00:00:06
[Music]
00:00:09
for more than a year angry hateful
00:00:12
letters were sent to a first grade
00:00:14
school teacher in a small Mountain
00:00:17
Village in
00:00:19
Pennsylvania many were sexual in nature
00:00:22
some threatened
00:00:26
violence when scientists analyzed the
00:00:29
letters they found evidence that the
00:00:31
stalker knew a lot about the victim more
00:00:34
than anyone could possibly imagine
00:00:38
[Music]
00:00:46
[Music]
00:00:57
[Applause]
00:00:59
[Music]
00:01:03
in
00:01:04
1993 some hate mail began to arrive at
00:01:07
the cool ball Learning Center a public
00:01:10
elementary school in the Pocono
00:01:12
Mountains in eastern
00:01:14
Pennsylvania the letters were unsigned
00:01:17
and sent to the principal making serious
00:01:20
allegations against a first grade
00:01:22
reading teacher Joanne Chambers she had
00:01:25
been teaching in the school district for
00:01:28
the past 8 years
00:01:32
Chambers brought pot into school and
00:01:35
then showed it in the faculty room just
00:01:36
like it was a big joke I thought it
00:01:40
was just somebody a disgruntled employee
00:01:42
I just wanted to know who it was and I
00:01:44
thought it was a thing that you could
00:01:45
you know sit down with that person talk
00:01:46
it out and fix it soon letters were sent
00:01:51
to Joanne Chambers herself at both home
00:01:54
and at
00:01:55
school I can get you in one try no one
00:01:58
will ever prove it
00:02:00
they may not think so but I'm smarter
00:02:02
than all of you you stupid [ __ ] Joanne
00:02:06
Chambers was popular with students and
00:02:08
was an unlikely Target of a hate
00:02:10
campaign she was married with a
00:02:12
10-year-old son and had no known enemies
00:02:16
I can speak with uh Assurance about
00:02:19
Joanne's teaching abilities uh she's
00:02:21
highly recommended by uh other teachers
00:02:23
in the district uh she was also highly
00:02:26
respected by parents uh she was an
00:02:29
outstanding teacher all her
00:02:30
recommendations show that it appeared
00:02:33
that someone had a grudge against her
00:02:37
look in Chambers desk she seems to like
00:02:40
Jack Daniels Chambers found the whiskey
00:02:43
bottle in her desk drawer and said
00:02:46
personal items were
00:02:48
missing there were things missing from
00:02:50
my drawers the picture of my child and
00:02:54
myself and my friend and her daughter
00:02:56
was taken from my desk the police
00:02:58
suspected that a fellow teacher or
00:03:00
School employee was sending the letters
00:03:03
since they often alluded to activities
00:03:05
going on inside the school one of the
00:03:09
letters contained an interesting clue it
00:03:13
was a snide reference to the school
00:03:15
superintendent as Colonel clink a
00:03:18
character in The Hogan's Heroes
00:03:21
television series a teacher in the
00:03:23
school was once overheard referring to
00:03:26
the superintendent in this way her name
00:03:29
was Paula Nori like Joanne Chambers
00:03:33
noaki also taught first grade and had
00:03:36
worked in the school district for 18
00:03:38
years I was totally surprised I was
00:03:41
positive that it wasn't anybody in the
00:03:43
building that it could be explained in
00:03:45
some other
00:03:46
way the letters continued but soon there
00:03:50
were other incidents the first was
00:03:53
something Joanne Chambers found under
00:03:56
her desk I went to start my lesson with
00:03:59
my children and sat down at a chair and
00:04:04
had a dress on and put my hand
00:04:06
underneath to straighten the dress out
00:04:07
and I was covered with
00:04:09
feces
00:04:12
and I couldn't even tell you what I felt
00:04:15
like I felt sick to my stomach I felt I
00:04:18
was like it was not happening it was
00:04:20
like this could not happen just a few
00:04:22
days later a hidden camera captured
00:04:25
