11x31 - Muffled Cries

[bunniefuu]

An insurance adjuster
disappeared while inspecting

property damage
after a severe storm.

The water currents of a nearby
river provided some answers.

And the forensic evidence on
a motorcycle part and bank

envelope explained the motive.

In the summer of


in Florida within six weeks
causing more than $1 billion

worth of damage.

Thousands were left homeless.

A lot of people
had a lot of hurricane damage.

I mean for months,
and months, and months

after the storms hit, you
could see blue tarps on roofs

throughout the state of Florida.

All across the state,
insurance companies dispatched

their adjusters to
assess the damage claims.

One of them was 25-year-old
Katie Froeschle.

It was her first job after
graduating from college.

We got hit with
the first, and then the second,

and the third, and then
the fourth hurricane

in such a short time.

They were absolutely
overwhelmed.

One Friday night,
after a grueling week of work,

Katie was supposed to
meet a group of friends

at a local restaurant.

But she never showed up.

In fact, none of her
family and friends

heard from her all weekend.

My wife just
kept calling Kate periodically,

and saying she can't
get hold of her

and she just doesn't
understand where she could be.

She had had
a four year relationship

with a guy, and had
broken up with him,

and was living independently.

And for the first
time in her life

was making her own decisions.

Katie's best friend, Amy,

had a key to Katie's apartment
and let herself inside.

Everything was in perfect
order, although the cat

hadn't been fed.

- And Katie wasn't there.
- She knew.

She knew something
was really wrong.

And so she called and she said
I don't want to alarm you,

but I'm worried about Katie.

I don't know where she
is, and I can't find her.

Police put out a bulletin

for Katie's car, a maroon
colored Chevy Impala.

Katie's employer said her last
appointment on Friday afternoon

was to check on an insurance
claim of a leaking roof

at a home in Tampa,
Sulphur Springs section.

I knew the
kind of neighborhood it was.

It was an extremely
bad neighborhood.

Katie, for some reason,

was having trouble finding it.

And Amy was back at the
office, on I think, Map Quest,

and was directing
Katie to the property.

According
to Katie's co-worker,

she finally found the property.

Someone walks up.

She goes oh I think
I found it, someone's

walking up to the car.

I'll talk to you later.

And that's
the last anyone talked to her.

Katie's parents drove out

to the home at 1503
Mulberry Street,

and spoke to the occupants,
Jason Funk and Pamela Hintz

A young couple
who had just moved

into the rental property
three days earlier.

We moved in, and
now we have strangers knocking

on our door asking hey have you
seen Katrina Froeschle here?

And then people asking well
have you seen an insurance car?

Jason and Pamela told
the Froeschle's they didn't see

Katie on Friday because
they weren't there.

And there was something else.

They said there was no leak
in the roof that they knew of.

And that the landlord
said nothing to them

about an insurance adjuster
coming by to look at it.

Just a mile away, in the
parking lot of the local bar,

Katie's parents found
her abandoned car

and called police.

It was unlocked, with
Katie's keys still inside.

My first thought
was she was in the trunk.

You wanted them to open it,

but you didn't want
it... to open it.

You just didn't.

When they opened that trunk,

it was dead silence.

In the locked trunk
of Katie Froeschle's car,

investigators feared that
they'd find her body.

But they did not.

The only thing there
was Katie's purse.

Her money and credit
cards were missing.

You were relieved

because she wasn't just there.

But she wasn't there, so
you were still looking

and you didn't
know where to look.

Forensic scientists searched

for evidence inside the car.

They didn't find any
blood or fingerprints,

but they did find skin
cells on the steering wheel.

Swabbings from the
steering wheel of Katie's car

were submitted to
the laboratory,

and DNA testing was
performed on these samples.

We found a mixture of DNA of
at least two contributors.

One was Katie Froeschle's.

The other DNA profile was
presumably the k*ller's.

Other than an empty bank
envelope inside the car,

investigators
found nothing else.

It was obvious,
whatever happened to Katie,

didn't happen
inside of that car.

Police interviewed
residents and workers

in the area.

And found a janitor who
said a man left the car

in the parking lot
the day before.

- A
- witness had seen

a white male, approximately
six foot two, six foot three,

walking away from the car.

He had driven the car up,

and had gotten out of the car,
and had started walking away,

and had just dropped the keys
in the car and left it unlocked.

Investigators searched
the area between Katie's

last scheduled appointment and
where her car was discovered,

roughly a mile away.

On a hunch, Detective
Massucci searched the shores

of the Hillsborough River,
and eventually got a break.

As I was scanning the water

with my flashlight, I
caught a glimpse of white,

and I went back to it.

And it took me several minutes
to recognize what it was,

but eventually it appeared
to me to be a bra.

I could see a little
bit of a bra strap.

I realized that we
were beyond red flags,

that we have something
potentially tragic here.

Soon, everyone's
worst fears were confirmed.

It was Katie Froeschle.

I just fell down.

I remember just like somebody
punched me in the stomach.

I just doubled up and just
fell down to the ground.

I just couldn't believe it.

She had been in the water

for approximately 30 hours.

It appeared that she'd also
been sexually assaulted.

This doesn't
happen to people like us.

This happens to other people.

We read about in the papers,
we see about it on TV,

but this doesn't happen to us.

The autopsy
revealed blunt force injuries

to the back of Katie's head.

It was very apparent

that this was not a drowning.

But in fact she was
probably m*rder*d

and then put into the water.

There certainly
remains the possibility

that she might have been alive
when she was put in the water.

I don't know that
that can be ruled out.

But the medical examiner

found distinct marks
on Katie's skull.

Marks known as pattern injuries.

There was a mark left behind

by the w*apon that was
very characteristics.

There was a circular
mark that was


think how big it was.

The medical
examiner told investigators

that the wounds might be
matched to the m*rder w*apon,

if it could be found.

If you detect a pattern injury,

and then you could in fact,
find the w*apon, that's

a huge help to
the investigation.

A r*pe test
kit was inconclusive.

Investigators' next task was to
find out how far Katie's body

traveled in the Hillsborough
River before police found her.

This could potentially
identify the crime scene.

It's a relatively
simple formula.

From the length of time
a body's in the water,

you can figure out the
distance the body travelled,

if you know the speed
of the currents.

Investigators got a huge
break when they learned

there was a dam a
few miles upstream.

When it opens, it significantly
increases the water current.

In the 28
hour period between the time

we believe Katie was
put into the river,

to the time I found her, the
dams had been closed off.

That meant that
Katie's body entered the river,

pretty much where she was found.

From the moment Katie
Froeschle's body

was found in the
Hillsborough River,

police considered the home
at 1503 East Mulberry Street

as a possible crime scene.

It was just 100 feet from where
Katie's body was discovered.

The young couple living there
were shocked by what happened.

They insisted they weren't
home on the Friday afternoon

the m*rder took place.

These people
are oblivious to what could have

potentially happened
at their house.

You know, I'm
kind of drawing a blank

on my emotional
state at that time.

But I know I wasn't nearly as
anxious as my girlfriend is.

I'm more of a realist person.

Just whatever is going to
happen is out of my control,

out of her control.

Just relax and let
it take its course.

The home was a rental,
and it was the landlord who

told Katie's insurance company
about the leaking roof.

Taking matters
into his own hands,

Katie's father, Jeff
Froeschle, interviewed

the landlord himself.

He said
that he had sent her there,

but he had never seen
or talked to her.

And he acted, they thought,
in a suspicious manner.

But the landlord
provided an alibi.

He had a worker with him,

through the majority of
the day of the 12th, when

Katie was known to
have gone missing.

It's

It's our belief that
the landlord probably did not

tell the renters that
Katie, or anybody else,

would be coming that day.

In a search for suspects,

investigators decided to check
Katie's credit card records

to see if anyone used
them after her m*rder.

Admittedly, it was a long
shot since few criminals

are that inept.

Sure enough, they
were, at least four attempts.

And of the four
attempts, I think

one was actually successful.

And that led to a whole new
avenue of evidence for us.

Investigators
went to every location

where Katie's credit
cards had been used.

One was a grocery store,
and its surveillance video

showed a white male
about six feet tall

using Katie's debit card.

According to the
clerk, the customer

said the card belonged
to his girlfriend.

But instead of signing Katie's
name, he signed his own.

It was Jason Funk.

The man renting the
home on Mulberry Street.

We were almost
shocked at his stupidity.

I can't even recollect
what he was thinking.

Or how he thought
he could get away

with something so
obviously stupid.

In Jason's
backyard, the investigators

found what looked
like a fire pit.

There they found burnt hunks of
carpet and a burnt belt buckle.

It most certainly
was consistent with style

and the size belt
that Katie would

have had on that particular day.

Investigators
moved inside the house.

They noticed what looked
like a blood stain

on the rear door frame.

And on the living room ceiling,
there was blood spatter.

And the realization that

hit me, as I was
doing that, was I

really felt I was standing
exactly in the spot where Katie

Froeschle had died in order
for that blood to get up there.

Investigators also
found a prepaid highway toll

device with the serial
number registered to Katie,

and her business card was
on a shelf above the oven.

And then you're
claiming you've never met her

before, you've never
seen her before.

