EP. 113 WISCONSIN - The 13-Year-Old Who Haunted Her KILLER: Carrie Ann Jopek
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He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America,

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murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned. It's March 16th, 1982 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 13-year-old Carrie Ann Zopek is walking the halls of her middle school wearing brown corduroy pants and a white cloth jacket.

She and her best friend Margie bought these outfits the night before, and they both wore them to school that day so they could match. But when Carrie and Margie meet up in the hallway, it's clear that Carrie is very upset. Standing in front of her locker, she has tears running down her face. "'What's wrong?' Margie asks. Carrie explains that she just got suspended from school for three days for walking the halls without a pass."

The school had just called Carrie's mother, Carol Tuznett. They told her about Carrie's suspension and said she needed to be picked up. But their house was only about a block away from Carrie's middle school. And since she was 13 years old, Carol just told her to walk home. It was about 1.30 in the afternoon. And the walk home should have only taken about 10 minutes at most. However, Carrie never came home.

Now, she wasn't abducted off the street or anything nefarious. Carrie knew that she would be in some trouble once she got back to her house. So instead of going straight home, she walked over to another house in her neighborhood, the Mant residence. Carrie's friend Robin was having a party there while her parents were out at work.

Many of the kids in attendance were skipping school to hang out, drink, and smoke weed. And over the next few hours, Carrie stayed there, trying to enjoy the last little bit of freedom she had before she went home to get in trouble with her mom. But as the night goes on, the partygoers notice that Carrie's gone. She never told anyone that she was leaving, but no one really thought anything of it.

After all, her house was just right across the street, so maybe she just went home. But that wasn't the case. At some point throughout the night, Carrie would go missing, never to be seen alive again. And the mystery into what happened that night would go unsolved for 33 years. In 2015, however, someone would step forward and

claiming that Carrie's ghost had been haunting them for over three decades and that they were ready to come clean. This is the story of Carrie Ann Chopek. I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. ♪♪

Carrie Ann Jopek was born on August 17, 1968, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and she had a fiery spirit, according to her mother, Carol. She was always known to stand up for herself and was very strong-willed and independent. At 13 years old, Carrie was really finding her voice, and she wasn't afraid to use it. But at the same time, she had a very sweet and soft side.

Her mom said that she was obsessed with animals. They had all kinds of dogs and cats and Carrie would drop everything to play with them and make sure they had everything they needed. She loved animals so much, she wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up. Her friend Margie said that Carrie was very outgoing, creative, loved to be around people, and that she had a very bubbly spirit. Growing up, Carrie had a good life. In their home, there was her mom, Carol, her stepdad, Fred, and her little sister, Maggie.

They all lived on a quiet, family-oriented street where the children played outside and everyone felt very safe. They had a cherry tree in their backyard and Carrie and her sister would often climb it, pick the best cherries, and then spend the afternoon making cherry pie with their mom. Carrie had a great relationship with her mother, but like most 13-year-olds, she was beginning to push the limits and rebel. Her mother Carol would later say that if Carrie wanted to do something, she did it. But despite being hard-headed, she was a good girl.

Like any mother, Carol was obviously upset after learning that Carrie had been suspended. Now, I do want to note that some sources say she got suspended for walking the halls without a pass, and other sources say she punched a boy who threw paint on her brand new shirt.

which was fitting because her mom said she was not one to stand down to bullies. But either way, she was suspended for three days and her mom told her to walk home from school. Carol sat in her living room waiting patiently for Carrie to walk through the front door. But 30 minutes pass and she still hasn't come home. Carol occasionally looks out the window expecting to see Carrie walking down the street at any moment, but nothing.

Hours tick by, and I'm sure at this point, Carol is a little upset. Carrie was supposed to walk straight home from school, but she must have found other plans. However, as the day turns into night, that frustration turns into worry. Yes, Carrie was known to be rebellious, but there's no way she would have been gone this long without telling her mom where she was.

So at some point in the night, Carol and Fred decide to call the Milwaukee police to report her missing. And the department takes down the following information. Carrie Ann Jopek, 13 years old, 5'3", 96 pounds, last seen wearing, white cloth jacket, a white shirt, brown corduroy pants, white shoes, and a clutch purse.

But as you can imagine, Carrie's disappearance is not their top priority, especially after learning she had just been suspended that day. In their minds, Carrie was scared of getting in trouble, so she just ran off, trying to avoid her parents. But Carol and Fred know deep down that that just isn't the case. Her mom would later say, quote, I knew she wouldn't run away. She could be mad at me, but she always came home.

