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[Music]
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For more than a year, angry, hateful
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letters were sent to a first grade
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school teacher in a small mountain
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village in Pennsylvania.
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Many were sexual in nature. Some
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threatened violence.
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When scientists analyzed the letters,
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they found evidence that the stalker
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knew a lot about the victim, more than
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anyone could possibly imagine.
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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In 1993,
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some hate mail began to arrive at the
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Cool Ball Learning Center, a public
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elementary school in the Pocono
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Mountains in Eastern Pennsylvania.
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The letters were unsigned and sent to
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the principal making serious allegations
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against a first grade reading teacher,
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Joanne Chambers. She had been teaching
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in the school district for the past 8
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years.
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>> Chambers brought pot into school and
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then showed it in the faculty room just
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like it was a big joke.
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>> I thought it was
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just somebody a disgruntled employee. I
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just wanted to know who it was and I
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thought it was a thing that you could,
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you know, sit down with that person,
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talk it out and fix it.
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>> Soon, letters were sent to Joanne
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Chambers herself at both home and at
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school.
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>> I can get you in one try. No one will
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ever prove it. They may not think so,
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but I'm smarter than all of you. You
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stupid [ __ ]
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>> Joanne Chambers was popular with
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students and was an unlikely target of a
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hate campaign. She was married with a
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10-year-old son and had no known
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enemies.
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>> I can speak with uh assurance about
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Joannne's teaching abilities. Uh she's
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highly recommended by uh other teachers
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in the district. Uh she was also highly
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respected by parents. Uh she was an
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outstanding teacher. All her
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recommendations show that.
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>> It appeared that someone had a grudge
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against her.
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>> Look in Chambers's desk. She seems to
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like Jack Daniels.
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Chambers found the whiskey bottle in her
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desk drawer and said personal items were
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missing.
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>> There were things missing from my
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drawers. The picture of my child and
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myself and my friend and her daughter
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was taken from my desk.
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>> The police suspected that a fellow
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teacher or school employee was sending
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the letters since they often alluded to
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activities going on inside the school.
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One of the letters contained an
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interesting clue. It was a snide
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reference to the school superintendent
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as Colonel Clink, a character in the
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Hogan's Heroes television series. A
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teacher in the school was once overheard
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referring to the superintendent in this
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way. Her name was Paula Noraki. Like
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Joanne Chambers, Noraki also taught
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first grade and had worked in the school
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district for 18 years.
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>> I was totally surprised. I was positive
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that it wasn't anybody in the building
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that it could be explained in some other
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way.
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>> The letters continued, but soon there
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were other incidents. The first was
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something Joanne Chambers found under
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her desk. I went to start my lesson with
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my children and sat down in a chair and
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had a dress on and put my hand
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underneath to straighten the dress out
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and I was covered with feces
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and
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I couldn't even tell you what I felt
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like. I felt sick to my stomach. I felt
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horing.
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It was like this could not happen. Just
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a few days later, a hidden camera
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captured several teachers entering
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Joanne Chambers vacant classroom.
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One removed Chambers coffee cup from her
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desk. It was Paula Naraki.
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The photograph of Joanne Chambers,
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stolen from her desk, was pasted onto a
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nude picture, photocopied and
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distributed throughout the schoolyard,
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mailed to parents' homes, and a copy was
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taped to the door of a local store.
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>> There were phone calls to parents saying
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that I was a lesbian, that um I had
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AIDS, that you know, that I shouldn't be
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teaching their children. The FBI
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suggested that Joanne Chambers be given
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a lie detector test to validate her
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various claims. Paul and Noraki also
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volunteered to take a lie detector test,
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hoping to clear her name after
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suspicions arose from the Colonel Clink
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reference and the coffee cup incident.
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One of the two failed on the most
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crucial question of all.
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[Music]
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After 10 months of threatening letters,
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x-rated pictures, and hidden video
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surveillance, police believe they had a
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break in the stalking case.
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Joanne Chambers and Paul and Iraqi both
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took lie detector tests about their
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knowledge of the threatening letters.