several teachers entering Joanne
00:04:27
chambers's vacant classroom
00:04:30
one removed Chambers coffee cup from her
00:04:34
desk it was Paula
00:04:38
Nori the photograph of Joanne Chambers
00:04:41
stolen from her desk was pasted onto a
00:04:44
nude picture photocopied and distributed
00:04:48
throughout the schoolyard mailed to
00:04:50
parents' homes and a copy was taped to
00:04:53
the door of a local store there were
00:04:56
phone calls to parents saying that I was
00:04:59
a lesbian that um I had AIDS that you
00:05:04
know that I shouldn't be teaching their
00:05:06
children the FBI suggested that Joanne
00:05:09
Chambers be given a lie detector test to
00:05:12
validate her various claims Paula noaki
00:05:16
also volunteered to take a lie detector
00:05:18
test hoping to clear her name after
00:05:21
suspicions arose from the colonel clink
00:05:23
reference and the coffee cup
00:05:26
incident one of the two failed
00:05:30
on the most crucial question of
00:05:33
[Music]
00:05:44
all after 10 months of threatening
00:05:47
letters x-rated pictures and hidden
00:05:50
video surveillance police believed they
00:05:53
had a break in the stalking
00:05:56
case Joanne Chambers and Paula noroi
00:05:59
both took lie detector tests about their
00:06:02
knowledge of the threatening
00:06:03
letters each was asked whether they were
00:06:06
involved in making or sending any of the
00:06:10
harassing letters one
00:06:13
passed the other
00:06:15
failed I was told that I fail my
00:06:17
polygraph Paula Nori became the primary
00:06:20
suspect I was very upset I I couldn't
00:06:24
believe that it was making things worse
00:06:26
instead of better Nori said she was
00:06:29
video vide tape taking Joanne Chambers
00:06:31
coffee cup because Chambers had asked
00:06:34
Paula to get it for her the surveillance
00:06:36
videotape shows that Joanne Chambers and
00:06:40
Paula noroi were both in the classroom
00:06:43
and left together just moments before
00:06:46
Paula returned for the coffee
00:06:49
cup police asked noaki if they could
00:06:52
search her home and once again she
00:06:54
voluntarily complied they took with them
00:06:58
an old typewriter that we had they took
00:07:01
um different kinds of paper and
00:07:04
different envelopes the analysis of
00:07:06
Nori's typewriter revealed that it was
00:07:09
not the one used to type the threatening
00:07:12
letters the paper and envelopes from
00:07:15
noak's home did not match those used in
00:07:19
the threatening letters either Nori's
00:07:22
reputation as a by the book teacher and
00:07:24
strict disciplinarian was in sharp
00:07:27
contrast to Joanne Chambers lose and
00:07:29
funloving classroom style the way the
00:07:32
police saw it Paula was jealous of Joan
00:07:35
chambers's unconventional teaching style
00:07:37
and the popularity that she gained from
00:07:39
that style uh Paul nakaki was more of a
00:07:42
bu to book conservative teacher who
00:07:44
favored traditional teaching methods
00:07:47
whereas Joanne Chambers would show up in
00:07:48
the classroom wearing jeans and a Mickey
00:07:50
Mouse t-shirt and she would do things
00:07:52
like stage water fights with the school
00:07:55
administrators which uh the police
00:07:56
believe angered Paul andachi and as the
00:07:59
investigation continued so did the
00:08:02
threatening letters letters went out to
00:08:05
parents to parents saying that I was
00:08:06
molesting their children I thought my
00:08:08
career was gone I thought I was going to
00:08:10
be in jail I thought I didn't know what
00:08:12
was going to happen by the fall of
00:08:14
1994 the letters included death
00:08:18
threats you
00:08:20
die for her own protection Joanne
00:08:24
Chambers was transferred to another
00:08:27
school shortly after her transfer a box
00:08:31
in pink wrapping paper was found at the
