
and sent to work in a different building joanne was transferred to another school
00:12:32
for her own safety while the investigation was ongoing on may 6 1994 joanne and paula were
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subjected to polygraph tests the purpose in testing joanne was to rule out that she was embellishing any
00:12:49
of the vile lacks she had been subjected to joanne's answers indicated that she was
00:12:56
being truthful during paula's polygraph test she was asked were you involved with making or sending
00:13:07
any of the threatening letters paula who voluntarily submitted to the polygraph in the hopes it would clear
00:13:14
her name answered no the polygraph examiner concluded she was being deceitful paula maintained her innocence
00:13:28
she told chief anthony flugal i don't think i am doing it if i am i don't know it
00:13:37
he informed paula that she was a strong suspect and it would be in her best interests to come forward and stop the
00:13:44
harassment paula replied you'll never prove it was me even though chief flugel suspected paula
00:13:56
from the outset a lack of proof left her free to leave a search of paula's home was undertaken
00:14:04
and a typewriter and various stationary suppliers such as paper and envelopes were taken into evidence
00:14:13
on may 27 1994 joanne was leaving work after a long day as she went to open the driver's side
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door to her car she recoiled something sharp had cut her finger she discovered a razor blade affixed to
00:14:33
the underside of the handle a few days later joanne received a letter that read you're sliced
00:14:56
case file will be back shortly thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors
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you support case file one day a package was found at the front door of joanne's new school
00:18:31
it was a small box wrapped in pink paper inside was a barbie doll it was wearing a blue dress similar to
00:18:41
one joanne often wore the barbie's blonde hair had been cut to shoulder length and styled into loose
00:18:49
locks in the doll's neck was a razor blade red paint surrounded the blade and dripped down the doll's chest
00:19:01
a few months passed with no new threats in november 1994 joanne was traveling along interstate 380.
00:19:12
it was daytime and a route that she travelled often as she drove joanne gazed up to her rear-view mirror
00:19:21
a car behind her was gaining speed it pulled up alongside her and swerved suddenly running joanne off the road
00:19:32
almost like it was occurring in slow motion joanne was able to brake and pull over to safety while simultaneously
00:19:40
getting a glimpse of the driver who had risked both their lives staging the dangerous maneuver
00:19:47
it was paula noraki joanne later described the incident in the series medical detectives
00:19:57
paul is looking right at me i will never forget that look by january 1995 the monroe county
00:20:08
district attorney's office had enough evidence to arrest paula norrocki she was taken from her first grade class
00:20:17
by police and charged with recklessly endangering the life of joanne chambers by trying to run her off the road
00:20:25
she also faced 78 counts of stalking 24 counts of making terroristic threats and
00:20:32
two counts of assault still maintaining her innocence paula was released on bail
00:20:41
she and her husband hired a private detective james anderson to investigate the charges against her
00:20:49
although skeptical of her innocence james agreed to take on the case given that the letters sent to joanne
00:20:58
and the coolboar learning center formed a large part of the prosecution's case paula suggested that the evidence be
00:21:06
sent for dna testing james warned her about proceeding explaining that this could have an
00:21:14
adverse effect on her case if her dna was found on any of the letters paula maintained she had nothing to hide
00:21:24
she spent approximately seven thousand dollars of her own money to have the testing completed
00:21:32
carefully lifting three stamps off one of the envelopes a dna typing expert was able to extract dna from saliva on
00:21:41
stamps affixed to the envelope it was not a match to paula nor rocky acting on a hunch private investigator
00:21:54
james anderson went to joann chambers home under the cover of darkness he rummaged
00:22:01
through her garbage bins on the curbside for collection finding a few tissues and a used deer
00:22:09
swab james took the items and replaced the lid on the bin he arranged for a dna profile to be
00:22:18
extracted from the discarded items a male sample presumably joanne's husband or son and the female sample
00:22:27
were uncovered the female sample was determined to be that of joanne chambers it was compared to the dna profile from
00:22:39
the postage dams it was a complete match given this development paula's defense lawyer argued for the charges to be
00:22:50
dropped against his client immediately his request was denied joanne was nonchalant when confronted
00:23:01
about her dna being found on the stamps she voluntarily submitted to a blood test for further dna testing to be done
00:23:11
joanne did not deny it was her dna and had an explanation as to how it had gotten there
00:23:19
she explained that during the course of the investigation she had been at the police station for questioning
00:23:26
she had been left alone with a stack of the threatening letters on the table in front of her
