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 Peter Porco, 52, a longtime judges law clerk, suffered devastating wounds to his head. The Albany County coroner's physician, Dr. Jeffrey Hubard, noted that this was because "There are no injuries there that are instantly or rapidly fatal." The 21-year-old. Unbeknownst to his parents, Christopher was attempting to pay his fall 2004 tuition with the loan money. Afterbeing struck 16 times with an ax and lying unconscious ashis son sneaked away from the suburban charnel house, Peter Porco arose from bed, put on clothing, ambled downstairs to get breakfast, went outside to retrieve the newspaper, realized hed locked himself out, found aspare key in its hiding place, let himselfback inside, and died of blood loss. Another contention one that makes sense was that Joan Porcos alleged nod in answer to the question of whether or not it was Christopher who had attacked her was unreliable evidence because of her severe brain injuries. "I was trying to get Christopher to come clean with information that he kept from us," she said on the stand. No fingerprints were recovered from the ax (which had previously been stored in the Porco's garage) found at the scene of the crime. AsForensic Filesexplained it, an injury can damagethe brains neocortex, which controls reasoning, but leave intact the underlying paleocortex, which guides second-nature habits. Following the fall 2003 semester, University of Rochester officials had forced Christopher Porco to withdraw because of poor grades. Apparent burglary. She maintained that while Christophers financial misdeeds angered her and Peter, theyall loved one another and wanted to workon their relationship. 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. 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. Why Horror Is So Much Scarier When Its Located In A BigCity, The Romantic Comedy You Should Watch This Valentines Day, Based On Your ZodiacSign, Valentines Day Streaming Guide: The Best Rom-Coms To Binge On Netflix, HBO Max, AndMore, Teen Wolf: The Movie Starts Streaming Thursday and (Almost) All Your Favorite Characters AreBack, Netflix Is Canceling 1899Here Are The Mystery TV Shows To WatchInstead, At-Home Ketamine Treatments May Be The Future Of PsychiatricCare. According to the Albany Times Union, Johnathan's testimony influenced the jury; his demeanor toward his brother was "icy", and he described their relationship as "strained". The movie got passing marks from reviewers, but the reader comment section was where thereally interestingcritiquing was going on. The assaulthad broken her jaw, destroyed one of her eyes, and penetrated her skull deeplyenough to expose her brain. On November 15, Peter Porco, who worked at the Albany County courthouse, did not show up to work. The neocortex is especially vulnerable to external injury, according to theHandbook of Affective Sciences(Oxford University Press, 2003). Joan argued that she was unable to remember what happened the night of the attack but knew that her son could have never killed her husband. She also answered in similar ways to other separate questions. 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. Later that day, Porco was found guilty of second degree murder and attempted murder. ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) - Friday marks 15 years since the infamous murder of a father and mutilation of a mother in Delmar by Christopher Porco, who attacked his parents with an axe. `She was sedated before coming to the emergency room, and could not respond with a tube in her throat,` said Spurgas. Upstairs in the master bedroom, Joan Porco, then 54, a beloved speech therapist in the Schalmont school district, remained motionless in bed. 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. But prosecutors said outside court they intend to call a telephone company official to the stand to refute the assertion that they had visited the house in September or that the line had been mysteriously cut then. [13], Porco's employer, veterinarian John Kearney, testified at trial that Porco had been trained in cleaning up after animal surgeries. On 15 November 2004, Joan and Peter Porco had been found seemingly murdered. Wounds or other injury may sometimes destroy a [neo]cortical region without damaging deeper brain structures.. Public Domain Joan and Peter Porco were sleeping in their bed when their son bludgeoned them with an ax. The neurosurgeon who operated on Joan Porcos skull fractures after the ax attack inside the Porco familys Brockley Drive home in November 2004, said her severe injuries could cause memory lapses following recovery. I grew up in the small town of Delmar, NY and the guy was a clown., Josh: I live [in]Delmar and go to Bethlehem High School [and] teachers who had him said he was insane. The corporate entity was filed on July 31, 2020 in the jurisdiction of Florida. He's covered in blood, saturated in blood, and obviously suffered tremendous catastrophic injuries." [22][23] He also appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear his case without opinion.[24]. The Disturbing Crime Scene Of Peter Porco. The Jeep is pictured here outside an Orange County courthouse a couple of hours after Porco was convicted. In fact, he even got out of bed and went about his morning routine in a macabre daze. She suffered disfiguring injuries to her head and face, including the loss of an eye, and slight damage to her brain. During the early morning hours of Nov. 15, 2004, Peter and Joan Porco were brutally attacked by an ax-wielding intruder in their bedroom. During the early morning hours of Nov. 15, 2004, Peter and Joan Porco were brutally hacked by an ax-wielding intruder in their bedroom. This is a carousel. In the presence of Bowdish as well as paramedics on the scene, she nodded yes when asked whether it was her younger son. She also doesnt believe her son did it to her and has stuck by him this whole time. ABC News explains that the Porcos discovered their son's actions. "We were doing everything we could think of and we were overcome by him," she said. She accused police of spreading vicious rumors about Christopher and our family, and challenged assertions that she and her husband had a poor relationship with their younger son over finances. It starred Lolita Davidovich as Joan Porco and Eric McCormackas Detective Sullivan presumably a composite character representing police who worked on the case. Wow, thanks for that detail! 