00:08:34
front door of the
00:08:37
school inside was a Barbie doll the
00:08:41
throat slashed with a razor blade and
00:08:44
covered with paint the color of blood
00:08:48
the dress was identical to one often
00:08:50
worn by Joanne Chambers the hair was cut
00:08:54
and styled like Chambers as well I said
00:08:57
goodbye to my husband like I wanted him
00:08:59
to remember me saying goodbye
00:09:03
I lived every day thinking that it was
00:09:07
truly possible that it could be my last
00:09:10
in November of
00:09:12
1994 Chambers said a car tried to run
00:09:15
her off the highway she said she saw the
00:09:18
face of the driver I go off the
00:09:22
road I pull over I look she's looking
00:09:26
right at me I will never forget that
00:09:28
look now never I will never forget it
00:09:30
she looked right at me she said the face
00:09:34
she saw was a face she
00:09:41
[Music]
00:09:46
knew when Joanne chambers called police
00:09:49
to report that a car forced her off the
00:09:51
highway she said she recognized the face
00:09:54
of the other driver I saw her she looked
00:09:57
at me I'm I know that Paula noaki was
00:10:00
driving that car Paula noaki denied the
00:10:04
allegation but was arrested and charged
00:10:07
with harassment stalking simple and
00:10:10
aggravated assault making terroristic
00:10:12
threats and recklessly endangering the
00:10:14
life of Joanne Chambers over 100 counts
00:10:18
in all I was finding out that I was
00:10:20
charged with many many horrendous things
00:10:23
I had never heard about before the
00:10:26
school district suspended her from her
00:10:28
teaching position with pay if convicted
00:10:32
she could serve 5 years in jail after
00:10:35
Nori's arrest the letters threats and
00:10:39
mailings stopped noroi maintained her
00:10:43
innocence and hired both an attorney and
00:10:45
private investigator to help the
00:10:48
investigator was a former state
00:10:50
policeman and even he admitted that
00:10:52
Paula's situation did not look good my
00:10:55
first thought was well she's probably
00:10:57
guilty it just looked overwhelming when
00:11:00
you looked at the at at the whole
00:11:02
complaint the FBI found some partial
00:11:06
fingerprints on the threatening letters
00:11:08
but they did not match Paula Nori's the
00:11:11
defense team wanted to see if any DNA
00:11:14
was present on the threatening letters
00:11:17
the prosecutor would allow DNA testing
00:11:19
by the defense only if the results were
00:11:22
fully disclosed regardless of the
00:11:25
outcome Paula's defense team wanted to
00:11:28
make sure she understood the
00:11:30
ramifications of such an agreement he
00:11:33
asked would there be any possible reason
00:11:35
that any of my DNA should be on any of
00:11:37
it any possibility whatsoever and I I
00:11:40
said no Paula if we do this testing and
00:11:44
your DNA is found on these stamps or or
00:11:48
envelope flaps your chance you're going
00:11:52
to jail the cost of the DNA testing
00:11:55
approximately
00:11:56
$7,000 would have to be paid by by Paula
00:12:00
oraki blood samples from both Paula and
00:12:03
her husband were sent to a local DNA lab
00:12:06
along with the threatening letters and
00:12:08
the envelopes the amount of DNA that
00:12:10
would wind up on the back of a stamp or
00:12:12
an envelope flap depends on how hard you
00:12:15
lick the envelope how much cells that
00:12:17
you Shed from the inside of your mouth
00:12:19
they're variables that it's hard to
00:12:21
predict exactly what the value would be
00:12:23
but it is there in some cases there's
00:12:25
more DNA than others first scientists
00:12:28
use steam to gently remove the stamps
00:12:32
from the envelopes the back of each
00:12:35
stamp and envelope flap was swabbed for
00:12:38
epithelial cells which come from
00:12:41
saliva DNA was found on the back of one
