True Crime with Kimbyr - Mom of 3 Murdered on Hiking Trail in Broad Daylight! The Case of Kathleen Loreck Part 2

Episode Date: October 21, 2024

In part two of True Crime with Kimbyr, we dive deeper into Kathleen iello's tragic case, unraveling the details of her life, her new marriage, and the terrifying events leading up to her disappearance. While out on her routine midday walk along a familiar, well-traveled trail, everything seemed safe—until a sudden, chilling phone call cut short all contact. Kimbyrleigha explores the unsettling final moments of Kathleen's life and the disturbing possibility that someone had been watching her all along. Could these two cases be connected, or are they merely a haunting coincidence? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kathy's sister Serena was one of the first family members to find out about her death. And it was just unreal. When Serena called her mother Helga to tell her what happened to Kathy that she had been attacked, she's like, okay, let's get down to the hospital right now to see her. And that's when Serena had to break the news that Kathy was gone. And their mother and father were devastated. And of course, her kids, they were just broken. And I can't even begin to imagine

the shock and the pain that would come from losing your mom like this. Without any answers either, and that's what they wanted. They wanted answers. Now, Johannes, he was the one who said he heard Kathy scream. And he was, of course, distraught. No one had any idea who would do something like this. Investigators were out there on the trail right away. There was little physical evidence to be collected from the immediate area where Kathy was found.

However, forensic investigators spread out wider into the bushes to see. to see if there are any other relevant evidence that they could use and they struck gold almost immediately. Within an hour, they came across one of the most important pieces of evidence in any murder investigation, and that is the murder weapon. It turned out to be a piece of rusted fence post. It had been taken from a worn out portion of the trail fence. It was assumed whoever the killer was had broken the piece off or pulled it from the ground not long before the attack. They used something that was there on the trail, not a weapon that they brought along. And this meant they wouldn't have been a suspicious carrying an object that didn't belong

there because they didn't have to bring anything. They had used this fence post to strike Kathy over the head repeatedly. At least one of these strikes would have incapacitated her enough for the attacker to drag her into the bushes without being able to put up much of a fight at all. It makes sense that Kathy being on the phone would probably not have seen or heard anyone coming up behind her. and the fence post was covered with blood, and it was close to where the puddle of blood was found near Kathy's body.

Similarly, it was said that Rachel Morin was killed with a big rock that was also taken from the scene and used in the moment. And that is why I was so shocked at all these similarities. And they keep going. Police also walked bloodhounds through the scene. They hoped that at least some of Kathy's blood had made its way onto the attacker, and whoever that was would have left the scent for the canine. to follow. At the same time, investigators start to piece together some very important details about

Kathy's life. Most of us know that a significant portion of murders are committed by individuals that are known to the victim. This unsettling trend becomes even more pronounced when the victims are female. Women are far more likely to be killed by their current or their former partners, or a relative, or an acquaintance, than a stranger. So naturally, all murder investigations begin inward. First, you want to understand how the victim's life? and their history, which is their victimology, particularly their romantic relationships. And there were a few elements which stood out in Kathy's case, like the fact that she was a divorcee. Remember that Kathy had split from her ex-husband Jeffrey Lyon in 1997?

Well, that wasn't too long before she was brutally murdered. It wasn't an easy divorce either. Could that divorce have caused a rift big enough between both of them that it drove Jeffrey to kill her? Or maybe the news of Kathy's recent remarriage has sent him into a jealous rage. Either way, they needed to take a look into Jeffrey as their first priority. Meanwhile, people who live, work, and frequent this trail and the Concord area, they were shocked by Kathy's murder. Like, this had to be a very bold killer to do this in the middle of the day, in earshot of people living nearby.

