• Home
  • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
  • Contact

JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Apple faces a $14.5 billion Irish tax bill, but who the heck is going to enforce the order?
Good, bad and strange news on Labor Day 2016 »

Only Fox4 TV has aggresively pursued the Julianna Pappas murder story

September 2, 2016 by jimmycsays

If there’s ever a story that local news organizations should be pushing hard to learn as much about as possible, it’s the rape and murder of 46-year-old Julianna Pappas of Overland Park.

Granted it is lurid and salacious: Pappas was 46 and, from a grainy photograph of her, appears to be very attractive, while the accused, Korrey Rinke, is a 22-year-old, tattooed, blue-collar worker.

Despite the fact that what happened to Pappas is awful and despicable, this is the kind of story that appeals to virtually everyone’s curiosity. The basic things the public wants to know are: How did these two get together? What was their connection? And if Pappas was with Rinke voluntarily, why would she be socializing with a man 24 years younger than she?

The biggest surprise to me is that only one news outlet, FOX4, has gone after this story aggressively.

julianna (1)

Pappas

Since Pappas’ body was found Wednesday near 115th Street and Indian Creek in Overland Park, I had mostly been reading The Star’s stories, and they were leaving me frustrated.

Up to now, about noon Friday, The Star has failed to answer any of the three main questions I posed above. It has reported only basic, police-handout information, including the names and ages of the accused and the victim, where the body was recovered, that Rinke has lived in both Iowa and Kansas and that he made his first court appearance Thursday.

Nothing about whether they knew each other, how they knew each other and if they were dating — an obvious question, despite the age difference. (Another key question is whether Rinke has any felony convictions. A spokesman for the Johnson County District Attorney’s office said today he would not give me that information.)

Even though two KC Star reporters are sharing the byline — veteran police reporter Tony Rizzo and newcomer Katy Bergen — there is no indication that either of them has been able to get below the surface, or if they’ve even tried. I truly hope they have tried because if they haven’t, it means their editors haven’t pushed them, which, in turn, means the editors don’t recognize the appeal of this story.

To Fox4’s credit — that’s WDAF-TV, Channel 4 — its editors understand the appeal and the urgency to work fast.

A lengthy story on Fox4’s website offers considerable details, including that Rinke worked at a truck-cover-manufacturing company in Ottawa, about an hour south of Kansas City on I-35. Until it was updated earlier today, the story included video of a reporter saying that Pappas had also worked at the company.

That key issue is not addressed in the updated version, so I have to wonder if it is correct. Nevertheless, the earlier video planted enough of a seed to suggest the workplace could be the point of connection.

Other points of interest in the Fox4 report include:

:: “Sometime around Aug. 22, the two went out on a date and it was the last time Pappas was seen alive.”

:: Rinke was living in a house a few blocks from his workplace, and a white pick-up truck was recently towed from the yard.

rinke

Rinke

:: After Pappas disappeared, Rinke was caught on video surveillance at work going through Pappas’ belongings. “When police questioned him, Rinke eventually broke down, saying he did something bad and told investigators where they should look for Pappas’ body.”

:: Rinke grew up in a mobile home park in Gardner, KS, under the care of a mother who, according to a neighbor, was “off on the road” and a father who was “either on alcohol or pills or whatever.”

:: As a boy, the neighbor said, Rinke was reserved and “nice and polite to me.”

…Assuming the facts in the Fox4 report are correct, that is excellent information for the readers/viewers and goes a long way toward fleshing out the story.

I also went to the three other local stations’ websites and read and watched their stories. While their stories were not nearly as thorough and advanced as Fox4’s, two stations provided new information.

For example, KMBC-TV Channel 9 reported that Pappas had recently moved to Overland park from Texas.

And KSHB-TV Channel 41 reported that Rinke was arrested in Emporia. KSHB also reported that Rinke had worked at the manufacturing company for 10 months, but, curiously, it said he “disappeared” from work in late July. That would seem to run counter to the Fox4 report that Rinke was caught on video surveillance, after Pappas’ disappearance, going through her belongings at the manufacturing company.

…On that point, I am nit-picking. My bigger point is that only one major news outlet has pushed hard on a story of keen public interest. I congratulate Fox4, and, at the same time, I fault the three other stations and The Star for lethargic reporting. Stories like this don’t come along very often, and reporters and editors need to be primed for possibilities and ready to hit the ground running.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments

17 Responses

  1. on September 2, 2016 at 2:08 pm gayle

    Jim, do you have an opinion as to why the news sources you mention (primarily The Star) would not be going after this story? I haven’t delved as deeply as you have, only continuing to mostly check The Star, and just thought the lack of detail was because that was all they had thus far.