00:12:45
set of stamps and on one envelope flap
00:12:48
the number of cells recovered was so
00:12:50
small that forensic scientists performed
00:12:53
a process called polymerase Chain
00:12:55
Reaction or PCR which amplifies or
00:13:00
copies the DNA in those few cells to
00:13:03
make enough for testing what we're
00:13:05
looking for to see is how does um this
00:13:09
DNA that we've extracted compare to
00:13:11
somebody else's DNA now if the DNA is
00:13:15
from a similar Source you'll get the
00:13:17
same pattern of blue dots on a White
00:13:19
Strip This is the genetic profile of the
00:13:23
individual who licked the stamps when
00:13:26
the DNA profile of pollen or rocki and
00:13:29
and her husband were compared to the DNA
00:13:31
from the back of the
00:13:33
stamps there was no match for example
00:13:36
Paul andar rocki has two dots here and
00:13:39
um the DNA from the back of the Posta
00:13:41
stamp only has one so therefore right
00:13:43
away we can exclude paulen aroi with
00:13:45
just this one genetic marker we looked
00:13:47
at five different genetic markers and
00:13:50
four out of five can exclude pollen
00:13:52
rocki DNA was
00:13:54
found and it did not match Paula and it
00:13:57
did not match lenon
00:14:02
which meant that someone licked that
00:14:05
those stamps and it wasn't Leonard Paul
00:14:09
we thought it was going to blow apart
00:14:10
the whole case we thought we thought we
00:14:11
were
00:14:12
done now armed with the DNA profile of
00:14:16
the stalker The Manhunt had just
00:14:20
[Music]
00:14:28
begun when DNA testing of the stamps and
00:14:31
envelope flap did not match Paula or
00:14:33
rocky or her husband the defense team
00:14:36
went one step further they wanted to
00:14:39
find the individual whose DNA was on the
00:14:42
threatening letters if Paula didn't do
00:14:45
it there's only one other person that
00:14:46
could have done it because there's only
00:14:48
one other person that knew the
00:14:50
circumstances of all these letters that
00:14:52
knew everything that was going on that
00:14:54
was joyan
00:14:55
Chambers was it possible that the El
00:14:59
alleged victim wrote the threatening
00:15:01
letters and mailed them to
00:15:04
herself the defense uncovered some
00:15:07
information which pointed in that very
00:15:11
Direction police in the neighboring town
00:15:14
of Carbondale Pennsylvania told defense
00:15:17
investigators the chambers had a history
00:15:20
of reporting suspicious incidents from
00:15:23
burglaries to fires they said every
00:15:26
crime that she's been a victim of is has
00:15:28
some weirdnesses attached to
00:15:30
it and just off the top of their heads
00:15:33
they started relating different uh
00:15:36
crimes as supposedly she's been a victim
00:15:38
of when Anderson researched chambers's
00:15:41
employment history he learned the
00:15:44
chambers reported similar threatening
00:15:47
letters and also reported finding feces
00:15:51
on her classroom chair while in another
00:15:54
school district years earlier to find
00:15:57
out if it was Joan and Chambers DNA on
00:16:00
the threatening letters Jim Anderson
00:16:03
needed her DNA profile for that he
00:16:06
looked in her trash once trash is placed
00:16:09
at the curbside the owner gives up all
00:16:12
legal rights to what's inside one
00:16:15
plastic drinking
00:16:17
straw one
00:16:19
used looks like toilet tissue plastic
00:16:22
straws used tissues and a cotton swab
00:16:26
with ear wax all items with possible
00:16:29
genetic material were sent to the DNA
00:16:31
lab for testing Dr lion walner
00:16:35
identified two different DNA profiles
00:16:38
from the mucus saliva and ear wax
00:16:41
samples from the chambers's trash the
00:16:43
DNA from the uh one of the household
00:16:45
members was similar to the uh DNA on the
00:16:47
