PA PA - Catherine Corkery, 22, Dormont, 22 July 1989

Sydangle2

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Catherine Corkery, 22, of Dormont, was killed about 2 a.m. July 22, 1989. Her body, which had been beaten, strangled, slashed, sexually assaulted and burned, was found in the back yard of a house on Voelkel Avenue near the light rail transit tracks in Dormont, several blocks from her home. She was on her way home from a party in Mt. Lebanon, PA


Pain still fresh 16 years after woman's violent death
By Rob Amen
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, October 2, 2005

Buzz up!


Almost 16 years later, Catherine Corkery's father calls her killer "a son of a " with fresh anguish.
Corkery, a Mt. Lebanon High School graduate and Dormont resident, was beaten, strangled, sexually assaulted, stabbed and set on fire before her remains were discovered the morning of Saturday, July 22, 1989.

Authorities needed 16 hours to identify her. The relied on fingerprints and dental records.

She was found under a cherry tree, two blocks from her Dormont home. The flames that consumed her naked upper body flared so high, they scorched the tree's limbs.


story continues below




The neighbors couldn't stand to look at that tree, a constant reminder of such a heinous death. They chopped it down a few days later, said David Corkery, the victim's father.
"Sometimes you think if we would have lost Cathy to a car accident, I think it would have been easier," said Rebecca Finney, a high school friend of Corkery's. "The thought of her suffering, the thought of what she went though before she died, it really tears me up."

Corkery, Finney -- who then was Rebecca Hall -- and another friend enjoyed drinks that Friday night, July 21, at a Mt. Lebanon bar before meeting Corkery's boyfriend, Tim Rooney, and Finney's boyfriend at a party.

Rooney, who planned to someday ask Corkery to marry him, left early because he had a painting job the next morning.

Corkery mentioned several times that night that she planned to walk home, but Rooney and Finney said Corkery finally relented and agreed to get a ride with a friend. No one knows what she did.

After Rooney left, Finney was dealt into a poker game.

"One of the guys left and let me play his hand until he came back," Finney said. "I did really well. That's the only time in my life that I've played well. Otherwise, I would have been hanging out with Cathy."

Rooney awoke the next morning to find himself alone in the Ordinance Avenue apartment he shared with Corkery. He assumed she spent the night at a friend's.

When he returned home Saturday afternoon, he began to worry. It was only after hearing a 6 p.m. newscast reporting that a body had been found near his apartment that Rooney believed Corkery was dead.

"It was terrifying," Rooney said. "Look at the brutality of it. It's animal-like."

Police questioned everyone who attended the party, but found few clues.

Rooney still visits Corkery's grave. "Quite frankly, it's still very hard to handle," he said.

"There's no set recipe for getting over tragedy," said David Corkery. "The pain kind of goes away after awhile. You know she's not coming back.

"You just hope to God that they find the perpetrator."



Rob Amen can be reached at ramen@tribweb.com or 412-320-7982.


Follow this link Glen Rogers believed to be traveling serial killer responsible for Catherines death although there is no evidence to convict for crime ... he is on death row for a different killing/similiar to Cathys. Catherines family has no resolution.

Cathy was my school mate we went to a vo-tech school together in junior/senior year in hs.... she was bubbly carefree kind silly no-one deserves what happened to her.........if in fact Glen Roger did this to her I wish there was proof/ right now it's all circumstancial her family deserves to have closure. :(

http://books.google.com/books?id=c4...ig=5jXHwxMkKHyGohNAmeMmosONv3M&hl=en#PPA42,M1
 
There are, I guess, sensible reasons for police departments to push aside cases where they think they know who did it but can't prove it--money, lack of manpower, and their own sense that they have "solved" it even if there isn't a conviction.

But how horrible for the victims, families, and friends.

Sydangle2, you are probably too young to remember Carol Jursik, who stopped to buy groceries on her way home after a run and was never seen again alive. A few days later, her groceries were found at the scene, and after a phone tip, her body was found in a local park. That was 1979. I was unaware that the police even had a suspect until I encountered her name while researching another case, serial rapist-murderer Gary Robbins. But imagine the burden on the family when there is either no way to make get closure, because the evidence isn't there and/or there are no resources to finish the job.

Thanks for reminding us about Catherine Corkery. And for reminding us how glad we should be that Glen Rogers is locked up. What a surprise that a man would would burn his victims alive delights in toying with the police and the families of his victims.
 
Thanks for reminding us about Catherine Corkery. And for reminding us how glad we should be that Glen Rogers is locked up. What a surprise that a man would would burn his victims alive delights in toying with the police and the families of his victims.


No problem I've always come back to Catherine's case & wondered if the person responsible for her death would ever pay in this lifetime. I certainly hope Glen Rogers is the one responsilble we may never know but the killings surprisingly have stopped. So maybe he was the one. My heart still aches for the family & all Cathy's friends myself included.

Thank you for letting me share & responding to what I found out I really had to get it out and just be heard.
 
Syd, I don't know if we ever met, Cathy is my step-sister. These memories are still so hard for me to re-live. All these years later it is not any easier to comprehend than it was back then. I had heard about this Glen Rogers possibility from Barb back when it surfaced. Nothing ever came of it. Closure will never happen, I am quite sure Rogers will go to his grave with that info. At least in my mind, no one else will ever have to deal with him and for that I am thankful.

