13x25 - Family Ties

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Up next, a home
invasion and m*rder.

The injuries that she
sustained are unimaginable.

It was what they call a
signature k*lling.

Was a family member involved?

Allegations of mafia
involvement.

The relative is
Frankie "the fireman" porco.

The press says the
police can't solve it.

Every day on the news,
they're talking about "they've

botched this investigation, they
can't do anything right."

But the police are
one step ahead of the

press... And the k*ller.

Working for the supreme court of
New York state is a prestigious

job.

For 52-year-old Peter porco, a
clerk for an appeals judge, it

was the perfect way to end his
legal career...

Until one day everything
changed.

It started off as any other
day, until Peter porco didn't

show up for work.

And people began to get worried
because that wasn't like him.

A court officer
went to the porcos' home and

immediately saw signs of
trouble.

He walked up to the front of
the house, and in the door, he

saw a key... a key by itself in
the door lock.

The door was ajar.

He looks down and he sees on
the cement steps some drops of

blood.

Inside was a bloodbath.

He looked over to his right
and he saw a body laying there

whom he recognized as
Peter porco.

Peter porco had
been bludgeoned to death.

It was a scene of shocking
horror, something that...

Most people who saw it find it
difficult to talk about.

Upstairs in the
master bedroom was his wife,

Joan, who was still alive, but
just barely.

A 3-foot ax was next to her.

Investigators could see her
brain while they were trying to

save her life.

She was also hit with the ax
along her arms.

To give oxygen, they're
supposed to put a bag over her

mouth, and they couldn't figure
out where her mouth was.

Joan was rushed to
the hospital, her life hanging

in the balance.

Blood-spatter analysis showed
that Joan porco was struck three

times in the head with the ax
while sleeping.

Peter porco had been struck 16
times in the head.

But why was Peter's

body found downstairs?

Apparently, sometime after the
attack, Peter regained

consciousness and started to go
about his morning tasks.

He had actually pulled on
some clothes over the top of

some wounds and began walking
around the house.

That's because the
top part of Peter's brain... the

neocortex, which controls higher
functions, like thought,

language, and reasoning... was
severely damaged in the attack.

The autopsy revealed his
paleocortex, underneath, was

intact.

This controls his primal
instincts and second-nature

habits.

This explains why he got up,
went downstairs, made

breakfast... performed the same
tasks he did each and every

morning, unaware he was mortally
wounded.

The blood evidence shows he even
went out to get the morning

newspaper and that the front
door locked behind him.

He used the house key hidden in
the flowerpot to open it...

Then lost consciousness due to
blood loss and died.

I am surprised that he was
able to move around the

residence as he did.

Before Joan porco
went into surgery, an alert

investigator who was also a
friend of the family asked Joan

a key question while she was
still conscious.

I said to her, "can you hear
me?"

And she shook her head visibly
up and down in the "yes" notion

that she could.

The officer asked
her if she knew who att*cked

her.

She shook her head again in
the "yes" notion, up and down.

I asked her, "did Christopher do
this to you?"

And she clearly, again, nodded
her head up and down... "yes."

Christopher
was her 21-year-old son.

The medical
examiner concluded that

Peter porco was the intended
target of the brutal ax attack

in his home, since he was struck


Joan was hit three times.

Nothing was missing from the
porcos' home, either, which

pointed to only one conclusion.

Leads them to believe that
maybe this is someone who was

angry with someone in the
family, that there was something

more to this.

Peter and
Joan porco had two children.


lieutenant in the U.S. Navy,

serving on a nuclear submarine
hundreds of miles away.


the university of Rochester, a

three-hour drive away.

Both had alibis for the night of
the attack.

But why did Joan porco tell
police her son Christopher was

responsible?

He was cooperating.

He let them take a DNA sample.

He let them look at his body to
make sure that there weren't

marks or signs of a struggle,
like bruises.

Three weeks after
the attack, Joan porco regained

consciousness.

Everybody was very surprised.

It was a miracle.

She obviously had a strong will
to live.

And the doctors just did an
amazing job.

And Joan now told
police that Christopher had

nothing to do with the attack.

She said, "it couldn't have
been Christopher.

Leave my son alone."

Joan also made a
public statement supporting her

son.

"I am absolutely positive
that my son was in no way

involved in this heinous crime.

I implore the district
attorney's office to leave my

son alone and to search for
Peter's real k*ller."

And the forensic
evidence, or lack of it,

corroborated Christopher's
story.

Investigators found nothing in
Christopher's Jeep.

The yellow Jeep was searched
for blood and/or bloody

clothing, any type of blood
transfer whatsoever which would

be indicative of the attack.

There was no blood located in
the vehicle whatsoever.

Police also found
no evidence that Christopher had

been on the highway between his
school and his home.