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Each was asked whether they were
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involved in making or sending any of the
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harassing letters. One passed,
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the other failed.
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>> I was told that I failed my polygraph.
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>> Paula Noraki became the primary suspect.
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>> I was very upset. I I couldn't believe
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that it was making things worse instead
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of better. Noraki said she was
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videotaped taking Joanne Chambers coffee
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cup because Chambers had asked Paula to
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get it for her. The surveillance video
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tape shows that Joanne Chambers and
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Paula Noraki were both in the classroom
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and left together just moments before
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Paula returned for the coffee cup.
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Police asked Noraki if they could search
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her home and once again she voluntarily
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complied. They took with them an old
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typewriter that we had. They took um
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different kinds of paper and different
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envelopes. The analysis of Naraki's
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typewriter revealed that it was not the
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one used to type the threatening
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letters. The paper and envelopes from
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Narra's home did not match those used in
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the threatening letters either. Noraki's
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reputation as a by the book teacher and
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strict disciplinarian was in sharp
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contrast to Joanne Chambers's loose and
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funloving classroom style. The way the
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police saw it, Paula was jealous of
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Joanne Chambers unconventional teaching
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style and the popularity that she gained
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from that style. Uh Paul Naraki was more
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of a buy the book conservative teacher
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who favored traditional teaching methods
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whereas Joanne Chambers would show up in
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the classroom wearing jeans and a Mickey
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Mouse t-shirt and she would do things
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like stage water fights with the school
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administrators which uh the police
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believe angered Paul Iraqi.
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>> As the investigation continued, so did
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the threatening letters.
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>> Letters went out to parents to parents
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saying that I was molesting their
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children. I thought my career was gone.
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I thought I was going to be in jail. I
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thought I didn't know what was going to
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happen.
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>> By the fall of 1994,
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the letters included death threats.
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>> You die.
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>> For her own protection, Joanne Chambers
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was transferred to another school.
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Shortly after her transfer, a box in
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pink wrapping paper was found at the
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front door of the school.
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Inside was a Barbie doll. The throat
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slashed with the razor blade and covered
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with paint the color of blood. The dress
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was identical to one often worn by
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Joanne Chambers. The hair was cut and
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styled like Chambers as well.
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>> I said goodbye to my husband. Like I
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wanted him to remember me saying
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goodbye. I
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lived every day thinking that it was
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truly possible that it could be my last.
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>> In November of 1994,
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Chambers said a car tried to run her off
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the highway. She said she saw the face
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of the driver.
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>> I go off the road.
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I pull over. I look,
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she's looking right at me. I will never
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forget that look. Never. I will never
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forget it. She looked right at me.
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>> She said the face she saw was a face she
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knew.
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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When Joanne Chambers called police to
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report that a car forced her off the
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highway, she said she recognized the
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face of the other driver.
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>> I saw her. She looked at me.
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I know that Paul Rocki was driving that
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car.
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>> Paula Norraki denied the allegation, but
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was arrested and charged with
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harassment, stalking, simple and
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aggravated assault, making terroristic
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threats, and recklessly endangering the
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life of Joanne Chambers. Over 100 counts
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in all,
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>> I was finding out that I was charged
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with many, many horrendous things I had
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never heard about before. The school
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district suspended her from her teaching
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position with pay. If convicted, she
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could serve 5 years in jail. After
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Noraki's arrest, the letters, threats,
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and mailings stopped. Noraki maintained
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her innocence and hired both an attorney
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and private investigator to help. The
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investigator was a former state
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policeman, and even he admitted that
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Paula's situation did not look good. My
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first thought was, well, she's probably
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guilty. It it just looked overwhelming
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when you looked at the at at the whole
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complaint.
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>> The FBI found some partial fingerprints
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on the threatening letters, but they did
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not match Paula or Rocky's. The defense
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team wanted to see if any DNA was
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present on the threatening letters. The
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prosecutor would allow DNA testing by
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the defense only if the results were
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fully disclosed, regardless of the
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outcome. Paula's defense team wanted to
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make sure she understood the
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ramifications of such an agreement.