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. Up-and-coming actor Matt Barr played Christopher Porco in the Lifetime movie about the case. I suffered a major TBI some years ago after a major fall and spent a week in a coma, plus years regaining function. Police contended that eight months earlier, on November 28, 2002, Christopher staged a burglary at his parents' home in which he stole a Macintosh laptop computer and a Dell laptop computer. He walked into the kitchen, packed a lunch, signed a cheque to cover his sons parking tickets and attempted to unload the dishwasher. Joan was lying in the couple's blood-drenched bed with severe head and facial trauma. Joan Porco was soon discovered by police officers. An axe belonging to family, which was used in the attack, was found in the couple's bedroom. However, an extensive amount of blood was strewn across the home including the walls and doorways. `Did she communicate with you in any way?` asked Shanks. Porco Murder In November 2004, someone with an ax walked into the bedroom where Peter Porco and his wife, Joan, were sleeping, expressly to kill them. (A second removed part of his jaw.) The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. Prosecutors asserted that Christopher Porco disabled the alarm and later cut the phone line to make the invasion of his parents' home appear to be a burglary. TheU.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Christopherscase in 2012. `I asked her if she had memories, but never specifically of the attack,` said Spurgas. He was sentenced to fifty years in prison. [20] She also answered in similar ways to other separate questions. [25], The Porco trial began on June 27, 2006. I think all of that means its possible Peter Porco had a little help from the reasoning part of his mind post-trauma, but the subsectionthat enables people to self-identify as injured and in need of help was destroyed. It was snipped about two hours and 45 minutes after the home's alarm was deactivated by someone who used the master code, according to earlier testimony. That means he was standing in front of a mirror and his brain still couldn't process something was wrong. [2] Despite Peter's catastrophic injuries, he survived for several hours after the attack. The corporte FEI/EIN number is #85-2701626. Peering inthe front-door window,Hart saw Peters body sprawled on the floor amid a huge amount of blood. As promised, McDermott's questioning lasted only a few minutes. Although she originally pointed out her son as the attacker, when Joan fully recovered from her injuries, she stood behind her son. Mike Goodwin has been a stock broker, garbage man, and a house painter. Earlier in the fall, he falsely told his parents that the University of Rochester was covering his tuition because a professor had misplaced his final exam from the previous fall semester. BLOG: Visit our Porco Trial blog for updates throughout the day. During the early morning hours of Nov. 15, 2004, Peter and Joan Porco were brutally attacked by an axe-wielding intruder in their bedroom. Dr. Paul Spurgas, associate professor of neurosurgery at Albany Medical Center, spent six hours removing and repairing damaged bone from the center of Porcos scalp down the right forehead and right eye during a 12-hour overall operation to save her life. He later said he learned of the attack from a reporter. I took them upstairs. Assistant District Attorney Michael McDermott later described how Peter Porco was found. Union leaders say New York state workforce could see mass exodus, Vincent Riggi suit seeks $27.1 million from brother's estate, Tour of Utica-area restaurants feels like trip around the world, Glenville Police ID pedestrian struck and killed Wednesday, DEC finds 14-foot python in New York suburb, Churchill: Antonio Brown partnership is a massive risk, Samantha Humphrey case being treated as homicide, It's weekends in jail for ex-guard who sexually abused prisoner, Ex-teacher in Schenectady gets prison for exploiting student. CARMODY CONSTRUCTION FL INC. (Corporate #P20000060210) is a Domestic Profit in Naples, Florida registered with Florida Department of State (DOS). Family Ties (Forensic Files). Long before the tragedy: Joan and Peter Porco with their sons, Christopher on the left, in the 1980s A jury convicted Christopher, an academically derelict University of Rochester student from Bethlehem, New York, of attacking Joan and Peter Porco with an ax as they slept on November 15, 2004. Subscribe Subscribe; e-Edition 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. 