And Cistron had over 500 employees. of them walked the same path every day. So they all gathered together for an emotional staff meeting where they had grief counselors and they were there to help them cope with the shocking news. No one had been scared to walk that path before Kathy was attacked. But now no one from the workplace was willing to even go near it. And I don't blame them. I would be the same way. And rightfully so, Kathy's boss said they've had employees walking the trail for years and years. Men, women alone, are in pairs and he said quote there's hardly ever a time when you don't see someone else on that trail and that's what makes this so unbelievable most of the people here in concord it's our home you

don't think it's going to be unsafe end quote but as much as there was information going out the police were not releasing many details about exactly what happened to kathy other than it was a very violent crime and they were offering a 10 000 reward for anyone with information that could lead to an arrest. Their message to the public was the same as the Maryland police in Rachel's recent case. Stay vigilant. Don't be distracted by your phone or music being too loud in your headphones. Visit the trail with a buddy. Let people know where you are. Share your route in your location with a loved one. Don't go at night. My grandpa who was in military intelligence when I was little would always say to check your six. And this refers to the six o'clock position. It means

look behind you or check your tail. Six is a reference to the vulnerable position where an enemy could fire. And the phase originated with World War I pilots who called the rear of the plane the 6 o'clock position. When a fighter pilot tells his wingman to check six, it means to look behind you to see if there are any threats there so you can avoid them. And it's sad that we have to do this as women,

especially when we are alone, but it's become normal to most of us. It didn't take investigators long to find answers to the questions they had about Kathy's ex-husband, Jeffrey Lyon. When they spoke to him, They found out he had a solid alibi for the time of the murder, and there was no indication that their current situation was anything other than amicable. With that, Jeffrey was cleared of suspicion in his ex-wife's murder for now. But as they say, everyone is a suspect until the killer is caught.

So if her ex-husband didn't do it, perhaps it was the new man in her life that had committed this awful act. Again, if you listen to true crime stories before or you're following the Rachel Morin case, then you know that the husband or boy's friend is guilty a lot of the time. And just like Kathy, Rachel had a new man in her life. They had just announced a relationship on Facebook days before her murder. And Kathy was a newly wed who just tied the knot with Johannes. That's where investigators are focusing on Johannes. Maybe he was like the Scott Peterson's or the Chris Watts of the world, a man that didn't want to be married anymore, but would rather see his wife in a casket than face her in divorce court. I will never understand it. But a lot of times,

it's financial. These men don't want to split their money with their ex-wife or pay child support, and other times it could even be life insurance. But maybe right now you're thinking that the chances of Johannes murdering his wife are pretty slim, because the man was miles away on a different continent and on the phone with her at the time she was attacked. However, think of it this way. He knew her schedule better than anyone else. He knew exactly where she would be and at what time. So could he have something to do with her murder? Could it have been a lot of life insurance payout or some other financial motive that Johannes may have had to hire someone to get rid of Kathy. Maybe he had made sure to be on the phone with her when she was murdered

so that he could have a rock solid alibi. Who better to vouch for you than the victim herself being on the phone with you? Her phone records would show they were talking. That's pretty smart. But when officers looked at this angle, they very quickly realized that Johannes was not very likely the one behind this murder. First of all, the weapon indicated that this attack had been one of opportunity rather than pre-planned. They thought if Johannes had planned to have his wife killed, then they probably would have used a more sophisticated weapon. Maybe they would be more of a sniper. They wouldn't want it to be able to be detected. They wouldn't have left the item at the scene. And after speaking with

officers, it was clear that Johannes was a grieving widower. He had heard the last moments of Kathy's life and he wasn't there to be able to protect her. It's unimaginable to think of the pain that Johannes must have felt in that moment to know that you're just months away from being together and two months ago you swore to love and protect them for the rest of their life and when they needed you the most you were so far away that you couldn't be there to help. Even though they just scratched off the two most likely suspects from their list investigators were not discouraged. After just a couple of hours at the crime scene they realize that a key piece of evidence

was missing. If Kathy had been on the phone with her husband when she was attacked, then where was her phone? Could the killer have taken it? If they did, then they most likely would be able to track that phone down and it would lead them to the killer. The police used GPS and they immediately got a hit. It turns out the phone was on and it was pinging from an apartment complex very close to where Kathy was found. Wow. Technology, it's making it so much easier to make these connections. This not have been possible even like five or ten years before this in 2003. The investigators thought that they were about to march into this apartment and arrest their killer. And maybe they anticipated wrapping this case up in record time and finishing off their shift for the night.