00:23:32
joanne picked up an envelope to examine it her handling caused its stamps to fall
00:23:39
off joanne admitted she tried to reaffix the stamps herself with saliva but when that failed she stuck them back
00:23:49
on with a glue stick she kept in her handbag the trial against paula noraki began on
00:24:00
january 15 1996 after an early preliminary hearing determined there was enough evidence for
00:24:08
her to stand trial court proceedings had to be postponed several times due to blizzards and flood
00:24:16
warnings on his way into court paula's defense lawyer joked to local newspaper the
00:24:23
morning call we've encountered blizzards and floods and i hope that pestilence and locusts
00:24:31
aren't far behind courtroom number four was packed with the journalists as well as members of
00:24:39
the general public who were intrigued by the unusual case if found guilty paula noraki faced a
00:24:47
maximum of five years jail time and a ten thousand dollar fine for each count she listened attentively to testimony
00:24:57
from those who examined the dna evidence on the letters and envelopes another dna sample was extracted from
00:25:05
adhesive used to seal an envelope the sample wasn't strong enough to obtain a full profile as had been done
00:25:14
with the postage stamps however it was complete enough to rule out paula noraki as the source
00:25:22
joanne chambers could not be excluded speaking calmly and concisely paula noraki testified that she believed
00:25:35
joanne was harassing herself in an attempt to frame her and to gain attention had an explanation for retrieving the
00:25:44
coffee cup from joanne's desk she stated that joanne had asked her to get it for her
00:25:53
it was determined that paula had been subjected to a different more rigorous polygraph test than joanne
00:26:00
furthermore her comment to chief anthony flugel you'll never prove it was me had
00:26:06
been taken entirely out of context then used against her the jury heard testimony from former
00:26:16
employees who described paula's exemplary behavior and teaching ability analysis of the stationary and
00:26:24
typewriter found in paula's home did not match the letters received by joanne joanne's typewriter was never examined
00:26:37
a chemist discredited joanne's allegation that she affixed the stamps back to the envelope with a glue stick
00:26:44
as the adhesive would turn a bluish color under uv light when he examined the stamps
00:26:52
this was not apparent next joanne chambers took the stand her demeanor as she answered questions
00:27:03
from the defense did little to help her cause the morning call reported her testimony
00:27:10
as uneven with replies that ranged from subdued to testy to sarcastic she also rolled her eyes and courtroom
00:27:21
observers noticed that she seemed edgy mid-trial the principal of joanne's former school provoked an audible gasp
00:27:32
from the courtroom as he recounted an event from joanne's earlier career in the early 80s joanne had approached
00:27:40
him asking to go home early because she had sat in feces private investigator james anderson
00:27:50
hired by paula noraki had found witnesses who'd worked with the joanne chambers at this point in her career
00:27:58
one witness jane pardue told the court that she and the six other teachers at the school were summoned to the library
00:28:06
for a meeting they were told that joanne had received harassing phone calls and threats that
00:28:13
her house would be burned down jane said of joanne she carried tales that weren't true to
00:28:22
the superintendent and she tried to get us in trouble jane added that she wanted to stay as
00:28:29
far away from joanne chambers as possible witness lower surrender a former teacher
00:28:38
described chambers as someone who told tall tales one involved joanne studying to be a nun
00:28:47
she said she'd broken her leg after jumping out a window to escape the nuns who were trying to force her to stay at
00:28:55
the convent also remembering that joanne tried to get other teachers into trouble
00:29:02
lois described her school as a harmonious place until chambers came along private investigator james anderson
00:29:12
listed 16 occasions where joanne complained to authorities about anonymous threats
00:29:18
prior to the incidents with paula noraki paula's defense lawyer suggested that joanne had placed the evidence herself
00:29:27
to frame paula because she hadn't catered to joanne as other teachers had done additionally there were no witnesses who
00:29:37
observed joanne being run off the road by paula noraki joanne's testimony was the only thing
00:29:44
implicating paula in this event on january 22 1996 the six men and six women of the jury
00:29:56
retired to deliberate they returned to the courtroom less than two hours later paula noraki was found not guilty of all
00:30:07
charges the jurors hugged paula after the trial one told her our hearts are with you
00:30:17
[Music] joanne chambers slipped from the courtroom quietly largely ignored by those in attendance
00:30:31
although she was found to not guilty on all charges paula noraki was still required to attend a school board
00:30:38
hearing to determine whether or not she could keep her job held over a series of nights in early
00:30:45
1997 the hearing was to address charges of immorality neglect and other school code
00:30:52
violations in relation to the case unlike the criminal trial that required a unanimous verdict only six of the
