True Crime with Kimbyr - Mom of 3 Murdered on Hiking Trail in Broad Daylight! The Case of Kathleen Loreck

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

On this episode of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha delves into the eerie parallels between the recent murder of Rachel Morin and a past unsolved case that took place on a popular trail. Both women, vibrant and active, vanished during routine activities. What started as an ordinary day for Kathleen iello turned into a nightmare, leaving only chilling clues. Join us as we explore these cases, shedding light on their frightening similarities and the mystery that continues to haunt investigators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever had that feeling when you're in the shower? You're singing alone to your favorite song, and you just close your eyes and let the water run all over you. And you get tangles down your spine because you feel like someone may be watching. And you think to yourself, don't be silly, I've probably been listening to way too much true crime. But then you think, if there was someone there, maybe they're waiting for the moment that you close your eyes

and become completely vulnerable. It's the same feeling you get when you're on a run and you've got music going through your headphones and you're just losing yourself to the rhythm of the beat and the stomping of your feet against the pavement. You suddenly feel like there's another presence close by or there's someone watching you from the shadowy woods waiting to snatch you up.

Most of the time, these moments of crippling fear are short-lived or we shrugged them off as being irrational or unrealistic. What if one day what you feared the most became a reality? What if the imagined danger stepped out from the shadows and revealed itself? Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel. My name is Kimberlya. If you've never been here before, nice to finally meet you. If you read the title of this video, then you probably know a little more than you usually

do about what's going to go on in this case. There's a lot more to it than a mother of three going missing after walking on a trail. But if this sounds familiar, you may have heard about the Rachel Morin murder. That just happened on August 5th, 2023, just this month. And I don't cover unsolved cases for obvious reasons. The killers are still out there. This is real life. But coincidentally, as I was in the middle of researching this case a couple weeks ago, Rachel

Morin was reported missing after telling her boyfriend that she was going to take a run on a popular trail that she frequented on a regular basis. She never came home. And while that case is still unfolding, I have been so much. stunned at how eerily similar these two cases are. It's almost like watching this case play out years later. I don't want to confuse you, but I am going to be talking about both of the cases. I'm not going to be going into the Rachel Moran case because, like I said, it's unsolved. But since there are so many very odd similarities, it will be weaved in. I don't want any of you

to get confused. I think I do a pretty good job of mapping everything out. But I just could not believe it. And I don't want to say too much right now, but if you haven't heard about Rachel She's ongoing case. She's a mother of five who was found murdered on the Ma'paw Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland. DNA was left behind, though at this point police haven't said, what type, we can only assume, but it has been recently matched to another case

all the way here in Los Angeles. However, even though the two profiles match, the suspect is not currently in the system. Therefore, they don't know who it is. And I'm sure genetic genealogy could help, but for now, they've released a few very confusing video of who they say is the same man that attacked a young girl here in LA, and on this ring doorbell footage, we see him leaving this home invasion. Oddly, you can see a

person's arm shutting the door behind him. Presumably that is the teenage victim. Now, this is the only thing the police have right now to identify this man. They believe he's in his late or mid-20s, he's 5'9, about 160 pounds of muscular build and of Hispanic descent. I think they're going to find this guy. This was a very violent crime and so is the one that I'm about to talk about today. One that could easily happen to any of us and those are the ones that scare me the most. It's a story that confirms that nightmares can in the blink of an eye become a living, breathing reality. Finally, I want to introduce you to the subject of our case today. Kathleen Luis Ayello, who everyone called Kathy. She was born on August 9th, 1953, a new Mexican,

to parents Paul and Helga. Kathy had two sisters, Loretta and Serena, and three brothers, William, Leo, and Joseph. This was one of those rare occasions where I couldn't find much information about Kathy's childhood and her upbringing, but it seems like her family eventually made their way out to Antioch, California. Now, Kathy met Jeffrey Lyon in the 70s, and by the time she was 23, the couple were married and having their first child together. Michael was born June of 1976. Four years later, Eric came along in December of 1980, and then the baby of the family. Marissa was born three years later in August of 1983. Ultimately, after raising their children together, Kathy and Jeffrey couldn't make it work between the two of them.

