True Crime

Case #2: Unexplained Death, Katherine Korzilius

A bright, happy-go-lucky first grader, Katherine Korzilius lived with her parents, Nancy and Paul Korzilus, and brother, Chris. She lived in a high-quality neighborhood in Austin, Texas. Her father had a good job being the personal manager to rock star Jon Bon Jovi. The Korzilus' had the perfect life. Sadly on August 7, 1996 their world would come crashing down. It was Paul's birthday, he was in his office in New York but would be taking a flight to return to Austin that night. Back in Austin, Nancy spent all day running errands with the kids, picking out a gift for Paul's birthday. On the way home they stopped to pick up the mail, something that little Katherine looked forward to. After picking up the mail Katherine asked to walk home alone, something she often did. Nancy agreed and left with her son going in one direction while Katherine walked in the other direction, which was the shorter way home. "It's a short walk, probably less than a quarter of a mile. When Chris and I got home, we unloaded our car and we started putting our packages away." claims Nancy. When they arrived home and Katherine had not returned Nancy sent Chris down the road to look for her. Chris returned in a very short amount of time in tears. "He came back in just a very short period of time, a few minutes, and he was crying, and he said, 'She's not there Mom." says Nancy on the incident. Nancy and her son then went next door where Katherine often played with the neighbor's son. When the neighbors answered the door Nancy's worst fear had been confirmed Kathrine was missing. Only fifteen minutes after Nancy last saw her daughter she would find her lying in the street with her hair and clothes smoothed down and her feet pointed straight. "I could tell that she was unconscious, but she was breathing. I knew it was too hot to leave her on the pavement. I know that it's never a good idea to move somebody if you don't know what their injuries are, but I just couldn't leave her there. And I think having driven her to the emergency room before, knowing the way very well, I felt confident that I was able to drive that drive." Nancy claims after finding her daughter in the road

"Katherine was on a ventilator to keep her breathing, but she was brain dead. It wasn't a matter of her being in a coma or being unconscious. Her brain had died." recounts Nancy about that day. Paul caught an earlier flight home but did not make it on time just one hour before his arrival; they had taken Katherine off of her life support. From the very beginning, people believed she was a victim of a hit-and-run. However, as the investigation continued new more disturbing theories start to arise. Katherine had just left her mother at the mailbox fifteen minutes before being found on the road. However, where Katherine was found was half a mile away on the other side of the circle she lived on in the opposite direction of when she was last seen going in. Once the police obtained the medical examiner's report things only got more confusing. "The injuries that Katherine sustained could have been the result of either jumping from a moving vehicle, being thrown from a moving vehicle, or falling from a moving vehicle. The type of injuries that we expect in these circumstances would have been the same." stated the medical examiner. If this was the case, whose car was it? One theory proposed was that without Nancy's knowledge Katherine jumped on the back of her car and later fell off. But this would be nearly impossible due to the fact that Katherine had a broken thumb and due to the August heat would be nearly impossible for Katherine to hold on without burning her hands. The Korzilus' however had their theory, Katherine was abducted and murdered. When police dogs were brought on site they tracked Katherine scent to an empty lot in the direction she was last seen going in then they lost the trail not picking it back up until they got to where Katherine was found. However, even after 26 years, the death of Katherine Korzilius remains a mystery. Katherine is memorialized through a tree and plaque in her small Austin neighborhood. Also through family friend Jon Bon Jovi who wrote the song "August 7, 4:15" in her memory. We can only hope Nancy and Paul get closer to what happened to their daughter on that fateful day.