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>> He asked, "Would there be any possible
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reason that any of my DNA should be on
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any of it, any possibility whatsoever?"
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And I I said, "No,
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>> Paula, if we do this testing and your
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DNA is found on these stamps or or
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envelope flaps, your chances you're
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going to jail."
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>> The cost of the DNA testing,
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approximately $7,000, would have to be
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paid by Paula Noraki. Blood samples from
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both Paula and her husband were sent to
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a local DNA lab along with the
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threatening letters and the envelopes.
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The amount of DNA that would wind up on
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the back of a stamp or an envelope flap
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depends on how hard you lick the
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envelope, how much cells that you shed
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from the inside of your mouth. They're
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variables that it's hard to predict
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exactly what the value would be, but it
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is there. In some cases, there's more
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DNA than others.
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>> First, scientists use steam to gently
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remove the stamps from the envelopes.
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The back of each stamp and envelope flap
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was swabbed for epithelial cells which
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come from saliva.
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DNA was found on the back of one set of
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stamps and on one envelope flap. The
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number of cells recovered was so small
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that forensic scientists performed a
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process called polymerase chain reaction
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or PCR which amplifies or copies the DNA
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in those few cells to make enough for
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testing.
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>> What we're looking for to see is how
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does um this DNA that we've extracted
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compared to somebody else's DNA. Now, if
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the DNA is from a similar source, you'll
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get the same pattern of blue dots on a
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white strip.
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>> This is the genetic profile of the
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individual who licked the stamps. When
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the DNA profile of Paula Rocki and her
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husband were compared to the DNA from
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the back of the stamps,
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there was no match.
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>> For example, Paula Rocki has two dots
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here and um the DNA from the back of the
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post stamp only has one. So therefore,
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right away we can exclude Paul and Iraqi
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with just this one genetic marker. We
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looked at five different genetic markers
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and four out of five can exclude Paula
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Iraqi.
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>> DNA was found and it did not match Paula
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and it did not match Len Moraki
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which meant that someone licked that
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those stamps and it wasn't Leonard Paul.
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>> We thought it was going to blow apart
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the whole case. We thought we thought we
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were done.
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>> Now armed with the DNA profile of the
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stalker, the manhunt had just begun.
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[Music]
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When DNA testing of the stamps and
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envelope flap did not match Paul Rocky
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or her husband, the defense team went
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one step further. They wanted to find
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the individual whose DNA was on the
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threatening letters.
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>> If Paula didn't do it, there's only one
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other person that could have done it
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because there's only one other person
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that knew the circumstances of all these
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letters that knew everything that was
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going on. That was Joan Chambers.
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>> Was it possible that the alleged victim
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wrote the threatening letters and mailed
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them to herself?
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The defense uncovered some information
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which pointed in that very direction.
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Police in the neighboring town of
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Carbondale, Pennsylvania, told defense
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investigators that Chambers had a
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history of reporting suspicious
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incidents from burglaries to fires.
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>> They said every crime that she's been a
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victim of is has some weirdness attached
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to it.
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and just off the top of their heads,
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they started relating different uh
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crimes that supposedly she's been a
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victim of. When Anderson researched
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Chambers employment history, he learned
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that Chambers reported similar
00:15:46
threatening letters and also reported
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finding feces on her classroom chair
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while in another school district years
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earlier. To find out if it was Joanne
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Chambers DNA on the threatening letters,
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Jim Anderson needed her DNA profile. For
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that, he looked in her trash. Once trash
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is placed at the curbside, the owner
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gives up all legal rights to what's
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inside.
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>> One plastic drinking straw,
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one used
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looks like toilet tissue. Plastic
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straws, used tissues, and a cotton swab
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with ear wax. All items with possible
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genetic material were sent to the DNA
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lab for testing. Dr. Liken Walner
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identified two different DNA profiles
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from the mucus, saliva, and ear wax
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samples from the chamber's trash.