And mothers always know best, because Carrie Ann Jopek did not run away. Something horrible happened to her, and her mother's intuition was right. That night, Carol couldn't sleep. She kept getting out of bed and looking out the window, hoping to see Carrie walking up to their house. It was eerily quiet without her, and Carol kept asking herself, where could she be?

The next morning, Carol went door to door throughout the neighborhood, asking if anyone had seen Carrie, but no one had. She then called several of Carrie's friends, but none of them had seen her either. So by this point, Carol calls the police again to see what progress they were making in the investigation. But they hadn't started investigating yet. They likely figured that Carrie would have made her way home by now.

It was now close to 24 hours since Carrie had been missing, and the police finally started reaching out to some of Carrie's friends at her middle school. And soon enough, they got word that Carrie had been at a party in her neighborhood, which led them to 1944 South 10th Street, the Mance residence.

Carrie was friends with Robin Mant, and their house was just right across the street from hers. On the day that Carrie went missing, Robin and her older brother Johnny had a party where a bunch of kids skip school to drink and smoke weed. So the police go to the Mant house to speak with 17-year-old Johnny.

But he says he spent the day at home by himself and he never mentions anything about a party or Carrie's whereabouts. Now, obviously, no one wants to tell a cop that a bunch of underage kids are smoking and drinking at their house. So was Johnny lying to get out of trouble or was there something darker he was hiding?

However, with no other evidence, the police are forced to move on and start investigating other people. The next person they look into is Carrie's biological father. He lived nearby and kept in close contact with Carrie, but he told police that he was at work on the day she went missing and he hadn't heard from her either, which seemed to check out.

Now, the word around the street was that Carrie went to this party and then left, never to be seen again. A week would eventually pass with no sight of her and her family was worried sick. They would gather a couple dozen people to walk around the neighborhoods to help look for her, but they never came up with anything. So, Carol and her other daughter, Maggie, started printing out missing persons flyers to pass around Milwaukee.

They would even put them on windshield wipers of parked cars. And they did this every single day. After Maggie got home from school, she and Carol would wander the streets, talking to every single person they saw, hoping that someone might have seen Carrie. Most nights, the two wouldn't come home until after 10 o'clock at night.

But after a few weeks, Maggie told her mother that she couldn't do it anymore. The constant searching was taking an emotional toll on her. No little girl should ever have to spend her free time searching for her missing sister. And by then, a lot of people around town viewed Carrie as a runaway, and there wasn't much of an urgency to find her anymore. After all, they all lived in a safe, family-friendly area.

The thought of something bad happening here just didn't seem plausible. But as we know, evil lurks everywhere. In fact, Jeffrey Dahmer was walking the streets of Milwaukee in 1982. So clearly it wasn't as safe as everyone thought it was.

Now, early on in the investigation, police were looking into Carrie's stepfather, Fred. He and Carol had only been married for four years, and Fred and Carrie were known to bump heads on occasion. He was a disciplinarian, and like many teenagers, Carrie didn't like taking orders from him. And the police were also a bit suspicious because after Carrie disappeared, he built a concrete patio in their front yard. So there were some whispers as to whether or not that had something to do with her disappearance. But they would question him, and he was adamant that he would never hurt Carrie.

Just to be safe, however, detectives brought in ground-penetrating radar to see if there were any disturbances underneath the concrete patio. Luckily, nothing was found, and Fred was ruled out as a suspect. And after those rumors calmed down, the investigation was at a standstill. Again, most people in town thought that Carrie ran away, but her mother Carol knew that that wasn't the case.

Now, the police weren't making any headway, so she decided to take matters into her own hands and reach out to the Milwaukee Journal. She gave them a recent picture of Carrie and begged them to cover her disappearance. And luckily, they did. Printed on the front page was a picture of Carrie and the title, Have You Seen This Girl?,

And with the new media attention shining a spotlight on Carrie's disappearance, tips began to roll into the Milwaukee Police Department. Many people across the city reported seeing Carrie at different locations. One tip said she was seen in a local neighborhood. Others saw her on a street corner or in a passing car. One caller even admitted that he saw Carrie in California.

With all of these sightings, the police were starting to believe that maybe Carrie met an older man and was staying with him out of fear of getting in trouble. And just imagine the relief her family felt after learning of these sightings. However, every time they would go out to the location where someone saw her, she was gone. Then one day, a few weeks after her disappearance, her mother Carol saw Carrie herself.