They may have felt feelings of relief that they would provide swift justice to Kathy's family. If any of those thoughts had crossed their minds, they should have known that nothing is ever that simple, especially when it comes to murder. This apartment complex was just a short five-minute drive from the the trail, it's right here on Frisbee Court. So they get a search warrant to go into this apartment building, and it doesn't take long for them to locate the person that's in possession of Kathy's phone. He's 23-year-old Juan Sanchez. And he's got some explaining to do. They may be standing right in front of their killer. But he tells police that when he was riding his bike along the path that afternoon, he came across a phone. No one was there to claim it. He looked around and just

figured, you know what, it's free for the taking. And this wasn't an iPhone, this was before iPhones, this was a flip phone, but a phone is a phone. And he felt like finders keepers, unless someone called looking for it. But this was worse because the police had come knocking on his door. They want to know the location that he found the phone, so he takes them to the exact spot. It was very close to where Kathy's body was found, only 50 feet away. So this is another piece of their puzzle. Police listen to the story, and sure, it sounded plausible.

However, they weren't going to just take it at face value. They asked him to submit a DNA sample. DNA is set to play a massive role in this case just to let you know, and it usually does. But during the attack, Kathy had been sexually violated and after her death, swabs had been taken from her body for sampling. The officer didn't know it yet, but the killer had left their DNA on her body. Getting a sample from the guy that had her phone would be a surefire way to either implicate him or exonerate him from their list of suspects.

But this isn't a fast process. It takes weeks for these DNA tests to be run. And it's still the very same day that Kathy went missing and was found dead. They made progress, but they still have to keep an eye on one in case it turns out that he's their man. There are a lot of possibilities in this case. So many different access points where someone could have entered this trail and been waiting for Kathy

or another unsuspecting woman to walk by so that they could fulfill their evil desires. And as I mentioned, there were a lot of concerns, of concerns about transient individuals without homes using portions of this trail as a place to live. Could one of them have become desperate and attacked Kathy? Unfortunately, when the crime lab tried to pull fingerprints off of the murder weapon, there were none found. At her autopsy, the manner of death was, of course, homicide, and the cause was blunt force

trauma to her head. During that autopsy, they take swabs from inside and on her body. Seminole fluid was present. We know what that means. So while investigators were out doing groundwork, lab techs were running the DNA profile. They'd take it from Kathy's body through their database, a database that at the time had about 6 million other samples recorded. Everyone was hoping the name would pop up.

But once again, their efforts to quickly close this case did not amount to much. There were no matches. So they're back at square one. And I'm continuing to mention Rachel Morin because, coincidentally, they found DNA in her body, but police haven't released what source it was. Was it semen? Was it skin underneath her fingernails? We don't know. But they too ran it in CODIS and guess what? They did get a match. However, they didn't get a name. Instead, they got an unknown assailant match, which means that the same DNA has been found on another unsolved case, but the perpetrator had not

committed a crime or been caught for a felony where the DNA would have been put in the system. Therefore, they know the two cases are connected, but they don't have to have. have a name. And I explained that in the beginning, but that's just crazy. And this just happened a few days ago. But in Kathy's case, there were no hits, not even to other crimes, nothing. So for it being so violent, it's hard to believe that a person did not have a record, which again made them believe this is probably someone she knew. Plus, when the DNA of the guy with the phone, Juan Sanchez, was run against the unknown DNA taken from Kathy, it was not a match. So he was telling the truth. He just found her phone. And he wasn't.