It was Cathy's nature to be friendly and trusting almost to a fault. I knew that from the moment I met her. It was that trait that led her down the horrible pathway that led to all of this. It was how she was, open and caring to anyone who she came across. I miss her beyond words.

Thank you for Posting this, and thank you for honoring her memory in this way.

Scott
 
Syd, I don't know if we ever met, Cathy is my step-sister. These memories are still so hard for me to re-live. All these years later it is not any easier to comprehend than it was back then. I had heard about this Glen Rogers possibility from Barb back when it surfaced. Nothing ever came of it. Closure will never happen, I am quite sure Rogers will go to his grave with that info. At least in my mind, no one else will ever have to deal with him and for that I am thankful.

It was Cathy's nature to be friendly and trusting almost to a fault. I knew that from the moment I met her. It was that trait that led her down the horrible pathway that led to all of this. It was how she was, open and caring to anyone who she came across. I miss her beyond words.

Thank you for Posting this, and thank you for honoring her memory in this way.

Scott


Scott, welcome to Websleuths. I am sorry for the loss of your sister.
 
I'm one of Carol Jursik's brothers and I'm very sorry to say that the case remains unsolved 30 years later. I would appreciate anything you can tell me about the case, as we've never been able to obtain information from the police that sufficiently answers our questions.

My attempts to obtain the police reports and the autopsy have been turned down by the police, the coroner, and the state Attorney General's office despite recent decisions by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court regarding release of autopsy reports. Both the Vidocq Society in Philadelphia and Parents of Murdered Children's Second Opinion Services are willing to have their forensics experts examine the reports if I can obtain them, but thus far I've had no success.

I would appreciate hearing from you if you are willing to correspond, though I would prefer to do it outside this public forum. You may email me at peter.jursik@gmail.com at your convenience.

Thanks very much.

There are, I guess, sensible reasons for police departments to push aside cases where they think they know who did it but can't prove it--money, lack of manpower, and their own sense that they have "solved" it even if there isn't a conviction.

But how horrible for the victims, families, and friends.

Sydangle2, you are probably too young to remember Carol Jursik, who stopped to buy groceries on her way home after a run and was never seen again alive. A few days later, her groceries were found at the scene, and after a phone tip, her body was found in a local park. That was 1979. I was unaware that the police even had a suspect until I encountered her name while researching another case, serial rapist-murderer Gary Robbins. But imagine the burden on the family when there is either no way to make get closure, because the evidence isn't there and/or there are no resources to finish the job.

Thanks for reminding us about Catherine Corkery. And for reminding us how glad we should be that Glen Rogers is locked up. What a surprise that a man would would burn his victims alive delights in toying with the police and the families of his victims.
 
I was only 6 years old when this happened but I remember walking up Potomac Avenue, holding my mother's hand the day they found Catherine... if memory serves, it was sprinkling and my feet kept slipping out of my sandals. That was the first time in my young life that I ever felt truly unsafe. I was 13 years old before I could bring myself to walk near the side of the trolley tracks that ran alongside the yard where she was found.
Growing up Catherine's name was something we only really heard in hushed tones when other horrific cases made the news or when some jerk would make what I always thought to be prank calls to the payphone on Potomac Avenue and reference the case. I have heard many rumors over the years about who it was and possible cover ups because of influential local ties.
I do not think her murder will ever be solved but regardless, I do know she will never be forgotten. I did not know Catherine but I have kept her name and memory of the photos of her in my mind all these years and will for as long as I live, never forgetting that she is not just some hometown ghost or legend rather that she was a real person with family and friends that forever grieve her tragic passing.

I am not sure if this type of post is allowed but I just wanted others out there to know that I personally acknowledge her passing every year and will continue to do so in the future.
 
Thank A.D 82 for sharing your childhood memory about this case.

Yes your post is allowed and welcomed.

It is beautiful and heartfelt testiment to the wake of hurt, anxiety of uncertainty and actual fear the rest that live within communities where these crimes occur when not directly related to the victim or the victim's family.

They effect us one and all don't they?

I would imagine that Catherine's family would appreciate that their daughter is so well remembered and her untimely horrific death is aknowledged. That event did not define her. She was one of your community and she was a beloved daughter I'm sure.

Thank you for sharing.
 
I'm one of Carol Jursik's brothers and I'm very sorry to say that the case remains unsolved 30 years later. I would appreciate anything you can tell me about the case, as we've never been able to obtain information from the police that sufficiently answers our questions.

My attempts to obtain the police reports and the autopsy have been turned down by the police, the coroner, and the state Attorney General's office despite recent decisions by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court regarding release of autopsy reports. Both the Vidocq Society in Philadelphia and Parents of Murdered Children's Second Opinion Services are willing to have their forensics experts examine the reports if I can obtain them, but thus far I've had no success.

I would appreciate hearing from you if you are willing to correspond, though I would prefer to do it outside this public forum. You may email me at peter.jursik@gmail.com at your convenience.

Thanks very much.
Hi Peter, I was wondering if I could please email you. This case just came across my desk two days
ago. I am a youtuber with a true crime channel. I would love to ask you some questions. Have a
wonderful day.
 

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