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A young mother-of-two, Katherine Mordick, was murdered in January 1983, and her killer was only brought to justice in 2011 when a jury found him guilty in the murder case that had remained unsolved for decades. The breakthrough came when DNA evidence recovered from the crime scene linked her estranged husband, Gregory Mordick, to the crime.
The case was reopened in 2008 and was followed by two trials; one in 2009, which resulted in a mistrial, and the other two years later, which ended with Gregory Mordick's ultimate conviction. Although he maintained his innocence, the jury found him guilty based on shocking revelations and circumstantial/forensic evidence. Mordick is now serving a 25-year sentence.
Read on to learn more about Katherine Mordick's 1983 murder case ahead of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode. The upcoming episode airs this Wednesday, August 24, 2022, at 8 pm ET.
Five lesser-known facts about Katherine Mordick's murder case
1) Katherine Mordick's daughter asserts her father's innocence
Elise Mordick, the former couple's elder daughter, reportedly declared her love for her mother and her desire for them to never be apart, while also insisting on her father's innocence. She adamantly stated that,
"I will always believe in my father’s innocence."
The couple's two daughters, Elise and Briana, were 4 and 2 years old at the time of the murder. Gregory reportedly moved to Washington with his girls after the murder of his wife. He never remarried and raised them all by himself.
2) The victim was allegedly having an affair with her co-worker
According to sources, Katherine started having an affair with one of her co-workers, who was also a photographer, Henry Bjoin. However, by the end of the year, she had ended the alleged affair and severed all ties with her lover in order to devote all of her attention and energy to working to repair her marriage.
In the summer of 1982, Katherine allegedly reestablished her employment agreement with Bjoin and the two rekindled their romance. She soon decided to file for divorce after her estranged husband turned abusive, assaulting her on multiple occasions. Katherine was preparing to move in with Bjoin before she was brutally murdered in January 1983.
3) Her siblings spoke at the subsequent murder trials
Katherine Mordick's siblings remembered her as a cheerful, vivacious, kind, and smart woman. Her sister, Mary O'Connell, expressed her admiration for the woman, whose greatest ambition, perhaps, was to be a good mother to her two young daughters.
She continued by expressing her desire for the death penalty in the case and her yearning for her ex-brother-in-law to perish in jail "alone and afraid."
Mary reportedly said,
"I knew it that night. We all knew it that night. He did it to punish Kit, to control her, to gain complete control of the girls. He must never walk the streets again. He should spend each and every day for the rest of his life looking through bars."
She added,
"So punish him for every time he was unfaithful to Kit. Punish him for trying to isolate Kit from her family and friends. ... Punish him for ambushing Kit. Punish him for leaving Kit there to die alone. Punish him for murdering Kit."
4) The killer's blood was found all across the house
The fact that there was evidence of Mordick's blood within the house was the deciding factor in the jury's final verdict during the 2011 trial. Blood was discovered on the bathroom sink, rear-door draperies, a bag inside the closet, and a closet doorknob.
However, authorities stated that the most significant piece of evidence was a bloodstain that was found on the back door. The blood stain turned out to be a blend of both Gregory's and Katherine's blood.
5) Katherine Mordick's body was discovered one day after the murder
When Katherine's then-boyfriend Bjoin failed to get in touch with her over the weekend, he drove all the way to the former couple's Ridgecrest house along with her brother Joseph on January 23, 1983. She was expected to arrive at Joseph's house the day before but failed to do so, which alarmed the two. They found Katherine's dead body inside the house with her throat slit open.
Deputy Coroner Joseph Luckey determined that Katherine was killed on January 22 during the "p.m. hours." During the trial, Luckey gave testimony that suggested Katherine's death could have occurred around 10:00 a.m. on January 22, 1983.
Don't miss out on the Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode, titled Haunting Images, scheduled to air this Wednesday at 8 pm ET, to learn more about Katherine Mordick's decades-old murder case.