the killer. As the days went on and the case remained unsolved, the town grew more and more frightened that they had a madman on the loose. If such a gruesome murder could happen in broad daylight in a town like Concord, California, then was anyone ever going to be truly safe? There's always a sense of violation that's felt by a community when cases like this one occur, and even more so when the murder happens on a public path in the middle of the day. It was just one more location to add to a long list of places in the world where women don't feel safe. We're told those things like don't walk alone, don't walk at night. Make sure to go on a heavily traveled path. Well Kathy was following all those rules. She should have been

safe, but she wasn't. I mean how many of us have felt safer by jumping on the phone with someone, especially our significant other. And to think that that doesn't even deter a killer, it's scary. As detectives continued to look back through Kathy's life for signs of something off, they started to realize that she had drawn the attempt of a couple different people, and not through any fault of her own. Kathy was an incredibly beautiful, vivacious woman, and she had a zest for life.

So it would be no surprise if she had some admirers who took their obsession too far. One person that came up was an ex-boyfriend, who was actually from Germany, but happened to be in town, the day Kathy was murdered. In fact, she had met up with him a few days before she was killed.

Who knows what this was in regard to? Was she closing the first? door to that relationship because she just got married? Could she have told him about her recent nuptials? And it caused him to fly into this murderous rage? After all, it wouldn't be the first time someone has killed because of love and jealousy. It happens all the time. So detectives look into this ex-boyfriend and they have a chat about his whereabouts during the attack, but no matter how they looked at him, they couldn't quite connect him to the scene or to the murder. So what does the season detective do when every single lead falls through. They go back to good old detective work, hitting the streets,

talking to anyone who may have heard or seen something that day. On the day of the murder and in the days following, officers had walked that trail back and forth, 13 and a half miles speaking to witnesses. They also made public appeals for anyone who was walking on the trail that day to get in touch with investigators and numerous witnesses came forward saying, you know what? I saw a sketchy looking guy on the trail that day. He was acting. and kind of strange, he was gesturing to the canal and to the bushes, as if he was trying to draw people's attention to that area. One person said he was like calling out fish in the pond and telling someone that was walking by to come look. So could Kathy have stopped in response to the

stranger and been attacked? She was a nice person. Maybe they did say something to her that made her care enough about what they were pointing out that she was lured into letting her guard down. So these witnesses worked with the sketch artist, Gil Zamora, from the Concord PD and they come up with two composite sketches of the guy that was seen that day. And both of these sketches seem to show the same guy, except in one, he's wearing sunglasses on top of his head, but they look so very similar. Here they are, left and right. And they got these from different people. So they made these sketches separate and they still look the same. So they're thinking this has to be him. They released the sketches to the public alongside another appeal

for information. Off the back of that, there were hundreds of calls that came into the team. Everything from people claiming that they knew exactly who this man was to they saw him acting strangely on the trail the day of the murder. It's important to note that there was an even bigger reward being offered for any information that would lead to the arrest of Kathy's murderer. Remember how Johannes' father worked at Sistron and of course Kathy had worked there too for the last two years? Well, Sistron decided they wanted to help. So they offered a $25,000 reward and coupled with the 10,000 from the police department, this could look like a pretty big payday

for anyone with information. Police also held a press conference and Kathy's eldest son, 26-year-old Mike, spoke. He asked the public for help and described his mother as adventurous, spontaneous, and comfortable in any situation. He said, quote, she was so full of life.

She had an infectious smile and a twinkle in her eye. She made friends everywhere she went, and we will always have her in our hearts, and we know she's looking after us." Police went on to inform the public about the characteristics of the man they were looking for in these sketches. He was described as between 25 and 40 years old. That is quite a range right there, but he had a round face,

and he was between 510 and 6 feet tall, 180 to 200 pounds, medium billed with a pronounced stomach. That sounds pretty average. He was also said to have medium-length hair, brown in color, he was clean-shaven, and was seen wearing, wearing Docker-style khaki pants, a light-colored t-shirt or polo shirt with a dark-colored zip-up sweatshirt and brown sunglasses.