And after a very difficult divorce, which was finalized in 1997, Kathy was the single mom of three kids. Michael was 21, Eric was 17, and Marissa was only 14 at the time, but it was for the best. Kathy's friend said she was always outgoing and fun, but after the divorce was finalized, it's like she lit up. She became even more vibrant, vivacious, and spontaneous. She was revived and refreshed and living in California with her three children. By the year 2000, Kathy took a job as an executive assistant to Gerald Braswell, the general manager for a company called Sistron Donner, and it was about 20 minutes away in Concord. She was in Antioch at the time. And they specialize in developing sensors and encoding equipment for military and the automotive market.

Basically, they make products that provide guidance, navigation, and location solutions. Sistron Donner products are used in business aircraft, fighter jets, and even the Mars rover. All of this to say, they make very important parts for planes and other aerospace systems. So a pretty large and successful company that Kathy was working for, and she was excited. She had started a new chapter in her life. She had this new job, she was dating again, and she was a very attractive woman. She was blonde. She had the almond-shaped eye.

She was in shape, active. And many people who were friends and coworkers of hers said that even though Kathy was in her 40s, her personality and her attitude made her look much younger like she was only in her 30s. Kathy was a people person, which made her great at her job. Being helpful, organized, and a hard worker were qualities that made Kathy stand out at her workplace. And while working at Sistron, Kathy was introduced to the son of one of her co-workers. His name is Johannes Lurik. He was from Austria and the two of them just hit it off.

He made her feel like she could be herself and he accepted her for who she was and her three children. And they began a long-distance relationship with him out in Austria. But they planned getaways together whenever they both had the time. And Kathy loved to see and experience the world. Whether it was by air or by sea, she even loved sailing because she had a deep connection with the ocean. She clearly had an adventurous spirit, and her love for new experiences was perfect for Johannes because he liked that too. They went skiing together. They would travel. Having a nice romantic dinner was what they loved the most or a glass of wine together. But in the beginning of the

year 2003, Kathy and Johannes went on a skiing trip to the Swiss Alps. During that trip, while they were at Lake Munsee, surrounded by lush greens and deep blues of Switzerland, Johannes got down on one knee and asked Kathy to be his wife. They were very excited about spending their lives together. So just weeks later, Johannes made his way to the States, and the couple said their idos. Even though they had gotten married in the States, they didn't have a plan to live in the U.S. permanently.

Kathy was planning on heading over to Austria to live with her new husband, and they were going to be reunited for good. And why not? She had raised her children into independent young adults, and they were supportive of her and Johannes' relationship. Everyone who knew Kathy wanted her to be happy, and she truly seemed to be getting there in her marriage with Johannes. Kathy had been unlucky in love before, and this was her shot to have a happy ending. Everything that she dreamed about, her chance to live a full life of love and adventure.

And it's no surprise that Johannes fell in love with Kathy. She had a knack for putting people at ease and making them feel special. Perhaps that's why her job as an executive assistant at Sistron Donner suited her so well. Her boss described Kathy as being sincere. And if you are an avid, true crime content consumer, which I'm sure you are, then you've probably heard the typical way people describe someone that they have lost.

Things like her smile could light up the room or she loved life or to know her was to love her. And I'm sure all of those things are true. But I think because we've heard them so many times before, they become default ways to remember someone in such a traumatic time. But describing someone as sincere, like Gerald did with Kathy is not heard of that often.

And it's a comment which truly reflects Kathy's character. Her boss remembers that she always wanted to know if there was anything she could do to help you, not because she was trying to just fulfill her job description, but because she genuinely cared about your well-being. However, as great as she was at serving others, everyone needs a break. So every weekday at Cistron around noon,

Kathy would take off her heels and put on her walk, and head out to walk on a trail which was close to her workplace. It is perfect. It's called the Contra Costa Canal Trail and it winds through Concord and other residential neighborhoods for 13 and a half miles. Now Concord, California, I don't think I've spoke about this area before. It's a city in Contra Costa County. It's located in the East Bay region of San Francisco and it's a suburb of Oakland. It's 30 miles east of San Francisco and I mentioned it's about 20 minutes away from where Kathy lived. Now, Sistron was located in a pretty residential area, even though there are businesses

and other industrial companies in that vicinity. But as you can see on this map, lots of homes in this area. It's a beautiful city. The weather is great. It's usually in the 80s and sunny. It hardly rains here in California. But of course, today we're expecting a lot of rain from Hurricane Hillary, which is now a tropical storm. It's our first tropical storm warning ever. But Concord is great. It's great for outdoor activities, like taking a bike ride, walking, running on the trail. I just mentioned, the Contra Costa Canal Trail. And here's Kathy's office. Look at where the trail opening is right here beyond the parking lot.

