Episode 1: What happened to Jane Dorotik?

S1: And it was also along this road where Bob's jacket was found. In fact , the the area where his jacket was found. And we're coming up on it in a minute here. Um , it's going to be hard for me to know exactly where , but there's a little.

S2: We'll find it. Jane is writing in the car with our producer. They're going to the spot where her husband was found dead 24 years ago. Jane had reported her husband missing. And all these years later , it's easy to hear her frustration with the sheriff's detectives.

S1: Um , they didn't even go to the house where the mailbox was. They didn't even go knock on the door and say , hey , did you hear anything last night ? Did you see anything funny ? I mean , they just didn't. It just didn't bother.

S2: Her husband , Bob's body was found in a different place on this winding valley center Road , not in the same spot as his jacket.

S1: It doesn't. None of it really makes sense. Why would his jacket be in one place ? And then maybe.

S2: And that day was just the beginning of the ruin of Jane's life. She was arrested and convicted for the murder. She spent 20 years in prison and then was released during Covid. Finally , in 2022 , Jane was exonerated. We still don't know who the murderer was to Jane. It's all still vivid memories. She guides us to where Bob's body was found.

S1: Love to see. I think we might have missed the spot. Where ? The last time I was here , there was a little sort of stand. Um. Yeah. This is the corner Woods Valley Road. So if you turn left at Woods Valley Road , it was down that driveway that his body was found.

S3: Just right here. Mhm.

S1: And you can pull in there I think it'll be safe. But the gate was not there at the time. See that big black gate. Mhm. That was not there. And it was farther down that road and in the brush. Nor was that little uh wall there. And it was in the brush where his body was found.

S2: Jaynes case ended up being a huge deal not just for her but for efforts to change the justice system. Her case exposed weaknesses in the San Diego sheriff's crime lab , and it's shone a spotlight on how junk science was used in courtrooms and still is used. And that's why Jane is willing to go back to these painful places , physical places along the side of a country road and places in her memory because she thinks the more exposure her case gets , the more people will ask questions about other investigations and other cases. And ultimately , she thinks more people could be freed after spending time in jail.

S1: So , you know , it's hard to know what what really happened and how it all sort of unfolded. But , you know , I think the best speculation is some kind of altercation happened. And somehow. Something must have started where Bob's jacket was found. And then. They put him in a car and brought him here. What all happened ? Who knows ? But it had to be some kind of an altercation and something. You know , and maybe they got scared and said , well , we'll put him in the truck and then we'll figure out what to do. It's just hard to know how it all sort of unfolded.

S2: Every story has a beginning. And Jane's story actually began after college when she and Bob first met Jane told producer Claire Trager the story. They talked over zoom , so the audio quality isn't perfect. Claire did buy Jane a special microphone , but Jane couldn't get it to work.

S1: We met in in the apartment building. I was working at UCLA. He was working at Lockheed , and he and his , um , friend moved into the apartment above me at in Venice Beach. And there were times when I would call and say , geez , there's an emergency at work. I'm going to have to work a double shift. Now , could you go down to my apartment and let my dog out ? And so Bob and I were friends for six months before we ever started dating. And it was , um , it was a wonderful way to get to know somebody.

S2: They did start dating , then they got married , had three kids , two boys and a girl. Their family moved around a bit from Tucson to Mendocino to Morgan Hill , just south of San Jose. And then finally in 1997 , they moved to San Diego , but then things got a little rocky between Bob and Jane.

S1: When we first moved to San Diego. We actually bought a house , but then ran into some difficulties , marital difficulties , and for a brief period of time felt like maybe we should go separate ways. And actually , um , initially filed for divorce , but after sort of think and , and then put the house up that we had just bought in San Diego , put that up for sale.

S2: The critics were middle class , not wealthy , both with decent jobs. Jane was a nurse and Bob was an engineer. But buying and selling that house put a strain on their finances financially.

S1: A very foolish move to buy and sell a house in less than a year and give everything to the realtors. But that's what we did.

S2: Within a year , Jane and Bob decided to reconcile and move back in together.

S1: I said to my husband , look , if we're going to try and make a go of this. Um , maybe we should rent for a little bit and maybe we should really explore.

S2: Jane also wanted to take the opportunity to explore her real passion for horses. Her idea was to rent a house in Valley Center , an unincorporated San Diego County. With its winding roads through wide open fields , it was perfect for their goal to set up a business training horses. She would work with her daughter Claire , who by that point was in her early 20s.

S1: Um , that's sort of the business that Claire and I were trying to capitalize on by taking in horses , ex race horses , recycling them to be a good hunter jumper , and we did quite well at it.

S2: Things were going better. About a year passed and they were happy.