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>> The DNA from the uh one of the household
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members was similar to the uh DNA on the
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back of the stamps in the envelope. With
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these DNA results, the defense team
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demanded that all charges against Paul
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and Oraki be dropped. The prosecution
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refused and Joanne Chambers provided a
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blood sample for further DNA testing.
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Once again, Joanne Chambers blood DNA
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matched the DNA from the stamps and the
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envelope flap. You can see how all five
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genetic markers line up perfectly
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between the DNA of Joanne Chambers and
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the DNA from the back of the postage
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stamps. The odds of someone in the
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random US population having the same
00:17:28
combination of five genotypes tested was
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1 in4,925.
00:17:36
>> The match was fairly significant in
00:17:38
that, you know, that's a small community
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there. So, it's unlikely that too many
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people are going to be walking around
00:17:45
with a similar DNA pattern.
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>> Despite this second DNA test, the
00:17:50
prosecution refused once again to drop
00:17:52
their case against Paul and Iraqi.
00:17:55
During the trial, the prosecution
00:17:58
presented the circumstantial evidence
00:18:00
against Paula Norraki, including the
00:18:03
coffee cup incident and the Colonel
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Clink reference in one of the
00:18:07
threatening letters. For the defense,
00:18:10
teachers from Joanne Chambers former
00:18:12
school district testified that she made
00:18:15
similar claims of harassment years
00:18:17
earlier. But it was the DNA evidence
00:18:21
that stunned most courtroom observers.
00:18:24
The DNA was definitely a bombshell. Um,
00:18:28
to hear that uh Joanne 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.
00:18:42
>> But on the witness stand under oath,
00:18:45
Joanne Chambers had an explanation. She
00:18:48
said the prosecutor left her alone with
00:18:51
the evidence and the stamps fell off one
00:18:53
of the envelopes. She said she licked
00:18:56
the stamps to reattach them and when
00:18:58
that didn't work, used a glue stick.
00:19:00
>> At the very least, she showed poor
00:19:03
judgment and at the most she tampered
00:19:05
with uh important evidence.
00:19:07
>> Dr. Liken Walner testified that she saw
00:19:11
no 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
00:19:20
experience distinguishing glue stick
00:19:22
residue from regular stamp adhesive.
00:19:25
>> I 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 it looked just like
00:19:32
that. There was no outward evidence that
00:19:35
a glue stick had been used.
00:19:36
>> The trial lasted 5 days, and it took the
00:19:40
jury less than 2 hours to reach a
00:19:43
verdict.
00:19:45
They found Paula Nor Rocky not guilty.
00:19:50
>> Reaction after the verdict was the most
00:19:51
amazing thing I've ever seen. The
00:19:53
alleged victim was being treated as the
00:19:55
defendant and the defendant was being
00:19:57
treated as the victim. In the hallway,
00:20:00
jurors sought out Paulie and hugged her
00:20:03
and told her how much they loved her
00:20:05
while Joanne Chambers left the
00:20:06
courthouse uh virtually ignored. Joanne
00:20:10
Chambers denies that she created the
00:20:13
campaign of threats against her.
00:20:15
>> I could never ever do this stuff to
00:20:19
myself. I don't think that I could be
00:20:23
functioning
00:20:25
in a world as a parent, as a teacher, as
00:20:27
a wife.
00:20:29
If I were that sick to do that to
00:20:32
myself,
00:20:33
>> I think Joanne Chambers did it 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
Joanne.
00:20:46
>> I hope the lesson that people could
00:20:47
learn from this is that you really are
00:20:50
supposed to be innocent until proven
00:20:52
guilty and you aren't supposed to be
00:20:54
guilty until proven innocent.
00:20:55
>> I've never seen anything like this. And
00:20:58
if I cover cases for another 40 years, I
00:21:00
think I'll give you that same answer
00:21:02
still.
00:21:03
[Music]
00:21:25
No,
00:21:28
[Music]
00:21:31
one Heat. Heat.
00:21:33
[Music]
00:21:44
[Applause]
00:21:48
[Music]