She said she was driving around near their South Milwaukee neighborhood when she looked up and saw her daughter up ahead. Shocked and relieved, she gets out of the car and starts screaming Carrie's name, but the girl just took off running in the other direction. Carol was devastated, and for a moment, she even thought to herself that maybe Carrie did run away. Is she scared of coming home?

Why doesn't she realize that she's not in trouble? Now, the police would look into the sighting and it turns out it wasn't Carrie. It was some other girl who looked like her. So for a while there, the case seemed to be warming up and Carol had hoped that they would find her daughter. But as months passed, leads were coming fewer and further between and that hope was getting harder to hold on to.

Which is just so horrible, obviously I am not a parent yet. But I've heard many people say that your children are like your heart beating outside of your chest. And to not know where they are or if they're safe, I just can't imagine how helpless that must feel. And after a year, Carrie Ann's missing person file was put away in a cabinet with other cold cases.

Her mother, Carol, tried to stay positive, but something deep down told her that Carrie was no longer alive. In a grueling 18 months after her disappearance, Carol would get that confirmation. It was September 2nd, 1983.

A contractor named Conrad Nisowitz was called out to a Milwaukee neighborhood to do some renovations on someone's back porch. The one that they had was old and falling apart. So Conrad goes to the back of the house and spends hours pulling apart old wood and getting everything prepared so that he could build them a new one. After getting all of the debris out of the way,

He grabs a shovel and starts digging under the deck, when all of a sudden his shovel hits something hard beneath the dirt. He leans down to investigate and there in the dirt is what looks like human hair. Horrified, he cautiously digs a little further, exposing human skin and a horrible smell of decomposition.

Conrad now knows for a fact that he just unearthed a body. And as soon as he comes to this realization, he turns around to see Johnny Mant staring at him with all of the color drained from his face. The home where the renovations were taking place was the Mant residence, the last place Carrie was seen alive.

For 18 months, Carol had been looking for her daughter when she was right across the street the entire time. Not long after the discovery in the man's backyard, Carol hears sirens outside of her home. She glances out the window to see her entire street lined with cop cars and news reporters.

So like any curious neighbor, she steps outside to see what the commotion was. And in front of the man's house, she can see a dark bag. She didn't immediately know what it was until she started hearing people whisper among the crowd. Apparently, it's the body of a young girl. Carol immediately falls to her knees. They didn't even have to tell her it was Carrie Ann. She already knew.

At some point, Carol tries to run to her daughter, but the police hold her back. And that's when she sees Robin Mant. Carol yells out to her, "Robin, what was she wearing? What clothes were on the body?" Robin responds, "A white coat." Carol already knew that the body was her firstborn child, but now she had proof, and she's obviously devastated.

The officers on scene tell Carol to go back home, and they will call her later if in fact it was her daughter. That walk back to her house was a blur. Her entire world had just come crashing down, and it almost felt like a bad dream that you can't wake up from. But this was her new reality, and all of her efforts were now focused on finding who did this to her little girl.

But it would take a few days to identify her. When crime scene investigators came to the home to retrieve the body, they found her in a shallow grave, about five inches deep, and the body had gone through a lot of decomposition, so they were not able to identify her just by her looks. But pretty much everyone in town knew that it was Carrie. And every media network in the city was reporting on the body found in the Mance backyard. Carrie's best friend Margie said she was at an ice cream shop with her mom when she saw a newspaper. The title read,

girl's skeleton found on her back porch. Margie said she and her mom began reading it, and the article talked about the outfit the body had on. Margie said she froze and said, Mom, that's Carrie. And she knew it was Carrie because the two had bought that outfit together the night before her disappearance. It would take about four days for the medical examiner to compare dental records, but once they did, they got the confirmation that the body in fact belonged to 13-year-old Carrie Ann Jopek.

That day, Carol went to the morgue to retrieve her daughter's things. On the cold stainless steel table were Carrie's clothes and shoes. She said her jacket smelled of decomposition and she was just overcome with sadness. For over a year, she had been looking for Carrie, worried sick about where she was, who she was with, or if she was safe. And now her body is sitting in a morgue.

and she still has so many questions. During the autopsy, they found that Carrie's C1 vertebrae was fractured, which is usually the kind of injury you get from a severe whiplash. They also found a skull fracture on the left side of her head, which they believed came from a fall, possibly from someone pushing her or by falling herself.

So they didn't rule it as homicide just yet. They ruled it undetermined. But whether or not her death was an accident, someone had to have dug a hole and buried her in it. And now it was time to find out who. Unfortunately, there wasn't any physical evidence pointing to anyone in particular. So they have to start interviewing persons of interest. And almost immediately, they focused their attention on Johnny Mantt.

He had been a person of interest since the beginning, and he was very vague about everything that happened on the day of Carrie's disappearance. They were also suspicious of him because of his reaction when Carrie's body was unearthed in his backyard. He actually got so sick that day he was vomiting all over his house. So was his reaction of pure shock? Or was he scared that they unearthed his dark secret?

One thing the officers knew for sure was that they needed to speak with him immediately. Now, they didn't get to question him that first day, but they did interview his parents and Robin, and from what they could tell, they were truly horrified about the discovery in their backyard, and the police were pretty confident they had nothing to do with it. Johnny, on the other hand, was a different story.

Like we mentioned, Carrie and Robin were good friends, and Carrie spent a lot of time over at the Mance residence. Her mother, Carol, actually recalled that before her disappearance, Carrie told her that Johnny Mance had a crush on her. Apparently, she had gone over there, and Johnny was rubbing on her legs and flirting with Carrie, and she said it made her feel uncomfortable. But did he have motive to kill her?

Johnny also had a few run-ins with the law, but they were mostly for things like petty theft or buying minors alcohol, nothing violent. But because of his troubled past, everyone immediately suspected him as being the killer.

And like we mentioned, Johnny was too sick to talk to the police when Carrie's body was discovered. So now that he had some time to recover, they asked him to come to the station for questioning. He agrees to speak with them without an attorney. And their first impression was that he seemed pretty calm. He told the officers that Carrie had come over to their house on multiple occasions, but he had nothing to do with her death.

So, they ask him about the party that night. But again, he claims that there was no party. Next, they ask him, "Well, if you're innocent, then why did you get so sick when they found her body in your backyard?" He tells them that seeing that body was shocking. He had never seen a dead body before, so clearly it's unsettling. Especially when it's in your own backyard.

Now, the detectives were not buying this story, so they start pushing him pretty hard, trying to get a confession. And as the pressure started mounting, Johnny requested a lawyer, so they had to stop the interview. And at the end of the day, they had no physical evidence linking him to the crime, so they had to let him go.

A few days after questioning Johnny Mant, Carol and her family were finally able to lay Carrie to rest. She was buried in the Arlington Park Cemetery, surrounded by everyone who knew and loved her. Carol would later say that she felt a lot of mixed emotions at the funeral. She was sad that Carrie was gone, but she was also happy that they finally found her and that she was at rest. At the same time, however, she still wanted answers. It was a very emotional day for everyone. No one should ever have to go to a 13-year-old's funeral.

All of Carrie's friends from her middle school were there that day to pay their respects, including Robin Mant. And as her casket was lowered into the ground, they all just hugged each other and sobbed. Watching this, Carol was proud that her daughter made a huge and lasting impression on all of their lives. And Carrie's friends would make sure to stay in touch over the years, checking up on Carol whenever they could.

But many of them felt a lot of guilt. Her friend Margie would later say, "I always regretted not leaving with her when she got suspended because we would have never went to Robin's house. I just really didn't think I needed to at the time, and that's what kills me. Nobody would have known the future or what would have happened. So I keep trying to tell myself, 'It's not my fault. It's not my fault.' But it's my biggest regret ever was not leaving with her." But the events of what happened that night at the Mant house were still a little unclear.

Many people that were there that night said that she was there one second and then gone the next. And this case was huge because you would assume that since Carrie's body was literally buried in their backyard, the case would surely get solved pretty quickly. But unfortunately, that would not be the case. Everyone had a pretty good idea on who killed her.

But since they didn't have any physical evidence, they couldn't arrest anyone. Years and years would pass, and Carol would watch all of Carrie's friends grow up, graduate high school, get married, have kids of their own, while her daughter was forever 13 years old, and her killer was still walking free.

Carol also felt a lot of guilt throughout the years. She would constantly ask herself, why didn't I just pick her up from school that day? For the next six years, Carol did her best to continue on with life, but she said it was hard when she gets to live and Carrie doesn't. The open wound of your child's unsolved murder, it never quite heals. But in October of 1989,

Cary Jopek's cold case began to heat up again when the Milwaukee Police Department got a call from an inmate at the Dodge Correctional Institute. Apparently, he wanted to speak with them about a cold case. The inmate was named Thomas Luker, and he claimed to have some information on the murder of 13-year-old Cary Jopek. As you can imagine, the detectives are eager to hear what he has to say, so they set up a meeting.

According to Thomas, he was the ex-boyfriend of Robin Mant. The two dated for about three years from 1983 to 1986. Thomas told the detectives that during their relationship, Robin confided in him and admitted that her brother, Johnny Mann, was responsible for Carrie's murder. In this statement, he said that Johnny murdered Carrie and then kept her body in the basement for a few days before he buried her under the back porch.

So with this new information, the police want to speak with Robin to verify this story. And when they do, she admits that he did have a relationship with Thomas Luker, and they had discussed Carrie's case before. But she was adamant he was lying. Robin said that Thomas was upset with her for breaking up with him, and he must have wanted to get back at her, because that entire story was false. And Robin seemed to be telling the truth. And a jailhouse confession is definitely not enough to make an arrest. So they were back to the drawing board.

For a while there, Carrie's family thought that they would finally get the answers they had been searching for. But once again, they were let down. Now, this was in 1989. And sadly, Carrie's case would go unsolved for another 25 years. Carol was beginning to think that her daughter's case would never be solved.

Which was heartbreaking because she felt like Carrie could never fully rest peacefully until they found her killer. But she always held on to that glimmer of hope that somebody out there knew something and that hopefully one day they would find it in their hearts to come clean.

And little did anyone know, that day was actually right around the corner when in October of 2015, a call came in to a crisis hotline. "Hi, thank you for calling the crisis hotline. My name's Sarah. I'm a crisis counselor. How can I help you today?" "Hi, um, I want to talk about something that happened back in 1982. It's something that's been haunting me for a while now." "Okay, tell me what happened."

Over 30 years ago, I was at this party and while I was there, I accidentally killed a young girl. It was an accident, I swear. And afterwards, I buried under a back porch. The cops questioned me a few times over the years, but there wasn't enough evidence, so I never got arrested. But she's been haunting me. I feel her presence all around me, and I just can't hold it in anymore. I had to tell someone.

The caller in question was 49-year-old Jose Ferreira. In this phone call, he also said he wanted his confession to "be on the news and publicized." He then admitted that he wasn't sure if he wanted to "go out in a blaze of glory or in silence." Jose would end up hanging up on the crisis counselor before she was able to get his identity.

But he did tell her his home address at the time of the murder. So after he hung up, she immediately called 911 to report the confession. And it wouldn't take the Milwaukee police very long to figure out who he was and what crime he was confessing to.

And interestingly enough, right before calling the crisis hotline, Jose had also confessed to his estranged wife, Brenda, and a Milwaukee news station. Jose had been holding onto this secret for 33 years and he couldn't do it anymore. So the police go to his home, which was only two houses away from where Carrie lived at the time of her death. And they bring him back to the station for a formal interview.

And finally, after 33 years, the police were about to learn exactly what happened on that horrible night in 1982. So let's bring you back. It's March 16th. Carrie was walking home from school when she decides to go to her friend Robin's house instead of going home and getting in trouble for her suspension. There were a bunch of kids at the party, including 17-year-old Jose.

Everyone there had skipped school that day to party. Jose admitted that he had been drinking Yukon Jack mixed with soda and he was smoking marijuana. Everyone was having a really great time. At some point in the night, Jose sees Carrie standing in the kitchen by the basement door. The two were friends. Jose had even been by her house a few times to play cards. So they definitely weren't strangers.

So Jose walks up to her and they carry on a conversation and they seem to really be hitting it off. At some point, Kerry asks him for a cigarette. He didn't have one, but he did have a joint. So the two smoke and chat for a few more minutes when all of a sudden, Kerry asked if he wanted to go down into the basement. Now, apparently that was the place where everyone went if they wanted to make out and fool around.

So when she asked this, Jose took it as an invitation. The two began to make their way down the steps and Jose shuts the basement door behind him. But after getting about halfway down, Carrie stops. She turns around and tells Jose, quote, "I don't know if this is a good idea." According to Carrie's mom, she was still a virgin and it's clear that she was having second thoughts.

And I figure most people listening to this already know this, but if someone says yes to sex and then at some point they change their mind, the answer is always no. I don't care if you're in the middle of having sex, people are allowed to change their mind. It's a little thing called consent. Now, Jose didn't care that Carrie changed her mind.

In his mind, she already agreed to it. So when Carrie said, I don't know if this is a good idea, he responds, We're going downstairs. Now, what happens next is a little unclear. It's possible that Carrie tried to run back up the stairs, but she would never make it back up to the party because it's here when Jose pushes her. Carrie goes tumbling down the steps of the basement. ♪

with her body hitting the railing and wall before ultimately landing at the bottom of the staircase. Her legs and feet were on the last two steps of the stairs. As Jose made his way down, he figures she's knocked out, so he takes this opportunity to feel her breasts, all while telling her, you're such a beautiful girl. And then he raped her.

Now after the sexual assault, Jose goes to pick her up, but he said as he bent down he noticed something was wrong. When Jose lifted Carrie up, he noticed her head was turning in the opposite direction. It was clear that her neck had snapped during the fall and she was dead. Jose was panicking, trying to figure out what he would do with her.

He said he thought about leaving the party and acting like nothing happened. But there were witnesses who saw him with Carrie before they went into the basement. So he opened up a door and saw an exterior staircase leading to the backyard. He also saw a shovel. And it was here where he decided he was going to bury her in the man's backyard. And now we're going to take our first and only ad break.

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The back porch of the man's home was unkempt, but there was a little space underneath it that had enough room to hide a body. Jose said that he quickly began digging. The hole was only five inches deep, but it took him about 45 minutes to dig it up.

He wanted to dig even further, but he said the ground was still frozen, so once it looked deep enough, he dragged her body over, placed her in the hole, and then covered her with dirt. After disposing of her body, Jose left the party and disappeared for a while. He was anxious about the entire thing, but he eventually made his way back home, which was just a few houses away.

Now, people at the party would later ask Jose what happened with Carrie after they went into the basement, but he always claimed he didn't know. And why these people never told the police that he was the last one seen with her, we'll never know. A neighbor named Robert Smith would actually come out after all this and say that pretty much everyone knew that Jose killed her. And the rumor around the neighborhood was that Jose and Carrie got into a fight on the night of the party and went out to the back porch. As they argued, Jose hit her with a shovel, which knocked her off the porch and onto the ground.

He panicked and pushed the body under the deck. Then he went home to cool off before he returned and buried the body. So that was at least the rumor going around. Robert would later say, "It was no secret around the neighborhood that he did it." To which I say, "Then why the hell wouldn't anyone say anything?"

They could have saved Carrie's family decades of sleepless nights. Jose also admitted that he watched from his house as the contractor dug Carrie up in the man's backyard. He said he witnessed his friend Johnny Mant vomiting when Carrie was pulled from the ground. For years, Jose figured it was only a matter of time until they arrested him for her murder.

and the guilt was eating him alive. Like we mentioned earlier, detectives had questioned Jose a few times throughout their investigation, but the only reason he was on their radar at all was because after Carrie was found, Jose was seen at the man's back porch, kneeling by where her body was located, and he was crying with his hands lifted up to the sky.

A concerned neighbor actually saw this and immediately reported it to the police. And the next day they brought him in for an interview. And they started by asking why he was crying by Carrie's grave. Jose told the detectives that he was very upset about her death and that this whole situation bothered him so much he couldn't help but cry. He said he had been very depressed lately. He and his girlfriend had broken up.

and he had lost an old friend of his, so when he went by her grave, he was crying, raising his hands up in the sky, asking God why he would take Carrie away. Now, the detectives were definitely suspicious of him. Jose, or Junior as everyone called him at the time, was known to be involved in witchcraft.

He also drank heavily, smoked weed, and at the time he had three warrants out for his arrest for theft. So he was a bit of an outcast. He also denied knowing about the party Johnny had on the day she disappeared. And without any evidence connecting him to the crime, the police had to let him go, having no idea that he was the one who took Carrie's life.

And at the time, the police were more focused on Johnny Mant being the suspect. But Jose was adamant that Johnny was innocent and that he worked alone that night.

When the confession was over, the detective said that you could literally see that a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He had been carrying the secret for 33 years, never telling a soul. He felt so relieved, he even hugged the detectives after his confession. But we have some doubts as to whether or not he confessed because he actually felt guilty. After all, he called a TV station to confess and wanted an interview with them so the world would know his name.

but regardless of his intentions jose was arrested for the second degree murder of cariann jopek and now it was time to inform carol tusna that her daughter's murder had finally been solved after 33 years when carol first heard the name jose ferreira she knew exactly who he was when carrie was alive he would come by their home from time to time and there were never any red flags

In fact, after Carrie's death, many of Carrie's friends would come by their house just to check in on her and see how she was doing. And Jose was one of these people. He would stand in their kitchen and chat with her and Fred, comforting them through their grieving process. He would even come by for holidays and family gatherings. And Carol was grateful to have a connection with one of Carrie's friends.

In hindsight, however, he was likely going by to see if anyone was suspicious of him. But there was one instance with Jose that was a little off-putting. Carol said that about a week after Carrie's funeral, Jose came over and they started talking about Carrie, reminiscing on good times, when all of a sudden he said, "...Carrie is haunting me."

At the time, Carol thought it was strange, but she just blew it off and figured he was grieving. She could have never known that the boy who had been coming by to comfort her was her daughter's killer. A Milwaukee cold case is heating up. After more than 30 years, a possible confession is made involving the death and disappearance of a 13-year-old girl. Fox 6 reporter Derricka Williams spoke with the victim's mother, who just learned of these latest developments.

In September 1983, police unearthed the body of Carrie Ann Jopek buried underneath a neighbor's back porch. As the remains were dug up, trauma came to light. I verified her clothing, her torn jacket that was on the side which I sewed. A devastating identification by Carolyn Tusna. The discovery was her 13-year-old daughter who went missing a year and a half earlier.

On March 16th, 1982, after being suspended from school, Carrie Ann Jopek never made it to her home a block away. Now, decades later, Tuzna is learning what may have happened to her beloved teen. The detective that's working on the case

and she's the one that told me he was in custody. - The man who spent the last moments with Carrie Ann has allegedly confessed. Tusna says the investigator gave her a note the suspect wrote detailing what happened. - They were drinking. Her and him went down the basement stairs and she tripped and snapped her neck. He had sexual intercourse with her. He thought she was unconscious, but he realized she was dead. So next day he buried her.

She says she knows the suspect and the two have exchanged words. The year that she was missing, he told me that she was haunting him. Now all she has to say to him is... Face the music. See what he did to her. I like him in jail for it.

Well, Tusna says although she is feeling relieved that someone is in custody, she still isn't sure if the story that the man gave is the truth and the death was really an accident. Milwaukee police confirmed they have made an arrest in connection with this case. The investigation still continues and police are unsure of a timetable for potential charges at this point. Live in the newsroom, Derricka Williams, Fox 6 News. Very interesting developments just the same, Derricka, thank you.

After Jose's arrest, Carol would say, quote,

Every time I watch Cold Case or some other detective show, I would hope and pray one of these days we get the person who did that to Carrie. I miss her so much." Now, unfortunately, there were no charges for the sexual assault or hiding her corpse because of the statute of limitations.

Which is just absolutely ridiculous. But here is Carol talking with reporters about Jose's arrest. Carrie was. Carrie was haunting him. And she kept on until it worked. She was persistent.

VERY PERSISTENT CHILD. SHE WAS. JOPEK'S MOM SAYS HER 7TH GRADE DAUGHTER DIDN'T COME HOME AFTER BEING SUSPENDED FOR SKIPPING CLASS BACK IN 1982. 18 MONTHS LATER, POLICE UNCOVERED CARRIE AND JOPEK'S BODY, BURIED UNDER A PORCH AT A HOME ACROSS THE STREET FROM HER OWN.

ACCORDING TO THE CRIMINAL COMPLAINT, FERERA TOLD POLICE HE AND JOPEK WERE AT A PARTY AT THE HOME. THAT SHE INVITED HIM TO THE BASEMENT TO BE ALONE THEN CHANGED HER MIND. FERERA SAYS HE PUSHED HER, SHE FELL, BROKE HER NECK AND HE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED HER. WHEN HE REALIZED SHE WAS DEAD, HE BURIED HER AND KEPT HIS SECRET FOR 33 YEARS. "You waited a long time for this?" "33 years."

CAROLYN TUSENEN SAYS THE FAMILY WENT TO VISIT CARRIE AT THE CEMETERY THIS WEEKEND TO TELL HER OF THE CHARGE. THEY'RE THANKFUL HE CONFESSED, JUST WISH HE'D DONE IT SOONER. "All these years we would have known something.

Now, Jopek's family says it will be in court for Ferreira's next court appearance at the end of the month. And if convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years. And Ferreira could have actually faced other charges as well. Right. But the legal time limits for charging sexual assault of a child and hiding a corpse have long passed. But there is no time limit for murder. So that's why he's facing that murder charge. All right. Thank you, Colleen.

Now, despite Jose's confession, when it came to trial, his attorneys brought forward a new theory to keep their client out of jail. They wanted to put the blame back on Johnny Mann because the party happened at his house and he had never uttered a word about it, even after the police questioned him.

