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The Case of Jane Dorotik
📻 Episode #565
🎙️ Hosted by Maggie Freleng
📅 Mar 12, 2026
About This Episode
On Sunday February 13, 2000, 53-year-old Jane Dorotik reported her husband Robert missing after he failed to return home from a jog in Valley Center, CA. An avid runner, Robert’s body was found the next morning. He had been strangled with a rope and his skull was fractured. After investigators found what they purported to…
Case Record — verified as of November 6, 2026
Jane Margurite Dorotik — San Diego County Superior Court, CA. Charged: premeditated murder. Convicted Jun 12, 2001, 1st-degree murder; 25-to-life. Released Apr 20, 2020; conviction vacated Jul 24, 2020; charge dismissed May 16, 2022 (reported without prejudice; no factual-innocence finding located). Clinic of record: Loyola Project for the Innocent.
The Case
On Sunday February 13, 2000, 53-year-old Jane Dorotik reported her husband Robert missing after he failed to return home from a jog in Valley Center, CA. An avid runner, Robert’s body was found the next morning. He had been strangled with a rope and his skull was fractured. After investigators found what they purported to be human blood throughout the Dorotik residence, the state developed a theory of Jane’s guilt. She was quickly arrested and tried. The trial, riddled with junk science and faulty forensic testimony, resulted in a jury finding Jane guilty. Despite the defense’s continuous discovery of evidence both during and after jury deliberations, the trial court reinforced the conviction and sentenced Jane to 25 years to life.
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:04:57“Speaker 2: I think it's particularly helpful for little girl girls to Speaker 2: get experience around horses. In this society, especially seventy years ago, Speaker 2: women were pretty much dismissed, and I think for a Speaker 2: young girl to realize you have the power, you have Speaker 2: the ability to control such a large animal, and the”
00:18:14“Speaker 2: was horrified to learn how they had presented the plan Speaker 2: to her. In other words, how much do you love Speaker 1: The plan was to point to Claire and their farm Speaker 1: hand Lionel Morales, as a team of alternate suspects. Lionel Speaker 1: Chevy S ten pickup was already being compared to the”
00:30:59“Speaker 1: two countries, one of whom was Bob, and again Jane Speaker 1: was excluded. All of this evidence was filed in a Speaker 1: habeas petition that dragged through April twenty twenty, when Paula Speaker 1: filed a motion for Jane's release as a seventy five Speaker 1: year old woman in danger during the onset of the”
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