S1: The house was not great , but um , doable. Had a great barn on it had 16 acres. I used to consider that area probably the most peaceful environment I had ever seen. Until. Until Bob was killed there.

S2: But then it all changed overnight. On Sunday , February 13th , Bob went out for a jog , as he often did. He had just run his first marathon with his daughter , Claire.

S1: Bob had for a long time he had wanted to complete a marathon. And originally he said he wanted to do it before he was 40. Well , it was later than that. You know , he was in his 50s , but he did complete it , and he ran it with Claire , and he was so proud of that fact and so pleased. And Claire was pleased , too , because she felt like she she had already run a couple of marathons and she encouraged him. And at one point toward the end of the marathon , he thought he wasn't going to make it , and she stuck with him and said , come on , and encouraged him. And he did finish.

S2: So this run on that Sunday in the middle of the day was something like a recovery jog , a slow and easy run. People do after marathons , but then it became something else entirely.

S4: Even when we didn't come home at first on Sunday and it was 4:00 and then 5:00 , and then that time of year on the 530 , it started to darken. And , you know , I started to worry. But what what I was thinking is , gosh , maybe he just went farther and he's slowly walking back because he's overdone it. Or maybe he twisted his ankle and and as I kept sort of bargaining with myself and.

S2: Jane decided to drive around and look for him and.

S4: It became , well , maybe he fell off the side of the cliff and he has a broken leg. But , you know , God , we could deal with that. Just let him be okay.

S2: But Bob never came back from his run , and neither did the Jane who existed before that day. All her plans for her family and their new horse business. Her identity as a wife , mother and aspiring entrepreneur. Gone now , she was a widow and soon would become a suspect. Over the next two decades , she would become a convict , a martyr and advocate , and she would play a key role in exposing fatal flaws in the criminal justice system.

S1: I think about things like , you know , what must have his last few moments have been like , you know , it must have been really scary for him , you know , because Bob was Bob was very fit and he was wouldn't back down from a challenge. Um , and could be , could be sometimes angry at people , especially because he was jogging. And I know Claire had said on more than one occasion when they were jogging together , somebody would be driving too fast and , you know , and would kind of yell , joggers , get off the road or something like that. And , and Bob would be irate about that.

S2: She decided to call the San Diego Sheriff's Department. They came out and started searching for Bob. They met with Jane and then waited around for Claire to come home because she knew her dad's usual running routes. Pay attention. This will be important later. They didn't just talk to Jane at her door. They came into her house and took some of Bob's clothes to train their dogs on his scent. Then they found his jacket lying by the side of the road.

S1: You know , first they came at three something in the morning to say we found this jacket. Do you recognize it ? And that's sort of when I knew , you know , I had still held out hope that they were going to come and say yes , we found him and his leg is broken and we're taking him to the hospital. Something like that. Um , but then when they brought the jacket and I had that horrible sinking feeling like , oh , this is just getting worse all the time.

S2: Then later in the morning of Valentine's Day , a deputy found Bobby's body.

S1: And the first thing they said is they thought he had been hit by a car. And I don't know why they did that , why they told that. But that's what they told me. And , um , and they said , don't , don't go to the scene , which seemed , you know , seemed strange kind of , but everything seemed so strange. It all seemed so unreal at the time. I can remember , you know , when my family came and and everybody was gathering around and I'd kind of walk into the living room and looking at everybody , and we were going to have a discussion about , you know , what the next steps were. And I would have this feeling like , well , wait a minute , someone's missing. And then it would , it would come over me again. That's Bob , that's missing. And that's what we're all doing here. You know , it was just sort of unreal.

S2: Over the next three days , deputies continued to come in and out of her house. Jane met with them whenever they wanted , answered all of their questions , and never gave it a second thought.

S4: We were all making coffee for the detectives in the house , opening our house. Search anywhere , you know , search the grounds. Really feeling like they're trying to figure this out on our behalf. They're trying to figure out what happened and not now. In retrospect , I can see how they were looking at me , but I didn't see it at the time.

S2: The deputies likely saw Jane as the potential killer from the beginning , but Jane didn't know that. Then something happened that made her realize she was a suspect. It started when one of the deputies was standing in Jane's bedroom. The deputy didn't have her shoes on and felt the rug was wet. They decided the rug had recently been cleaned and lifted it up. Court documents say the deputies claim they found blood under the rug. Next time Jane suddenly finds herself the main suspect. Free Jane is hosted by me , Katie Hazen. It's reported and produced by Claire Trager. Sound design by Am FM music. Additional producing by Laura McCaffrey. It was edited by David Washburn and Terrence Shepard , web design by Brendan Nardi , and our news director is Terence Sheppard.