00:31:02
appointed eight school directors had to find that paula noraki acted immorally and in dereliction of judy for her to
00:31:11
lose her job mike 11 acting as prosecutor on behalf of the school board opened by saying
00:31:21
this case is a most unusual most tragic case you will hear about 41 profane threatening disgusting letters
00:31:32
you will hear about blood you will hear about feces you will hear about razor blades you
00:31:39
will hear about a barbie doll you will hear about nude photographs everyone involved in the case agrees
00:31:47
that the stalking incidents happened and that the person responsible should be fired
00:31:54
the point of the disagreements with this case is who did it who is responsible for these acts
00:32:04
the hearing largely repeated the information presented at the criminal trial on april 2 1997
00:32:13
paula norrocki was acquitted of the charges against her and permitted to keep her teaching job
00:32:21
when the verdict was read the pact auditorium opened to the public cheered for paula
00:32:29
jiren could be heard at the mention of joanne chambers name but with no evidence proving she was the
00:32:37
cause of the harassment joanne was also allowed to keep teaching in november 2000 paula noraki received a
00:32:48
600 000 settlement from the school district she was also awarded a 25 000 settlement
00:32:56
from joanne chambers after seeking compensation for out-of-pocket costs and punitive damages in the course of the
00:33:04
trial paula also sought compensation for defamation from lead detective chief anthony flugal
00:33:13
she alleged he maliciously prosecuted her without probable cause [Music] floogal who was by this time a
00:33:22
lieutenant refused to settle out of court a federal damage trial commenced in december 2000
00:33:32
flugel testified that he acted under the direction of the monroe county district
00:33:37
attorney's office and there was probable cause at the time to arrest paula norrocki
00:33:45
paula's defense argued that the arrest and subsequent trial proceeded despite a mountain of growing evidence implicating
00:33:53
joanne chambers as her own tormentor in a case described by paula's defense attorney as the strangest he had ever
00:34:02
been involved in flugel was acquitted of the charge of defamation on december 12 2000
00:34:12
both women continued teaching at different schools and had successful careers paula noraki had suffered the fallout of
00:34:22
being in the public eye telling the court at the federal trial that some people still avoid me
00:34:31
but by 2001 paula was teaching the third grade and it was reported in the morning
00:34:37
call that her life had largely returned to normal in 2014 after a celebrated career joanne
00:34:47
chambers retired from teaching she obtained the status of a national board certified teacher and had helped
00:34:56
hundreds of students learn to read as a specialist teacher for children with dyslexia
00:35:04
although it was never determined who was responsible for the harassment of joanne
00:35:09
chambers the assaults ceased following the trial hugh hutchinson who represented chief
00:35:17
anthony flugel at the federal trial for defamation told the courtroom somebody was very clever and very
00:35:26
careful whoever it was [Music] [Music] in june of 2015 a woman disappeared while camping with her family in the
00:36:02
cherokawa mountains of arizona she vanished without leaving a trace in the course of one to two minutes this is
00:36:09
the strangest search i've ever been on she just disappeared right off the face of the earth i said you're telling me
00:36:15
you got sign right here i said well then we're right on the road here basically so she got another car
00:36:21
somebody abducted her we were desperate we didn't know what else to do you already start to know you
00:36:26
know the canine hasn't found her something really bad is going on were we a target of something
00:36:32
what if somebody's got a vendetta against us the two-year quest for answers in this case led me to find out
00:36:38
more than i had originally anticipated i'll challenge you to something do a homework on missing persons from
00:36:45
national parks it's going to astound you what you're going to find out there's no way my brother would have
00:36:51
thought of suicide he also had just purchased furniture he was very excited about fixing up his living room so
00:37:00
you don't buy furniture and start fixing up your living rooms you're planning on
00:37:04
dying this case has more twists and turns than the blue ridge parkway and i have to say
00:37:09
occam's razor is normally the principle i operate from the simplest explanation is normally the most likely certainly
00:37:15
what i do know is that in fear and under pressure people make some very bad choices i'm octavia mchenry and this is
00:37:22
the labyrinth a true crime podcast brought to you by case file presents i think there's something there that we're
00:37:28
just not seeing and that others aren't seeing neither because everybody now to this point in this case is just grasping
00:37:35
so welcome to our world with this case and if you can give us any help i can't even
00:37:41
we can't even begin to tell you how much we'd appreciate that how is it that these people disappear
00:37:45
like that without a tree i'm a firm believer those things are real and there's something out there that we
00:37:51
don't understand we don't the labyrinth available exclusively on spotify