back of the stamps and the envelope with
00:16:50
these DNA results the defense team
00:16:53
demanded that all charges against Paul
00:16:55
and or rocky be dropped the prosecution
00:16:59
fused and Joanne Chambers provided a
00:17:02
blood sample for further DNA testing
00:17:05
once again Joan Chambers blood DNA
00:17:09
matched the DNA from the stamps and the
00:17:12
envelope flap you can see how all five
00:17:15
genetic markers line up perfectly
00:17:18
between the DNA of Joanne Chambers and
00:17:20
the DNA from the back of the postage
00:17:22
stamps the odds of someone in the random
00:17:25
US population having the same
00:17:28
combination
00:17:29
of five genotypes tested was one in
00:17:49
[Music]
00:17:54
[Music]
00:17:58
the circumstantial evidence against
00:18:00
Paula nocki including the coffee cup
00:18:04
incident and the colonel clink reference
00:18:06
in one of the threatening letters for
00:18:08
the defense teachers from Joanne
00:18:11
Chambers former School District
00:18:13
testified that she made similar claims
00:18:16
of harassment years earlier but it was
00:18:19
the DNA evidence that stunned most
00:18:22
courtroom observers the DNA was
00:18:25
definitely the bombshell
00:18:27
um to hear that uh Joan Chambers saliva
00:18:32
was found on the stamps of one of the
00:18:36
the threatening letters and the flap of
00:18:38
another envelope it was just
00:18:40
unbelievable but on the witness stand
00:18:43
under oath Joanne Chambers had an
00:18:46
explanation she said the prosecutor left
00:18:49
her alone with the evidence and the
00:18:52
stamps fell off one of the envelopes she
00:18:55
said she licked the stamps to reattach
00:18:57
them and when that didn't work
00:18:59
used a glue stick at the very least she
00:19:02
showed poor judgment and at the most she
00:19:04
tampered with uh important evidence Dr
00:19:07
lton walner testified that she saw no
00:19:11
glue stick residue on the stamps when
00:19:13
she removed them for DNA testing as a
00:19:17
lifelong stamp collector she has
00:19:19
experienced distinguishing glue stick
00:19:22
residue from regular stamp adhesive I
00:19:25
know gum from knowing stamps and it
00:19:27
would looked to me just like the gum on
00:19:29
recent US stamps and it's smooth and
00:19:31
glistening and looked just like that
00:19:33
there was no outward evidence that a
00:19:35
glue stick had been used the trial
00:19:37
lasted 5 days and it took the jury less
00:19:41
than 2 hours to reach a
00:19:44
verdict they found Paula nor Rocky not
00:19:48
guilty reaction after the verdict was
00:19:51
the most amazing thing I've ever seen
00:19:53
the alleged victim was being treated as
00:19:55
the defendant and the defendant was
00:19:57
being treated as the victim
00:19:59
in the hallway jurors sought out Paula
00:20:01
nari and hugged her and told her how
00:20:03
much they loved her while Joan Chambers
00:20:06
left the courthouse uh virtually ignored
00:20:09
Joanne Chambers denies that she created
00:20:12
the campaign of threats against her I
00:20:16
could never ever do this stuff to myself
00:20:19
I don't think that I could
00:20:22
be
00:20:23
functioning in a world as a parent as a
00:20:26
teacher as a wife
00:20:29
if I were that sick to do that to myself
00:20:33
I think julan Chambers did it to herself
00:20:35
yes I think she sent the Barbie doll I
00:20:40
think uh this was all a stage for
00:20:44
jilan I hope the lesson that people
00:20:47
could learn from this is that you really
00:20:49
are supposed to be innocent until proven
00:20:52
guilty and you aren't supposed to be
00:20:54
guilty until proven innocent I've never
00:20:56
seen anything like this and if I cover
00:20:58
cases for another 40 years I think I'll
00:21:00
give you that same answer still
00:21:03
[Music]
00:21:31
War
00:21:33
[Music]
00:21:44
[Applause]
00:21:48
[Music]