Very convenient. So you know why she liked taking these afternoon lunch breaks where she could just walk. But she also did because this gave her a chance to call her new husband and talk for about an hour and work out at the same time. Johannes was nine hours ahead. So at noon, it would be 9 p.m. his time. It was still early enough to connect with Kathy before heading to bed. So this was their everyday routine. She had just gotten married two months before this to the love of her life. So this distance was hard, but they were truly in love and this was one of the ways that kept that spark alive. Their daily phone calls, they look forward to them every day. So on the afternoon of Tuesday the 13th of May, around 1240 p.m., Kathy's coworkers watched her as she slipped on her shoes and walked out the door, just like she had done so many times before.

Now, because of the recent case I told you about Rachel Morin, which is not related, but I've been seeing a lot of comments because of that case being unsolved right now, talking about women walking on trails. And there are different perspectives. Some people will bluntly just say they think walking alone on a trail is unsafe for any woman, but they make sure to emphasize that it is particularly dangerous for an attractive woman or a woman in shape or women who look like Rachel Morin or Kathy, bouncing blonde hair, tan skin, tight clothing. But then there's another perspective that people take that say women should not have to worry

that they're going to end up dead because they wanted to get some exercise or get out in nature, even if they are alone. And don't you wear fitness clothes to be active? And I see both points. I think because of cases like this one and Rachel's, There's something to be said about being a woman alone on a trail. When you think of a trail where a woman's going to be at risk of going missing or being attacked, you might imagine somewhere off the beaten path, and it's at night, and it's a thick forest,

shrouded in darkness. No homes or people in sight. Somewhere an unsuspecting victim could be dragged away without anyone hearing them scream. But that's not what this trail was like in California, and it's not like the one that Rachel Marin was on in Maryland. These were high traffic areas in daylight, or at the least, it was light out. It was not a night. In this case today, Kathy chose to walk on a well-lit and popular path.

At any given time of the day, it was bustling with people. They were riding their bikes, taking their dogs on a walk. And a lot of people live right nearby this trail. You can see the homes right along the path. Here's where Kathy would enter the trail. And here's where the office is in reference. This is similar to what it may have looked like on the day that she went walking. She took the path this way.

You can see the small canal on the right, the homes and apartment buildings above on the hill, and other residences on the left. This fateful Tuesday afternoon, the trail was humming with activity. People were on their bikes, like I was saying. They were riding by, they were walking their dogs. And there were people just kind of loitering about, just taking in the sites and the views of the park or just decompressing. But along the trail, there was also a small encampment of people that were experiencing homelessness.

While some might turn up their nose at these types of people in the road. in our society because they're afraid of the dangers they might bring. Generally, this section of the trail was considered as safe as the rest of it. This is especially true during the daytime, where we expect sunlight to chase the shadows away. Some of the people that were enjoying the fresh May air that day might have noticed a beautiful woman in work clothes and running shoes walk past them. They might have noticed her wide smile or the way she giggled on the phone when she was talking to her husband.

They may have seen her walk past and thought nothing of it. After all, how many times do we walk past strangers without even giving it a second thought? It's so true. You don't think about it until later. But as Kathy was deeply engaged in her conversation with Johannes, all of a sudden, he hears a gasp or a scream, and the phone goes completely dead. He says, what's wrong? Where are you? Are you still there?

But there was no response to his questions. And Johannes, of course, confused about what had just happened. Had Kathy fallen, had her phone dropped on the floor. He tried calling her back over and over and over again. But all he heard was her phone going to a voicemail. Johannes didn't know it yet, but he would soon learn thousands of miles away that a horrific crime was taking place. It was one that would change his life forever. Eventually, after some time had passed and Kathy didn't pick up,

Johannes called her office to alert her coworkers, and by that time that he made contact with them, they were also starting to worry. Kathy followed the same schedule every single day, and she would be back in the office by that time. They had already noticed that she had not returned. So by the time they spoke with Johannes, they were looking all over for her, but she was nowhere to be found. They knew there was only one thing left to do. They hung up with Johannes and they called the Concord Police Department. This was around 3 p.m. Sometimes in these cases, there's frustration about how slowly the police department respond to cases of missing people, especially when they were an adult. However, luckily in this case, the police were on the ball. They immediately