    • on September 2, 2016 at 6:49 pm jimmycsays

      Effort + resourcefulness = results…The Star has the resources; the editors have decided, for whatever reason, not to devote the effort. Same goes for the three other stations, too, I would imagine.


  2. on September 2, 2016 at 2:20 pm gayle

    Another example of apparent non-follow-through: I just logged on to the SM Post and there’s a story about the lady who was killed in a head-on crash on Metcalf last Friday night. I checked The Star site for several days after their initial report of the accident, looking for her name and any other details and never saw anything.


  3. on September 2, 2016 at 3:48 pm John Altevogt

    There was a shooting in KCK involving Somali refugees and to the best of my knowledge no one in the metro area media bothered to cover it. So none of them has much to brag about.

    That said, last time I checked Facebook likes, Fox 4 leads the pack and had 4 times the number The Star has (The Star is at the bottom of the barrel by about 50,000 likes behind the lowest of the TV stations, KSHB). FOX 4 is consistently cited more than any other KC news source, probably deservedly so.


    • on September 2, 2016 at 6:51 pm jimmycsays

      Good to know — about the Facebook stats.


  4. on September 3, 2016 at 9:08 am Mike Rice

    Fitz, you’re right that this is a story that is ripe for followup. And you’re also right that it appeals to readers for all the wrong reasons. We love the lurid and salacious. And this story leaves a lot of questions. We both know that if given the time and resources, The Star can do an excellent A-1 piece on this. It just won’t be tomorrow. With that said, kudos to Fox 4 News for beating all the other media on this story. I like their Web site too. Maybe I will be proven wrong, but the Toby Young story comes to mind with this latest tragedy.


    • on September 3, 2016 at 9:47 am jimmycsays

      Oddly, the Fox 4 story with all the detail was taken down later yesterday in favor of a bare-bones story, which had no more information than The Star’s story.

      It makes me wonder if they thought they had gone on the limb or had qualms about their sources. I don’t understand why, having established a detailed story, they would back off to a much-less-informative story. But, then, I don’t understand TV operations. What I do know is it’s impossible for me to watch local TV news because of all the “up-to-date weather” reports and the incessant commercials.


      • on September 3, 2016 at 11:39 am John Altevogt

        As opposed to the incessant pop up ads on The Star’s site?


  5. on September 3, 2016 at 11:45 am jimmycsays

    Very annoying, I grant you, but you can eliminate them in a few seconds. With TV news, you can’t hit a “skip this ad” key.


    • on September 3, 2016 at 3:54 pm John Altevogt

      You won that one.


  6. on September 5, 2016 at 10:43 am David Chartrand

    Great post on the Pappas/Rinke murder case. –David Chartrand


  7. on September 5, 2016 at 10:04 pm JA

    Thank you for sharing this. I have been searching for information as the body was found near the Indian Creek Trail. As a person using this trail frequently, I wanted more information about whether or not the victim and person charged with her murder knew each other. Thanks so much!


    • on September 5, 2016 at 10:31 pm jimmycsays

      I don’t know for sure, but I doubt very much that she was killed along the trail. Rinke has lived in several parts of southern Johnson County and probably knew the trail area well. It was an impulsive, spontaneous murder, and he was just doing whatever first came to mind afterwards.


  8. on September 7, 2016 at 12:29 pm Stephen

    This guy is something else. He worked for me at ATC here in Ottawa for several months. We rode home from work together every day, and I even had him in my home several times. One thing that stands out to me is every time we hired any female employees, he would be very awkward, inappropriate and some times rather sexist towards them. He would constantly ask them about their ‘sign.’ I knew something was off about him but never would have expected this. Also, his father has been in and out of prison most of Korrey’s life. I also know that he does not have any prior felony convictions.


    • on September 7, 2016 at 4:30 pm jimmycsays

      Thanks for that information, Stephen.


  9. on September 7, 2016 at 2:26 pm S

    Juliana recently moved to the area from Houston, TX. As far as I know she did not know this man, other than meeting him informally while doing a medical study in Quintiles (not far from crime scene.)
    They were both at Quintiles the morning of her disappearance. She didn’t drive anything but an electric motor bike (which was still there Wednesday morning) so I’m assuming he offered her a ride home (if I remember correctly it was overcast).
    He was at Quintiles again Wednesday morning acting as a “normal” person would. I did not speak to this man besides in passing but he seemed mild mannered/timid. Someone I wouldn’t have thought as a threat.
    This woman was at the same place, same time and is the same size as me (petite but muscular) and she met a horrible death from someone who was seemingly innocent. Stop victim blaming.


    • on September 7, 2016 at 4:32 pm jimmycsays

      That’s good inside information, S. Fox 4’s report that she worked at ATC, the truck cover place, was obviously wrong.



Comments are closed.

  • Pages

    • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
    • Contact
  • Archives

    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 562 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Join 562 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: