Many jurors sat stone-faced as they listened to Joan Porco's testimony, which included anecdotes about her boys' childhoods that made some jurors laugh, along with Christopher. Both parents wrote emails to Christopher discussing their concerns. . Joan Porco Several days following Bowdish's testimony, Chris' mother took the stand. Joan Porco could not communicate for a period of time after surgery because her jaw was wired shut and she was fed through a feeding tube. He was also a troubled young man with a pension for burglarizing and lying. According to the court opinion, Lifetime had . Thats all for this weeks post, but Id like to continue next Thursday with a look at some of the other interesting parts of the Christopher Porco drama, including the way hisdoomed father woke up after the attack, the conflicting tales about whether Christopher deserved the Romeo Killer nickname a made-for-TV movie gave him, and his recent efforts to exithis maximum-security residence. [4] He returned to Delmar that evening. After the trial, jurors commented that this testimony helped to explain the fact that police did not find blood in Porco's vehicle after the attack. In one case, authorities said, Christopher allegedly posed as Johnathan and told a purchaser that the sale could not be honored because his brother had died. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) Christopher Porco escorts his mother Joan Porco from the Orange County Courthouse in Goshen at lunch during the third day of jury selection on Wednesday June 28, 2006. A True Crime Blog of People Behaving Badly. We were angry disappointed. The defense believes that, combined with Joan Porcos mental state immediately after the injuries when paramedics began treatment, make it impossible for her to know who committed the crime. He will be eligible for parole in 2052. His wife Joan Porco (ne Balzano), a children's speech pathologist, was discovered lying in the couple's blood-drenched bed with severe head trauma; she survived with loss of one eye and part of her skull, and severe facial disfigurement. However, an extensive amount of blood was strewn across the home including the walls and doorways. Porco has served his time in silence, offering little insight into what his life behind bars has been like. [20] She also answered in similar ways to other separate questions. [17] The police theory was that he drove more than three hours to Albany in early hours of November 15 to attack his parents. Police couldnt find any New York State ThruwayE-ZPass data on the yellow Jeep, but toll booth attendantsat the cash-only lanes said they thought they remembered seeing the carwith Christopher in the drivers seat. I was surprised to read thatRomeo Killerportrayed Christopher Porco as a charming ladies man with lots of friends. But jurors interviewed by 48 Hours Mystery said that they had dismissed the testimony about the nod for precisely that reason and had insteadrelied onthe prosecutions crime timeline as proof of guilt. Photo taken of Joan Porco after the attack Photo Source: Times Union (website) The amount of forensic and circumstantial evidence was over whelming. He spent some time at his bathroom sink, loaded the dishwasher, packed a lunch, and wrote a check before collapsing at the front door. Her answers were mostly clear and lucid, although occasionally she lost her train of thought and asked attorneys to restate their questions. 1 suspect. [26] In 2013, Lifetime aired a movie entitled Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story;[27] Porco sued in an attempt to block the release of the movie. He got 50 years to life and is at theClinton Correction Facility inDannemora, New York. In December 2005, Joan Porco, badly disfigured and suffering from brain damage, gave a videotaped deposition, saying she had no memory of the attack and believed her son was innocent. [4], During the course of their investigation, authorities determined that Porco had a history of anti-social behavior that included burglarizing his parents' home. Investigators discovered more-compelling evidence against Christopher Porco. Theres evidence that Peter walked outside to get the newspaper and locked himself out of the house, but remembered the hidden key under the potted plant to get himself back in. [16] He also lied to fellow students to make it appear that he came from a wealthy family with oceanfront homes. The email's subject header was "Failing Grades-You did it again! The episode was produced in 2009, toward the end of Forensic Filesrun, anddelves into theax attack on Joan and Peter Porco, a couple from Bethlehem, New York. Theme images by, Investigating the Atlanta Child Murders of 1979 - 1981, The Murderous Assaults of Peter and Joan Porco, The Porco family in the 1980s; Christopher is on the left, Joan and Chris, heading into court together. In the yearsleading up to the assault on his mother and father, Christopher Porco had told his school friends tall tales about having a wealthyfamily with extensive real estate holdingsand vacationhomes. Judge Berry refused to allow prosecutors to use the forged transcripts as evidence in their criminal case against Christopher Porco. Joan Porco, Voorheesville, appellant pro se. What a trip. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Albert grows up thinking that his father died fighting for France in World War I. For one,someone had burglarized the Porcos house in 2002 and 2003, and Christopher was the No. Christopher Porco is a greedy and lying little shit. `You couldnt tell if she (Mrs. Porco) was asleep when injuries to her eye and skull took place, is that correct?` Shanks asked. He was sentenced to fifty years in prison. Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael P. McDermott apologized to Joan Porco before posing his first question, telling her: "I promise I'll be brief.". O Direito Humano Ao Desenvolvimento Como Proteo Coletiva Ao Superendividamento He was not. After the discovery of Peters body, Joan was found and taken to a hospital. Nine of Christophersfraternity brothersrefuted his story that he was asleep in the lounge atRochester, and a neighbor driving by the Porcos house claimed he glimpsedthe Jeep in the driveway on the night of the attacks. Before paramedics took her to the hospital, Detective Christopher Bowdish questioned her about the attacker. [15] During videotaped testimony submitted to the grand jury in December 2004, Joan testified about her family, but did not identify her son as an attacker. Unaware he is suffering from a deadly attack or that his wife is bleeding to death by his bed, Peter gets up because he has a routine to follow. I changed my toddlers diaper, got in bed. His wife Joan Porco (ne Balzano), a children's speech pathologist, was discovered lying in the couple's blood-drenched bed with severe head trauma; she survived with loss of one eye and part of her skull, and severe facial disfigurement. The two walked to court with their arms linked. Joan Porco's alleged identification of her son Christopher may explain why Bethlehem Police pursued her son soon after the incident, rather than conducting a broader investigation of potential suspects. Peering inthe front-door window,Hart saw Peters body sprawled on the floor amid a huge amount of blood. He later said he learned of the attack from a reporter. McDermott asked if she could recall anything about the attack, and about her last memory before waking up in a hospital after she'd spent several days in a coma. In March 2004, eight months before the attack, Joan and Peter Porco had learned their son was flunking his classes at Hudson Valley Community College when he was supposed to be earning high marks in order to return to the University of Rochester, which had kicked him out two months earlier for poor grades. The ax that was used on the Porcos was discovered nearby. She survived, though she lost one eye and parts of her skull, and was left with facial disfigurement. His parents never knew about the forged transcripts, and the judge in the case has refused to let prosecutors tell the jury about it. [6], Christopher Bowdish, a Bethlehem Police detective, stated that, as medical personnel attended to Joan Porco at her home, he took a moment to ask her whether she could identify her attacker. 21-year-old Christopher Porco killed his father, Peter, and badly injured his mother, Joan, on November 15, 2004 in Bethlehem, New York. Joan was lying in the bed with severe head and facial trauma. All in all, Christopher was in the hole for at least$50,000 a lot of debt, butnotinsurmountable. Blood evidence left at the scene showed that, despite having 16 major wounds to his face and head including a Horror History .net Horror History .net Change-of-venue requests are rarely granted but Terence L. Kindlon, who teamed with his wife, Laurie Shanks, to defend Porco, successfully convinced an appeals court that the trial needed to be moved from Albany County. The current status is active. That means he was standing in front of a mirror and his brain still couldn't process something was wrong. She supported her son throughout the trial. The movie depicted those events along with the trial. "[15], Porco's brother, Johnathan, testified at his trial. Porco, 23, is charged with the Nov. 15, 2004, attack that killed his father, law clerk Peter Porco, 52, and left Joan with disfigurement and partial blindness. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, Press J to jump to the feed. [23], In statements to the press and criminal proceedings, Kindlon suggested that the Bethlehem Police Department had made Christopher Porco's guilt a foregone conclusion. 4:59 a.m. Upstairs in the master bedroom, Joan Porco, then 54, a beloved speech therapist in the Schalmont school district, remained motionless in bed. Near the end of her testimony Monday, Joan Porco recounted that twice in the months preceding the attack she was scared by the presence of a stranger in the driveway, once at night and once in the day when she was outside gardening. "No," she said of her ability to remember what happened. Shanks paused often, asking Joan Porco to describe her state of mind at the time she wrote certain e-mails. Although she originally pointed out her son as the attacker, when Joan fully recovered from her injuries, she stood behind her son. Therewas more: Christopherhad sought financialadviceshortly before the ax attack. Spurgas is considered an expert witness for the prosecution because of the 7,000 surgeries he performed throughout his career, hundreds of them involving brain and spinal cord injuries. On November 15, 2004, Peter Porco, a 52-year-old state Appellate Division court clerk, was found dead of massive head injuries in his home in Delmar, New York. WTEN anchor John Gray recently interviewed Porco in prison. [18][10], Four security cameras at the University of Rochester recorded a yellow Jeep Wrangler like Porco's leaving the campus at 10:30p.m. on November 14 and returning at 8:30a.m. on November 15, this being the period during which prosecutors claim the Porcos were attacked. Wow, thanks for that detail! And the plot twist: The mother survived and was in total denial, believing her son was innocent of the charges despite the overwhelming evidence. Finally, I looked around for the latest news on Christopher Porcos efforts to get out of jail via a new trial or overturned conviction. Joan Porco was soon discovered by police officers. "Don't be a fool," Joan Porco wrote to him on Oct. 20, 2004. Blood evidence left at the scene showed that, despite having 16 major wounds to his face and head including a penetration wound to his brain and the removal of part of his jaw, Peter continued about his morning routines as normal. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Case 187: Peter & Joan Porco 21,138 views Sep 4, 2021 505 Dislike Share Save Casefile Presents 54.3K subscribers DESCRIPTION In the early hours of Monday, November 15 2004, husband and wife Peter. Anyway, after I fell and was knocked out, I woke up and vaguely recall obsessing over whether I should clean up the blood first or pick up the ladder first. Oh and this murder which is where the worst repercussions of spoiling end up. The darkest aspects of humanlifeandnature. [7], Professor Frank Perri has argued that police interviews with Christopher Porco were seriously flawed because police questioning procedures seemingly failed to account for Porco's probable psychopathy. I avoid that task WITHOUT the excuse of a head injury. Still, there were many other issues, including Christopher's unpaid bills, that caused the couple great concern in the months preceding the attack. Hell beeligible for parole in the year 2052. Peter Porco was murdered, his wife left for dead. In other words, Peter Porcos fleetingtransformation into a real-world ghost washaunting but not particularly mysterious. When I woke up finally from the coma, I did not understand that just because I thought something didnt mean the nurses could hear me. But Frankie wasin jail specifically because he refusedto cooperate,so that theory evaporated. Phone line cut (this was 2004, when land lines were relevant) He notedthat there were no lights on Brockley Street, where the Porcos lived, castingsome doubt on aneighbors account of spotting Christophers yellow Jeep in the driveway the night of the ax attack. She suffered disfiguring injuries to her head and face, including the loss of an eye, and slight damage to her brain. `She would have died if injuries were left untreated,` said Spurgas under questioning by Albany County Assistant District Attorney and Chief Prosecutor Michael McDermott. [20], Christopher Porco is incarcerated at Clinton Correctional Facility. His legs are dangling off the end of the landing. The lawyeralso noted that Peter Porco sometimes deactivated the burglar alarm whenletting the dog out at night and then forgot to turn it back on another challenge to the prosecutions assertionthat Christopher punched in the code the night of the murder and attempted murder. On 15 November 2004, Joan and Peter Porco had been found seemingly murdered. His appeals have been exhausted. He was able to remember the location of the spare key and made it back inside. [1] His wife Joan Porco (ne Balzano), a children's speech pathologist,[1] was discovered lying in the couple's blood-drenched bed with severe head trauma; she survived the attack, but lost one eye and part of her skull and suffered severe facial disfigurement. Joan would lose her left eye and a portion of her skull. By September, the relationship was growing more troubled and she confronted him after learning he'd apparently used a Mobil gasoline credit card she'd given him for emergencies to buy snacks. He walked into the kitchen, packed a lunch, signed a cheque to cover his sons parking tickets and attempted to unload the dishwasher. In 2005, Bethlehem Police detectives traveled to San Diego, California, to retrieve a laptop computer that Christopher Porco had stolen from his parents in a break-in on July 21, 2003.
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