There was also the statement from Robin's ex-boyfriend, Thomas, who claimed Robin told him that Johnny was responsible. But it was a far stretch, and it would later be dropped as a defense for Jose, who had entered a plea of not guilty. There was speculation as to why Jose decided to confess after so many years. The prosecution described him as a pathetic individual who had sort of hit a rock bottom.

In the years leading up to his arrest, he had been arrested numerous times for various crimes and was a heavy drinker. The prosecution suggested that his drinking may have led to the confession. The defense theorized that Jose suffered from mental illness and wanted his wife, who at the time was divorcing him, to feel sorry for him and not leave. But before his trial, he was actually offered a plea deal by the prosecution on January 17th, 2017.

Due to the case being 35 years old and lack of physical evidence, the prosecution agreed to reduce the charges if Jose pleaded guilty. So instead of second-degree murder, where he faced up to 20 years in prison, he was now charged with attempted second-degree sexual assault with use of force and false imprisonment.

These charges hold a maximum of seven years in prison. So he clearly took the deal. Jose would later say, quote, I just want this over and done with, end quote. Jose Ferreira was sentenced on March 17th, 2017, exactly 35 years and one day after Carrie's murder. Her mother, Carol, sat in court with Carrie's seventh grade school photo,

as the judge read out his sentence. Seven years for murdering a 13-year-old girl, five years for the attempted sexual assault, and two years for false imprisonment. Ashamed, Jose kept his head down only a few feet away from Carol while she read her impact statement. In part of it, she said, quote, "'He is still alive. Carrie's gone.'"

the only time I'll see her again is in heaven." End quote. Carrie's family was obviously not very happy with his sentence. Her cousin would later say, "I would like for him to be able to sit alone all the time. She had to sit at that porch alone. He got to be married, he got to have a family, she got nothing." End quote. And although they wished Jose got a heavier sentence,

They were happy that they finally had some answers. And in their eyes, seven years was better than nothing at all. At the end of the trial, Jose would speak to Carrie's family directly, saying, quote, "'I can't take back how it happened. "'Sorry, from the deepest pain in my heart, sorry.'" And from here, he was taken off to serve his seven-year sentence."

Seven years, the prison sentence for Milwaukee man accused in the cold case murder of a 13 year old girl in 1982. We have closure now and I know she's up in heaven and God is smiling. He said, no, we got this guy.

That's Carrie Ann Jopek's mother. Her daughter's body was found under a porch on the city's south side in 1982. Her neck had been snapped and she had been sexually assaulted. Her case remained unsolved until 2015 when a man named Jose Ferreira made a few confessions, including one to our newsroom. His defense attorney talked about that in court. He wanted to go out in a blaze of glory and so he called a suicide hotline. He called the Channel 12 News and he

Wanted to have an interview with Kathy Michael Wheat because he wanted to be someone. Ferreira was originally charged with murder, but right before the trial started, he pleaded guilty to lesser charges of sexual assault and false imprisonment. He received the maximum sentence of seven years. Many people were outraged that Jose received such a light sentence, but Assistant District Attorney Carl Hayes said there was a paucity of evidence and many questions surrounding the case would never be answered.

One concern by the prosecution was that a new medical examiner examined the 1983 autopsy results and concluded that Carrie's neck injury was most likely from being struck with a large object. The results weren't conclusive with the fall down a staircase. And if you remember, the rumor around the neighborhood was that Carrie and Jose got into an argument and that he hit her in the head with a shovel. So there could have been some truth to that rumor. However,

I guess we'll never truly know. Assistant DA Hayes also stated that Jose was a pathetic individual, but the light sentence was fitting because he didn't think Jose was a threat to society. Carol Tuznat still struggles with the fact that she didn't pick Carrie up from school that day, but she also notes that Carrie was a stubborn girl, and even if she would have been grounded that night, she likely would have snuck out and gone to the party anyway.

But Carol says that that same stubbornness is how Carrie helped solve her own murder, saying, quote, Carrie was haunting him. She kept on until it worked. She was persistent, a very persistent child she was, end quote.

As of 2022, Jose Ferreira completed his prison sentence and is now a registered sex offender in Glendale, Wisconsin. And we can only hope that his actions on March 16th, 1982 will continue to haunt him for the rest of his days.

Hey everybody, it's Colin here. Thank you for joining us for this week's episode of Murder in America. This is such a crazy story. It's such a sad story. It's a story that I feel like I've heard before. This type of crime just has happened so many times in American history and it really, at the end of it, makes me sit and wonder what types of secrets most people are hiding or what, you know, what murders could be solved if people were really truthful and just came forward about what they had done in the past. I don't know. It's just food for thought.

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