And her business card
is in your house.

I mean, its almost like
leaving bread crumbs,

I mean for heaven's sakes.

Finally, investigators
took the medical examiner's

advice, and looked for
an item in the home that

could have been
the m*rder w*apon.

And in the living
room, they found it.

A four foot long
motorcycle muffler.

It was sanitized to
the point there were

no discernible fingerprints and
no attainable blood evidence.

On the end of the muffler, was
a circular mounting bracket.

You would
use this mounting bracket

to attach the muffler
onto a motorcycle.

The mounting
bracket was measured, and then

laid over photographs
of Katie's fatal wounds.

The round outer
edge of the bracket

was the exact size of the blunt
force injuries on Katie's head.

The circular
portion on the muffler,

was the exact same size as
the injury on her scalp,

and gave a lot of credibility
to that being the m*rder w*apon.

And during the interrogation,

detectives noticed something
on Jason's Nike sneakers.

When detectives were
actually interviewing Funk,

they noticed what appeared to
be blood droplets on his Nike's.

A presumptive test
indicated this was human blood.

Then investigators remembered
the bank envelop found

in Katie's car, so they sprayed
it with the chemical Ninhydrin,

which revealed an almost
perfect set of prints.

Katie's fingerprints
were on the envelope,

and so we're Jason Funk's.

That told us,
scientifically, the Jason Funk

had been in Katrina
Froeschle's vehicle.

Jason Funk continued to deny

he was in any way involved.

He claimed he was on
a jet ski in the river

at the time of the m*rder.

If I would
have been home that day,

instead of out on my
jet ski, who's to say

I couldn't have prevented this
whole thing from happening.

There's
nothing... no part of my life

that hasn't been
touched by losing her.

Nothing.

Work, vacations, sports,
fun, leisure time.

It leaves a huge
hole in your life.

And Katie was such a bright
happy hard headed sweetheart.

Just irreplaceable.

They all are, but
she was for me.

Prosecutors said
they had conclusive proof

that Jason Funk m*rder*d
Katie Froeschle.

As for motive, Jason
had prior convictions

for assaulting women.

And two days before Katie's
m*rder, Jason had lost his job.

They were having money problems.

They had spent most
of their savings

on the security deposit
for this residence.

So I think he was
motivated by greed.

That's my belief.

Investigators know
that Katie arrived at Funk's

home, because she told
her coworker on the phone

that she found it.

They believe it was
Jason who approached her.

When she went inside to
inspect the roof damage,

Jason was home alone.

His girlfriend,
Pam, was at work.

Prosecutors think Jason might
have made a sexual advance.

No one knows.

What the evidence shows, is
that he picked up the motorcycle

muffler and struck Katie
on the back of her head.

This left the blood
spatter on the ceiling,

and on his sneakers.

As he exited the
house with the body,

Katie's blood stained
the back door frame.

The house was concealed enough
that Jason could dump the body

in the river without being seen.

He abandoned Katie's
car near a bar a mile

away, handled the bank
envelope looking for money,

and took her cash
and credit cards.

He burned the bloodstained
living room carpet, and Katie's

clothing, in order to
remove the evidence.

He also cleaned
the m*rder w*apon.

But he left so much
other evidence,

his efforts were
hardly worth it.

Using her credit card,
and signing his own name

was a classic.

She was,
absolutely, at the wrong place

at the wrong time, and
fell victim to something

that she should never
have been victim of.

When you hear
about cases like this,

you want to think...
Personally, I

want to think the
best of everyone.

But it's difficult
sometimes to do that when

you see these things
that have happened.

Six months after the m*rder,

the forensic lab
finished the DNA testing.

The blood in Jason's
home and on his

sneakers was Katie Froeschle's.

The skin cells on
the steering wheel

of Katie's car were Jason's.

We put a piece of the puzzle

together for the agency.

We were able to match DNA from
the victim, to the crime scene.

We were able to match
the DNA from the victim

to the perpetrators clothing.

Faced with a
possible death sentence,

Jason Funk agreed to plead
guilty to the m*rder.

And in return, was given a
life sentence without parole.

I think it's
a tragedy all the way around.

It's a tragedy for him.

It's a tragedy for our daughter.

And a tragedy for
us and his family.

Jason Funk still maintains

he had nothing to
do with the m*rder.

He claims he only plead guilty
to avoid the death sentence.

But forensic evidence
says otherwise.

The forensics in this case,

it was key to bringing
the m*rder*r to justice.

They all did just
a tremendous job.

We are forever grateful
for the job that they did.

His denial of it was steadfast
throughout the whole thing,

and I don't believe
without forensics... I'm not

sure we would have
been able to convict