Did Jane Dorotik kill her husband?
This month I was watching 48 Hours on ID. The episode was entitled "A Family Torn Apart." It was about the death of Bob Dorotik. Bob and his wife Jane lived near San Diego, CA. Jane claimed that on February 13, 2000, Bob went for a jog but never returned home. The police searched for Bob and found his body near a mountain road. It appeared he had been hit by a car while jogging.
Erin Moriarty interviewed Jane Dorotik about the day her husband went for a jog. Dorotik told Moriarty,
"Bob was sitting actually in this chair facing the TV. He had the newspapers on the ottoman. He said he was going out for a jog and he was actually had his jogging suit on was tying his shoes. That was it. That was the last I talked to him."
Dorotik's deception can be seen with her use of the word "actually." The word "actually" means a person is comparing two thoughts. Most of the time you will be able to see what the person is comparing. For example,
Q. "Did you buy a new car?"
A. "Actually, I bought a new truck."
It is very easy to see the person used the word "actually" because he is comparing car with truck. People may use the word "actually" to add emphasis to what they are saying but they are still making a comparison. If you don't know what they are comparing, you have undisclosed information.
Two times Dorotik used the word "actually." The first time she said, "Bob was sitting actually in this chair facing the TV." This means in her mind she is comparing Bob sitting in the chair with something else. Perhaps he wasn't sitting the chair. It appeared that Moriarty and Dorotik were leaning against this same chair. Because of their close proximity to the chair, this may have caused Dorotik to use the word "actually." In her mind, she is comparing Bob sitting in the same chair that Moriarty is leaning against.
Her second use of the word "actually" is where we have a problem; "He said he was going out for a jog and he was actually had his jogging suit on was tying his shoes." The word "actually" is not needed in this sentence. Dorotik needed to use this word because she was making a comparison. She is comparing Bob having his jogging suit on with what? We don't know. She may have been comparing Bob having his jogging suit on with him not having his jogging suit on.
We see further problems with this sentence in that it is disjointed and doesn't flow very smoothly. She said, "He was actually he had his jogging suit on." She was about to say something else, "He was" and then inserted, "Actually he had his jogging suit on." It looks like she was going to say, "He said he was going out for a jog and he was tying his shoes." She then remembered she needed to place him in a jogging suit since he was wearing one when they found his body.
As soon as I heard her second use of the word "actually" I knew she was involved in her husband's death. As the show continued, the prosecution presented their case based on the evidence. They believe she bludgeoned her husband to death in their bedroom, dressed him in a jogging suit and placed his body near the road in an attempt to make it look like a hit and run. The jury agreed and Jane Dorotik was convicted of killing her husband Bob Dorotik.