They were still not sure whether this was a targeted or random act. But they did believe it was an isolated incident and I was thinking, how though? How would you be thinking it's isolated if you don't even know who did it? I don't know. And of course, the leads flooded in. They got over 200 tips. So police took a closer look at the sketches and compared to the sketches. compared them to mugshots of local men that had had recent or any clear incidents of violence.

And the more they looked, the more they realized that they think they knew who this guy was. A man who was in that area on a regular basis, and he had definitely been on that trail before. This was a face of a man who was not a stranger to the inside of a jail cell either. In fact, police had arrested him multiple occasions for minor offenses, but still there was one recent arrest that had been for attacking a judge in court. as he was being tried for one of his charges. This public altercation indicated a clear escalation and a level of violence in his offenses.

The officers knew who he was, John Kaler, and they all agreed the guy in the pictures looked like him. John Henry Kaler was a 32-year-old mechanic who was suffering from some mental illness. And that had led to a number of altercations with police. He suffered from bipolar disorder and a form of schizophrenia. And this was touted as the reason

strange behavior. The thing is, John only lived just three-quarters of a mile away from the trail where Kathy was found. And on top of that, when the police had walked the bloodhounds through this crime scene, they had led them straight to the street where John lives. If you put all this together, it makes sense that this is the guy. It isn't that uncommon. Someone becomes unhinged. They take out their aggression or the desires on an individual. innocent person who just happens to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time. So after tracking down lead after lead, the police finally identified their guy. And they even called Kathy's family to let them know of the recent developments. Kathy's son Eric said that while his apprehension would have in no way

made up for the death of his mom, bringing the killer to justice would help provide some sense of closure. He said that it would have been much more painful if their family had to keep going on knowing that the person who did this to their loved one was still out there walking free. Detective Finney had called Eric and Mike Kathy's sons and let them know who their prime suspect was. Eric was in the car with his grandma, Kathy's mom, and he turned to her and he just said, they got him. I mean, look how similar he looks to that sketch. So once police are sure that they have accurately identified the man in the sketches, they organized a task force to approach John's father's house where John lives. This was just 72 hours after Kathy was murdered.

It was Friday, May 16th, and they were knocking on the door of, where they believe Kathy's killer lives. After a couple of knocks, the door inched open slowly. But standing in front of them was not the man from the sketches. Instead, it's a woman's fearful face peering out from behind this door. So the police quickly explained that they're there looking for John Kaler and that they had reason to believe he lived at this property. The woman explained that they were kind of on the right track.

She identified herself as John's 35-year-old sister, Elizabeth, and she agreed that John used to live there. But she told them, you can't talk to John because he's not home, and he never will be. Had they had come around just a couple days earlier, they could have probably spoken to her brother. But now, John was dead. What? This case just keeps getting more interesting and shocking, because it turns out, on May 14th, just a day after Kathy was found Bean to death, John made his way

to the Golden Gate Bridge around noon and jumped off. He landed on the ground near Fort Point in San Francisco right in this area underneath the bridge. I was shocked to hear this. The officers were stunned, too. This is their prime suspect in a brutal murder. And this man took his life just one day after the crime. They thought, this is no coincidence. How could it be?

He was on the trail, according to witnesses. He had issues in the recent past. and then he would have a reason to end his life if there was a connection here. It made sense to police. As they conducted a walkthrough of this home where John had lived before his death, they were even more convinced they had found their killer. Sitting in a pile of stuff that they were told belonged to John was a pair of sunglasses.

When they compared those glasses to the ones that the witnesses had claimed the man was wearing and that were in that sketch, they realized that they looked exactly the same. I'm showing them to you here. Here's the room. Here's where they found the sunglasses, and there they are. Not only that, look at this. They found clothing that looked like it had blood on it.

But what was even more telling was that they find a newspaper article about Kathy's murder within John's possessions. The article included the sketches that led police right to John's door. And it seemed clear that John had committed this crime and then he realized the police were on his track and he decided to jump off the bridge rather than face the consequences of his actions. That's a really drastic way to go.