sent out officers to the trail within minutes of that call coming in, and they started to search for the mom of three. Everyone at her work told the officer she would probably be on that trail, and they showed them where she usually walked. While officers went out on foot and motorcycles, a canine unit was dispatched to Kathy's workplace, and that canine was introduced to Kathy's sent from her work shoes. The canine led their handler towards the trail in the same direction she was known to walk. So they knew they were on the right track, but how could she have just vanished in the middle of broad daylight? Led by the trusty noses of their four-legged companions, these police officers searched along the trail in the same direction Kathy had gone. It didn't

take long for them to come across something very concerning. There on the trail was what looked to be blood. We're not talking about a light spatter. We're talking about it looked like it had formed a trail. It looked like a mop had been dipped in blood and dragged across the pavement. I have actual crime scene photos, so I'm going to show them to you. You can see the smear right behind the wheel of this motorcycle. It clearly starts on the trail and then curves towards a tree line. So they follow the trail of blood into the surrounding bushes. The officers picked their way through the underbrush until finally at 3.30 p.m., they found what they had been looking for. Evidence of Kathy and her whereabouts. First, they see a shoe lying upside down

on the fallen leaves and sticks. And to the left, there was a puddle of blood. Then straight ahead, they saw the body of a woman lying lifeless in the dirt. She was down a small incline covered in blood. This was a very bloody scene. Her clothing had been removed. You can see an animal print bra saturated in blood here on the ground. And what looks like black leggings, another shoe, and a jacket in this picture. If you zoom out, you can kind of see a trail of clothing.

The right shoe, then a jacket. And then when you go to the right, if you look closely, it looks like that much. might be a pair of jeans or a jean jacket and a left shoe up there. So it's as though someone was removing the articles one by one as they attacked Kathy. Clearly, this was a sexually motivated crime. That was very obvious to police officers. It was also a very violent crime. When the officers approached, they checked for vital signs.

And they found that despite all the odds, Kathy was still alive, but barely. She was just clinging onto life. So they immediately called EMS. The medical personnel gone on the scene within minutes, and they started to carry out life-saving efforts. Then they rushed Kathy in a very fragile state, by ambulance, to the nearby John Merrill Medical Center.

Just minutes after she was carried out of those bushes, Kathy was whisked through the halls of that hospital, while medical staff worked tirelessly in attempt to save her life. But after about an hour, She succumbed to her wounds. At 4.54 p.m., Kathleen Ielo Lurak was pronounced dead. Wow. How could this happen? It's so sad and unbelievable. It's clear from the external injuries on her body

that whatever happened to her to cause this death had been violent and painful. Her head had been smashed a number of times, too many times, for her to be able to survive. Now, switching gears, not to confuse anyone, but to go to the attack that just recently, happened on 37-year-old mom of five Rachel Moran. The details of exactly what happened or have not been released since that case is ongoing, but it is said that she too had been hit in the face until she was unrecognizable. She was also found without her clothes on, right off the ma pa trail, inside of a tunnel off the side. If you have been here a while, you know that I'm a very visual person. I like to talk about locations. I like to know exactly where everything happened.

And I wanted to just briefly tell you one of the reasons why, because maybe some of you are like me and can relate. I have what's called Afantasia, and if you're not familiar with it, it's a mental condition where I cannot visualize mental images in my head. So when I close my eyes, I see black. There's nothing there. No matter how hard I try, I can't envision anything. People with Aphantasia, they can't see images of what someone's talking about or describing or even something that I'm thinking. And you're diagnosed by going through a series of questions with your eyes closed, and it's pretty simple. simple, you actually close your eyes, try to make a mental picture of something, people and object, settings, and usually they tell you to picture a red apple. So you can do it right now, close your eyes, see the red apple.

Then they'll ask you to manipulate the item, change its color, put it somewhere else on the table, picture it on a table, then you rate how vivid that image is using a five-point scale. If you do not have a visual image, you rate your vividness as one. The rating scale is one, no image at all. And that's mine. That's all I know. And then there's two, which is dim and vague. Three would be moderately realistic. And then four would be reasonably vivid. And then there are people who can see five, which is perfectly realistic as vivid as seeing the thing right in front of them. And y'all are blessed. I'm a one and I only see darkness. So if you've ever wondered why it's so important

for me to tell these stories and to explain things in detail, this is one of the reasons. And I thought I would share this with you as you get to know me watching my videos. But for Kathy and Rachel's cases, I wanted to know exactly where these crimes took place. This right here is where I know that Kathy was found. It's in this proximity. Now, it's much more built out now, but here's what it looked like back in 2003, and what it looked like in November of 2009 when I used Google Maps. This is the end of the canal right here, and we're looking at the crime scene pictures.

