2024-01-18 23:46:00
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KCTV) – Sandra Hemme has been in prison since she was convicted in a 1980 murder that happened in St. Joseph, Missouri. Patricia Jeschke was found dead inside her apartment—she was 31 years old.
Jeschke worked as a secretary at the city library. Her co-workers became concerned when she didn’t show up for work. They eventually called Jeschke’s mother who broke into the apartment to find her daughter’s body.
A newspaper article in 1980 reported on a murder in St. Joseph, Missouri.(St. Joseph News-Press Gazette)
And although there was no connection between Hemme and Jeschke, Hemme confessed to the murder.
But the case is more complicated than the facts tell. This week, a judge in Livingston County heard new information in Hemme’s case once more, and will determine if a terrible mistake was made.
It’s an unusual case, because the Missouri Attorney General welcomed a hearing to get to the bottom of the case.
Hemme’s lawyers are making several arguments to the judge. They point out that Hemme was a psychiatric patient at the time and police questioned her eight different times over two weeks. Each time, her story was different.
Attorney’s claim police interviews took place when Hemme was so medicated that should mightn’t hold her head up.
Sandra Hemme has been in prison since she was convicted in a 1980 murder that happened in St. Joseph, Missouri.(KCTV5)
“The only evidence connecting her to the crime were the multiple inconsistent and factually impossible statements police took over the several weeks they interrogated her,” it says in the petition. Hemme “signed four statements while she was a patient at the mental hospital…She signed those statements while under chemical restraints—psychiatric drugs literally designed to overpower her will.”
Hemme eventually told police that a man named Joe Wabski killed Jeschke. Police later learned that he was out of state at the time of the murder and turned their attention solely on Hemme.
Her legal team claims police ignored evidence that pointed to one of their own. They believe police officer Michael Holman is likely responsible for Jeschke’s death.
Police learned that Holman used Patricia Jeschke’s credit card on the day her body was found to buy photography equipment in Kansas City. They also found the victim’s earrings hidden in Holman’s apartment.
Holman was being investigated for insurance fraud and burglaries. He eventually went to prison and died in 2015.
This week the judge heard from a former St. Joseph police detective who testified Holman was questioned regarding the murder but the information never went anywhere.
Howard Judd told the judge he thought information would go to the prosecutor and recalled how he was “disgusted and angry” when he learned Holman never faced charges.
Outside the courtroom, Judd expressed he was absolutely suspicious of Holman and believes the wrong person went to prison.
“I don’t think justice took place the first time around. There’s no question in my mind,” said Judd.
Sandra Hemme has spent more than four decades in prison.(Innocence Project)
Judd and another former detective testified regarding a white truck spotted near the crime scene. Holman’s own statement to police revealed it was his truck.
But Holman explained he was at a motel with a woman named Mary but mightn’t give investigators any information on how to find this alibi witness.
“Despite this strong evidence implicating Holman, the police abruptly and without explanation ended their investigation of Holman for Ms. Jeschke’s murder, and the prosecution of Ms. Hemme moved forward unimpeded,” wrote Hemme’s attorneys.
A decision in the case isn’t expected for more than a month.
If the judge agrees Hemme is innocent, she will be the longest wrongfully incarcerated woman in the nation until her release.
She is represented by the Innocence Project and local attorney Sean O’Brien.
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