The Kidnapping of Katie Romanek

Warning, this case discusses crimes against children and sexual assault.

For this case, I watched an episode of On the Case with Paula Zahn. It’s season 14 episode 1, titled ‘22 Hours of Terror.’

A 12 year old girl is kidnapped in California, in 1992.

Background

Katie Romanek lived in Lodi, California, which is 90 miles east of San Fransisco. Katie lived with her dad, step-mom and 16 year old sister, Elizabeth.

Katie and Elizabeth’s mom had passed away recently from cancer, and it brought the girls closer together. Elizabeth took on a mom role and the two girls loved hanging out together, despite the age difference.

The Abduction

On July 2, 1994, Elizabeth was babysitting Katie and one of Katie’s friends, while their dad and step-mom were away in Michigan.

Elizabeth, Katie and Katie’s friend were hanging out, when suddenly there was a knock on the door. Elizabeth said she looked out and found a man standing at the door, a man she didn’t recognize. She answered it anyways. The man said he was interested in looking at their house because it was for sale at the time. Elizabeth said their realtor lived a few houses down, and she gave him their phone number. He left, and Elizabeth thought it was weird but didn’t think too much about it.

Elizabeth went out to get pizza for the girls. When she came back, she came back to a terrifying scene. The same man was in their house, and he came up to her in the kitchen and held her at knifepoint. Elizabeth was taken upstairs, tied up and assaulted, she said she was assaulted for hours in front of Katie.

Then, Elizabeth said the man became agitated and angry, when he couldn’t find Katie’s friend. He became paranoid that the friend escaped and was going to identify him, so he took Katie and left in Elizabeth’s red Poniac Fiero. After Katie and the man left, Katie’s friend came out of the closet, where she had been hiding.

Around 7pm, Elizabeth called the Lodi police. They arrived around 7:18pm, and a massive search for Katie began.

The Search

Around 8pm, the police put out information about Katie’s abduction. Elizabeth was taken to the police station, and worked with a sketch artist named Robin Burrell to make a composite sketch.

At 8:30pm that night, a call came in from a rancher. He said there was a brush fire on his property, and a red car was on fire. The police and fire departments went to the property, which was about 30 miles outside of Lodi.

When they arrived, they found the car, both of the doors were open. The rancher also told the police that he saw a man walking away in the distance, and he was alone. The police were fearful that Katie was in the trunk or somewhere on the property.

The car was in fact Elizabeth’s car, and Katie was not in the trunk. The police were very fearful that Katie was already dead. Polly Klaas had been abducted and killed just a few months before this case, and the police feared that the man would kill Katie if he knew the police were on to him.

Around 9:45, the ground search for Katie was put on hold until it was light out, but other parts of the investigation were still in full swing. Elizabeth had just finished her composite sketch, and she said the sketch was so accurate.

The sketch was put out to the media, and put on flyers, along with Katie’s picture.

Investigation

The next day, the investigation resumed. The police were search the Romanek house for any hair or fingerprints, the police found the piece of paper that Elizabeth had written the realtor’s phone number on. The police were able to pull a thumb print.

Around 11am, the next day, a tip came in to the station. A man was shopping at Walmart, and saw the flyers. He said he recognized the man as the son of his neighbor. He said the son was visiting his mom, and he notified the woman that the sketch looked like her son. The man’s name was Steven Cochran, and the police realized he had just gotten out of prison three weeks ago.

The police called the prison to obtain Steven’s fingerprints. The thumb print from the piece of paper came back as a match. Now, the police needed to find Steven and hopefully Katie.

The search of the ranch came in handy, Steven was found and at 1:45pm on July 3rd, Steven was arrested.

Katie is Found

Steven was taken to the police station, the police asked Steven where Katie was. He said he had blacked out and didn’t remember. He was not cooperative.

At 2:45pm, there were about 120 police officers and law enforcement officials searching the ranch. When suddenly, one of them yelled “there she is!” Katie was very much alive, and walking to safety. She was naked and terrified. The police covered her and took her to the hospital. She had 200 splinters in her feet, she was dehydrated, but she didn’t have any serious injuries.

Katie’s Story

Katie Romanek was interviewed at the end of this episode. Katie said after Elizabeth left to go get pizza, the same man came back and knocked on the door. He asked if he could borrow a phone book, so Katie let him in. However, the terror began immediately. He grabbed a knife, and dragged Katie and her friend to separate bedrooms upstairs. Katie said Steven took off her clothes, and she was naked from the waist down.

The man was distracted after he heard Elizabeth pull into the garage. He had to tie her up too. Elizabeth was tied up, and Steven brought Katie into the room where Elizabeth was, where she was forced to watch her sister be assaulted.

Katie said Steven told her she was taken because he thought her friend escaped and would identify him. Steven took Katie and threw her into the car, where she was forced to lay in the back, until they got out of town.

Katie said that Steven almost lost control of the car, which is why they ended up on the ranch. When the car started on fire, they left the car and went to a muddy pond to hide. Katie was assaulted, but the next day, Steven told her he was going to let her live. He ran away, and Katie did too, until she saw the helicopters and ran until she was saved.

She also said Steven told her he picked her because he had watched her swim in her pool. He had been watching through a fence in the neighborhood.

Trial and Conviction

Steven was charged with 24 felonies, including rape, kidnapping and auto theft.

At Steven’s trial, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but after he was found competent to stand trial, it was changed to guilty.

Steven Cochran was sentenced to 106 years in prison.

Other

Katie and Chief Larry Hansen, of the Lodi Police, now work together to save and help other victims. Katie said Chief Hansen saved her life.

I actually didn’t know this, it didn’t say this in the episode, but the Klaas Foundation helped with the search for Katie. Polly Klaas had been abducted and killed four weeks before Katie’s abduction.

FINAL THOUGHTS

When I was watching this episode, I realized there was still some time left, and I realized it was going to have a happy ending. Elizabeth and Katie Romanek went through hell that day, and it has even had long term affects on them, but it is such a relief that Katie is alive. The police did an amazing job in this case, and if it had been a shitty police department, it probably w0uldn’t have had a happy ending. I hope the Romanek’s are happy and hopefully they are at peace, knowing this evil man will never get out.

Steven Cochran should never had been out of prison, and he deserves to NEVER get out again. He’s a monster, and I hope he rots.

Sources

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/lodi/2015/10/08/katie-romanek-lodi-kidnap/73618192/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-04-mn-11788-story.html

https://www.lodinews.com/news/article_6876c3c8-6994-11e5-b452-cb9ba9ec5c65.html

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/106-Years-for-Lodi-Abduction-Drifter-raped-and-3035705.php