It appears as though this is the area where Kathy was found, and now there are additional fences, as well as the path going down a hill to a neighborhood nearby. It would have been in this vicinity, but of course it wasn't as built out like I mentioned, so there was a lot more brush and trees providing cover for the person that carried out this attack. Here's a view from down below taken by investigators at the time Kathy was located. That hill, it really helps conceal the area of the trail where Kathy was dragged. The streaks looked like they had been bloody pieces of her hair because they think she was hit over the head, grabbed, and taken.

I found a clip from a channel called Biking with David. This is the exact area of the trail where Kathy was found. And of course, this is present day. But I still wanted to give you an example of what it looks like out there. She was walking in this area, which is considered a quieter portion of the trail, but still, to think that she was just pulled into the trees from right off this path is chilling. I estimate it's about right here where she was attacked. Now, switching to the modern day and Rachel Morin,

I wanted to take a very brief, moment to show you something. I actually asked for permission from Jonathan Lee Rich's investigates. He's following the Rachel Marin case very closely and he's allowing me to use this footage of the exact area where Rachel was found on the Ma Pa Trail. In his videos, he goes on location and for someone visual like me, it means so much to be able to see these areas so that I can truly envision what the circumstances were like in these cases. So thank you to Jonathan. And if you're like me and you want to see all the locations of where cases take place, I would suggest checking out his channel, I'll link it in the cards and below.

Here is the opening of that trail where Rachel parked and headed out. Now, there is even a criminal investigation flyer about Rachel hanging here on this bulletin board, as well as pictures of her that her friends and loved ones have left on a bunch of trees lining the trail. And I have to say, for a murder having just occurred, I was surprised at how many people were on this trail when Jonathan went out there. Now, it is a lot more dense on the trail of Rachel was on than the one that Kathy was on. And Jonathan even commented about the trail and how dense it was.

Granted, this was a week or so after Rachel had been found, but the killer is still out there. But there are police on ATVs coming through every couple of minutes, patrolling so that, you know, people feel safer. But there are even homes on this path, just like the one that Kathy was on, people living right nearby. But as you get closer to where Rachel was found, it does get very, very, remote on the path and there's a canopy of trees above and it kind of makes the trail darker. And then right off the trail there is a tunnel and that is sadly where Rachel was found, beaten and violated. So I wanted to show you this because like I said from the beginning, it's so similar in that no one's reported hearing anything in both of these women's cases.

They were just snatched right off a trail. But remember, they were hit over the head. So most likely they were hit from the back, they were ambushed, they didn't see it coming. They had their headphones on, or maybe they're looking at their phones, talking on their phones. But even if they weren't, they would be used to hearing footsteps of people on the trail with them. They wouldn't have known that someone was there to hurt them until it was too late. It was just one hard swing of something heavy, and that could at least disorient them enough to be swiftly carried away, especially if the perpetrator is bigger than them. When Kathy is admitted to the hospital, it's estimated that she was struck on the head no less than 10 times,

which caused extreme and extensive damage to her school. One of these injuries included a 13-inch skull fracture. Now, I've heard that it's more personal when someone disfigures a person like this, or they're brutally hidden in the head, that it's up close and it's personal. Well, let's talk about that, and we'll get to it in a moment. as soon as Kathy was taken to the hospital and before her ultimate demise, investigators had begun working on figuring out who the monster was that had committed this crime. They attempted to preserve the crime scene as much as they could, but it was already too late. The emergency personnel had

come there to save Kathy's life. They had rushed into that scene, and unfortunately they caused contamination. And no one can blame them. They had to do what they had to do to try to save her life. it is different when there are people that come to the scene and someone is already deceased because you can easily tiptoe around, but in an emergency situation, time is of the essence. The most important thing to medical professionals is to save the person's life without regard for what's going on around them. However, this did make the investigator's job a lot more difficult. With the announcement that Kathy had died from her injuries, the investigation into her attack

quickly became a homicide investigation. and Detective Mike Finney from the Concord PD was the lead on the case. Now, right from the outset, the police considered the sheer scale of the brutality, that this might indicate a targeted attack. Was Kathy killed by someone she knew? I said, I was going to go into that. Was this a crime of passion fueled by some prior altercation or some event? Well, that's one of the first theories in cases like this.

That someone who knew these women followed them, knew the routine, had been stalking, watching, waiting, and when they were at their most vulnerable, they attacked.