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. One, an unhappy litigant in a custody case, had vowed revenge against Peter. What a trip. Heres a recap of the Forensic Files episode plus some additional facts about the Porco case drawn from Crime Library, 48 Hours, and Albanys Times Union newspaper. Defense Attorneys Shanks and Terence Kindlon are trying to poke holes in that theory. On the night of the murder, the couple's telephone line was deliberately cut just before 5 a.m. TruTV Crime Library Article on the Porco case, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Peter_Porco&oldid=1138228108, This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 16:59. Defense Attorney Laurie Shanks questioned Roberts' assessment of Joan Porco because of her poor physical condition at the time due to her injuries from the attack. He was also a troubled young man with a pension for burglarizing and lying. A ShowboatingAx Murderer His face is pointed up the stairs. In 2006, the Porco case was the subject of an hourlong episode of CBS's 48 Hours. As the publication notes, nothing bad ever happened in Bethlehem; a crime like this was inconceivable. And he neglected to tell his parentsthat the universityhadsuspended him because of poor gradesand he had wasted his $30,000 in tuition money. Christopher Porco is charged with murder and attempted murder and is free on bail. Joan went so far as to write letters to the Times Union, asking police to "go after the real killers." In Peter's email, he noted that he was going to be "forced to file forgery affidavits" if Christopher pulled a stunt like this again. [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. The book also noted that the neocortex segregates functions especially well across spatial regions and that lesions to the neocortex are more likely to be localized to a single region than are subcortical regions.. CASE STUDY: The Flawed Interview of a Psychopathic Killer: What Went Wrong? It was updated on March 28, 2009. Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. He also lost anappeal in 2014, when an appellate court rejected claims that he was denied effective assistance of appellate counsel. Porco is on trial for the murder of his father, Peter Porco, and attempted murder of his mother, Joan Porco. An Albany County medical examiner would determine that Peter, 52, had sustained massive head injuries causing his death. In 2012, when Porco learned Lifetime was producing "Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story," he filed a temporary restraining order to stop it from airing. [28], In 2023, WTEN reporter John Gray interviewed Christopher Porco in prison. [8], Trial testimony showed that on November 15, 2004, the Porco family's security code was used to disable the alarm system at their home. In November 2004, the unthinkable happened to Peter and Joan Porco. A fireman's ax belonging to the Porcos and used in the attack was found in the couple's bedroom. They found Joan in the blood-drenched bedroom, lying in bed and, remarkably, still alive. He was away at college, and had broken off contact with his family at a time when he was flunking out of school, drowning in debt and becoming exposed for a series of lies he'd told his parents. Of the 40 comments posted towriter Nellie AndreevasDeadline Hollywood reviewof the movie, more than a dozen came from readers who identified themselves as neighborsorclassmates of Christopher Porco and disputed the notion of hispopularity. Then, during a lengthy cross-examination, Porco's defense attorney, Laurie Shanks, tried through her questions to dispel any perception raised by prosecutors that the relationship between mother and son was on the verge of collapse in the days preceding the 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. He is not eligible for parole until 2052 when hell be 69 years old. Perhaps a formerloan sharknamed Frank Frankie the Fireman Porco a great uncleof Peters had been consideringrattingout his mob associates, and they killed Peter as a warning not to. "What are you hiding. Four months later, on July 22, Joan Porco wrote to Christopher again as debt notices for him were received at the Porcos' Delmar home. They came inside to find 52-year-old Appellate Division court clerk, Peter Porco, in a pile of his own blood, dead from massive head injuries. All in all, Christopher was in the hole for at least$50,000 a lot of debt, butnotinsurmountable. . P E N N S Y L V A N I A b 1 A i t L i ;>VCAI; BOX T601 N.'S?A?R ROOM H A R R I S B U R G , PA. 17126 Junior, Senior High Home Room Schedules in Today's Allegheny Magazine WE Joan Porco Identified Killer Then Recanted - YouTube 0:00 / 30:26 #survived #solved SOLVED? Fixed: Release in which this issue/RFE has been fixed.The release containing this fix may be available for download as an Early Access Release or a General Availability Release. On November 15, 2004, law clerk Peter Porco, 52, didntshow up for work, sohis colleagueMichael Hart stopped byhis house onBrockley Driveto check on him. Investigators also thought Christopher chosean ax as hisweaponin the beliefit would divert all suspicion to his mob-involved relative Frankie the Fireman.. The craziest part is he was at the bathroom sink. The prosecution had no forensic evidence, except for a New York Thruway ticket that allegedly carried Christophers mitochondrial DNA. 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. Photos from the 2006 Christopher Porco murder Trial. Peter Porco was murdered with an ax on Nov. 15, 2004, and Joan Porco survived severe . The trial took place in July of 2006withChief Assistant District Attorney Michael P. McDermott leading the prosecution and lawyers Terence Kindlon and Laurie Shanksdefending the accused. "[15], Porco's brother, Johnathan, testified at his trial. [29], Perri, Frank S. (2011). A key piece of evidence in the prosecutions case against Christopher Porco is that police and paramedics at the scene of the crime on Nov. 15, 2004 testified later that Joan Porco nodded `yes` when asked whether her son Christopher had attacked her. Join the newsletter to get updates monthly straight to your email, and win one of 10 free books. Chris has a small group of peer supporters all female many younger- who seem to have had relationswith him. She said police never asked her about the incidents or for a description of the person. A jury quickly convicted Christopher on the strength of the timeline the prosecution constructed. Both parents wrote emails to Christopher discussing their concerns. All the while, his wife Joan was bleeding from her own serious wounds on their bed. [14], After Joan Porco emerged from a medically induced coma, she stated that she was unable to remember the attack and asserted that she believed her son Christopher to be innocent. For almost six hours Monday, Joan Porco sat in a witness box only a few feet away from the son who stands accused of using an ax to try and kill her and of murdering his father. Her left eye, now a prosthetic, was completely destroyed in the attack and her right eye was so badly injured that she can only read with a large magnifying glass. `I repaired the brain the best I could.