There was no recording of his
e-zpass going through the tolls

that night.

Forensic analysts
found no fingerprints or blood

other than the victims' on the
ax.

Then, police learned that
Peter porco had once received a

death threat.

It was from a man who lost
custody of his children in a

case before the New York state
supreme court.

The man had vowed revenge.

The man told him he was going
to get a g*n and he was going to

come and k*ll the judge and
Peter porco.

But that man had an
alibi for the night of the

m*rder.

Then, there was an anonymous
letter sent to the local

newspaper from someone claiming
to be Peter porco's k*ller.

Newspaper from someone claiming
to be Peter porco's k*ller.

The writer took credit for
another local m*rder and warned

he'd k*ll again.

Police found no fingerprints on
the letter.

And they needed to find out who
wrote it.

While searching for
the person responsible for the

brutal ax attack, investigators
first tried to uncover the

motive.

We don't have ax murderers here.

It was just an alarming,
tremendously alarming case.

Police learned that
Peter porco had a relative in

organized crime who'd been in
trouble with the law.

The relative is frank porco,
know as Frankie "the fireman"

porco.

Frankie porco was
serving time in federal prison

for loan-sharking.

There were rumors that
Frankie porco would turn state's

evidence and provide information
in return for a lighter

sentence.

It was what they call a
signature k*lling, you know,

that the mob would do, and it
was a fireman's ax because it

was retaliation for
Frankie "the fireman."

But a background
check on Frankie "the fireman"

cast doubt on this theory.

He was in prison because he
wasn't a snitch, you know?

He had been made offers to
cooperate with the authorities

to avoid prison, and he didn't,
so he ended up in prison.

Then, investigators
learned that Peter and

Joan porco had life-insurance
policies totaling $1 million.

Investigators also learned that
Christopher porco asked for

investment advice before the
m*rder.

Christopher had gone to a
financial counselor and asked

him to write up a portfolio for
him.

He had told him he was receiving
millions of dollars from a

relative.

And before his
father's death, Christopher

e-mailed him, asking for all
sorts of personal financial

information.

"Yo, pops, if I could have
you and mom's social security

numbers and your New York state
driver's license numbers.

I need them for paperwork
related to financial info for

next semester.

Hope you're having a good day.

Love, Chris."

Then, investigators
checked the code numbers used to

deactivate the porcos'
home-security system on the

night of the attack.

The security system's computer
showed that whoever deactivated

the alarm... and, presumably,
cut the phone lines... was

someone known by the family.

The alarm had been disarmed
at approximately 2:00 in the

morning.

So this was the master code that
was used, which was the code the

family had, as well as possibly
one or two other people.

So despite
Joan porco's claim that her son

Christopher wasn't responsible
for the attack, investigators

took a fresh look at where he
was on the night of the crime.

Christopher claimed he was in
his dorm room 220 miles away.

Investigators obtained security
video from the university of

Rochester campus and from all
the major highways and

tollbooths in between the
porcos' home and the campus.

They screened all of it, looking
for Christopher's yellow Jeep.

The average person is
videotaped 18 to 22 times a day.

So there's a tremendous amount
of media that's available to law

enforcement.

At 10:30 P.M., they
saw a yellow Jeep leaving the

university campus.

The security alarm at the
porcos' home was deactivated a

little more than 3 1/2 hours
later, at 2:14 A.M.

The porcos' phone line was cut
at 4:59 A.M.

And the same yellow Jeep
returned to the campus 3 1/2

hours later, at 8:30 in the
morning.

The timeline fit perfectly.

But was this Christopher's Jeep?

There are actually more
yellow jeeps than you might

imagine.

In the state of New York, there
are thousands of yellow jeeps.

Video analyst
James Kennedy ran the

security-camera images through a
computer filter.

So, it's not like our
filtering software all of a

sudden makes this stuff appear.

What it does, it provides us
with... in some cases, subtle;

in some cases, dramatic...
Clarifications.

Kennedy found
specific details on the Jeep,

like mud on the passenger-side
door, the passenger-side window

had a torn parking sticker, and
there was a political sticker on

the back-tire cover.

Those were compared to
photographs of Christopher's

Jeep taken by police the day of
the m*rder.

We were able to conclude that
it was in fact the suspect's

Jeep.

Unfortunately, the
photographic analysis couldn't

identify who was driving.

Was it Christopher...

Or someone else?

Through forensic
analysis, investigators now knew

that Christopher porco's Jeep
left the university of Rochester

four hours before the ax attack
on his parents...

And returned to

the campus 10 hours later.

It was possible for him to
get down to Albany, do what

happened at the house, and then
make it back up to the campus in

the morning.

For him to make it in that
time, he would have had to use

the New York state thruway.