`. Joan Porco, Voorheesville, appellant pro se. Porco had sold the laptop on eBay. Joan Porco wrote in an e-mail in October 2004 that she was angry with Christopher because he had not returned more than 40 telephone calls from his brother, a Naval officer who was trying to. She remains steadfast in the belief her son is innocent. The Porco family were from Delmar, NY - Peter Porco was 52 at the time of the murder (he worked as a court clerk) and he lived with his wife Joan, who was a speech pathologist. He suffered blows to the face, jaw, hands, arms, and forearms. During his opening remarks to jurors on June 27, 2006, Kindlon described the Bethlehem Police as unfamiliar with a serious crime investigation, describing them as a department "that chases skateboarders away from the 7-11This is not the FBI. Flights of fancy. A newspaper reporter first informed Chris Porco about the murder, and he rushed home from Rochester to see his mother in Albany Medical Center, where she had undergone 12 hours ofsurgery. [19][11], A neighbor of the Porco family later testified at trial that he saw Porco's yellow Jeep in the family's driveway on the evening of the attack. He drove back to college in the hours after the attack. Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (William E. Storrs of counsel), for respondent. After the discovery of Peters body, Joan was found and taken to a hospital. Miraculously, she was clinging on to life when investigators and medics arrived at the crime scene hours later. A firemans ax that was used in the attack was lying in the couples blood-drenched bedroom. [5], While away on a trip to England in March 2004, Christopher received an email from Joan Porco's account admonishing him for failing classes at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY. Porcos trial ended up in Orange County after an appeals court ruled pretrial publicity in Albany had been intensive, localized, continuing and prejudicial.. But then he took out a high-interest loan, forging his father's signature on the application for $31,000 to cover his tuition. ", "Christopher Porco, The College Student Who Chopped Up His Parents With An Ax After An Argument About Money", "Porco trial: Prosecutors point to unusual alarm logs", "Timeline, vet's words proved damning to Porco", "Timeline around murder includes text messaging, exit tolls", "EZ-Pass, forged transcripts focus of testimony", "Jurors see video of yellow Jeep leaving campus", "An unfamiliar face in a distant courtroom", "Former neighbor who saw Jeep testifies; prosecution rests", "Jury delivers quick verdict; Porco mom absent", "Christopher Porco gets maximum sentence; Convicted killer speaks for the first time", "Disabled mother of killer Christopher Porco loses pension case", Supreme Court will not hear Christopher Porco's appeal; Bethlehem man convicted of killing his father, assaulting his mother with an axe in '04, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh5SPILKVi8, "TV Review: 'Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story', "Christopher Porco wins minor court victory in TV movie case", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1iSCSRZrW8, Christopher Porco Murder Trial special report at timesunion.com. 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. 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. 2010 The Thought & Expression Company, LLC. At 7.28pm, Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead. Contact him at mgoodwin@timesunion.com or 518-454-5465. The trial was moved from Albany County to the Orange County town of Goshen. The Lifetime channel made a movie based on the crimes,Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story, in 2013. In the case of the Porcos,there was only one bad son, Christopher, a 21-year-old University of Rochester student. After waking up, he carried out his morning routine before finally dying,[2] as he had written a check for Christopher, made a packed lunch and attempted to load the dishwasher in the kitchen during the time before his death. [3], An axe belonging to the family, which was used in the attack, was found in the garage. 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. She too suffered the same grievous injuries to her face and head that her husband had endured a. On August 10, 2006, Christopher Porco (born July 9, 1983) was convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder in connection with the murder of his father, Peter Porco, and the severe wounding and disfigurement of his mother, Joan Porco. She survived but lost the left eye, a portion of the skull and her face was left disfigured. [18], On December 12, 2006, Judge Jeffrey Berry sentenced Porco to 50years to life on each count, totaling a minimum of 50years in prison. 2:14 a.m. Burglar alarm deactivated at parents home 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. You can contact us at 518.439.4949. The police found Joan Porco, 54, in the bedroom. According to ABC News, Peter Porco did not immediately die after being ambushed by the ax-wielding assailant.

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