But investigators
had no proof that

Christopher porco's Jeep was on
the thruway that night or if it

was Christopher who was driving.

There were no e-zpass
records of Christopher coming

home that night.

But investigators
found Christopher's e-zpass tag

on the floor of his Jeep on the
morning of the attack.

They tell me if you take it
off the windshield and you get

it down on the floor or, you
know, put it away somewhere, it

won't register.

Was it possible
Christopher paid the highway

tolls with cash to avoid leaving
a trail?

I don't believe that those
lanes are surveilled with video

cameras.

Investigators asked
the toll collectors if they

recalled seeing a yellow Jeep
that night.

One toll collector said she
remembered a yellow Jeep driving

through right before quitting
time around 11:00 P.M., but she

couldn't remember anything about
the driver.

When they hand you the
ticket, it's stamped.

It's got the time on it.

Only a dozen cars
went through that tollbooth

around that time.

Investigators sent those 12 toll
tickets to the forensic lab for

testing.

What we were looking for were
any kind of skin cells.

If your hands are sweaty and you
touch a toll ticket, there's a

possibility that DNA sources,
such as epithelial cells, may be

transferred onto these toll
tickets.

Scientists found
skin cells on several tickets.

They performed mitochondrial DNA
testing on those skin cells and

compared those DNA profiles to
Christopher porco's DNA profile.

One ticket contained
Christopher porco's DNA.

We have a toll ticket that
ultimately has Christopher's DNA

on it.

When that DNA came in, that
was the top of the mountain.

It was what I considered a
mountain of circumstantial

evidence.

The possibility
that the DNA on the toll ticket

belonged to someone other than
Christopher porco was very

small.

You would expect to see that
sequence in .04% of the

population.

Prosecutors believe
the motive was money.

Investigators found evidence
that Christopher had forged his

parents' signatures on bank-loan
documents and borrowed $31,000

without their permission.

They also found evidence that
Peter and Joan porco knew about

the forgery.

"Chris, I want you to know
that if you abuse my credit

again, I will be forced to file
forgery affidavits in order to

disclaim liability.

You should come home so we can
talk.

We may be disappointed in you,
but your mother and I still love

you and care about your future."

Christopher was not
only spending huge sums of money

on luxury items, like his Jeep,
but he was also failing his

college courses.

His world was crumbling
around him... a world he had

created, a persona he had
created, a lifestyle he had

created... and he had to do
something to try to salvage it.

Prosecutors believe
Christopher was desperate for

money after his father had cut
off his funds, so Christopher

chose to m*rder his parents for
their life-insurance money.

Surveillance video shows
Christopher left his college

campus around 10:30.

He removed the e-zpass tag from
his car because he knew this

would leave a trail of his
movements.

So he paid cash for the tolls
and left his DNA on a ticket.

He entered his parents' home a
little after 2:00 A.M. and

deactivated the security system
with a code known only to family

members.

Prosecutors say Christopher used

an ax to attack his parents.

He struck his

father 16 times and his mother
three times and left them both

for dead.

Christopher smashed the
security-system panel, thinking

this would destroy the evidence
that he used the master code,

but that information was stored
elsewhere.

He cut the phone lines into the
house at 4:59, then drove back

to the campus, in full view of
the cameras, at 8:30 A.M.

Perhaps the most unsettling
aspect of the case was that

Peter porco regained
consciousness and walked through

the house after the attack...
Even going outside for the

morning paper before he died in
the foyer.

There still remain unanswered
questions.

I think one of the main
questions that we just don't

have the answer to is "where are
the bloody clothes?"

And why did
Joan porco implicate Christopher

on the morning of the attack but
had no recollection of it

following surgery?

It's not uncommon when you
have a head injury to lose

memory in the time surrounding
the event.

A year after the
attack, Christopher porco went

on trial for the m*rder of his
father and the attempted m*rder

of his mother.

With her face surgically
repaired, Joan porco stood by

her son during the entire trial,
steadfastly maintaining his

innocence.

It was gonna take a lot to
convince a jury, ultimately,

that the kid in front of them
could have taken an ax to his

parents.

But the evidence
was simply overwhelming.

The jury found Christopher porco
guilty, and he was sentenced to

a minimum of 50 years in prison.

We really wanted to find
something that made him innocent

and that we could say that "no,
the prosecution's evidence just

doesn't add up.

It doesn't match up.

He didn't do this to his
parents.

Thank god."

But we didn't find that.

That's not how we found our
verdict.

To this day, his
mother believes he's innocent.

I spoke with her immediately
after that verdict.

She was stunned and shocked, and
that's all she really had to say

at that point.

She hasn't really spoken with
anyone since.

I've never seen a case like
this before this, and I hope to

never see a case like this after
this.