The Unsolved: Cousins still seek serial rapist
Thirty four years later, two women share the story of the assault they survived in Wilkes-Barre.
Two cousins who are northeastern Pennsylvania natives are sharing a story they've held close for more than 30 years.
The two women were among a series of victims attacked by a serial rapist in Wilkes-Barre in the late 1980s.
The rapist was never caught, but the cousins have never given up hope that their case would one day be closed.
34 YEARS LATER
Pam Fendrock and Anita Fendrock Janicki share more than blood. The cousins also share a decades-old trauma.
Now, they think it's time to share their story.
"It's always been on my mind, it's never left me, it's always there, somewhere," Pam said in a sit-down interview with Action 16 Investigates in January.
The cousins say advocacy is one of the reasons they're choosing to come forward now.
"There may be somebody who, something happened to them when they were our age when they were 20 or 25, and it's, you know, 30 years later, and they were never able to talk about it. So, maybe now they can," Anita said.
But it's not the only reason.
JUNE 12TH, 1989
Pam showed Action 16 Investigates a folder she's held onto all these years that details what happened in Wilkes-Barre on June 12, 1989.
It had rained for more than a week straight, and the skies were finally clear. So, Pam and Anita went for a late-night walk on South River Street after Pam finished her bartending shift. It was around 2 a.m.
"They weren't busy that time of night, but we picked the main street. We were going for a doughnut, we were going to walk for a doughnut and coffee," Pam said.
They heard footsteps behind them and separated to let who they thought was a runner pass. But an arm went around each of their necks, and a man with a gun guided them across South River near West South Street.
What's now a park was just woods back then – and very dark.
"He had a burlap bag that he put over one of our heads, and then the other one of us, I had leggings on, he used our leggings. He had one set of bindings, and he had to improvise in some way," Anita described.
That improvisation led Wilkes-Barre Police to believe the man did not intend to rape two women that night, but he did.
He attacked Pam and Anita along the Susquehanna River, where the levy wall now stands.
The cousins said it felt like forever, but they never left each other.
"There was a period of time during the whole thing, a big part of the time, I was certain he was going to kill us, I was absolutely certain he was going to kill us. But I knew for sure, if one of us got away, the other one wouldn't survive," Anita said.
Pam added, "it wasn't an option."
DETECTIVE'S "GREATEST FAILURE"
Pam and Anita would later learn that the horrors they survived matched a series of rapes in Wilkes-Barre during that time.
Investigators believe at least three prior cases could have been the work of the same man.
Former Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Jerry Dessoye was a detective at the time and was investigating the serial rape cases. He and his partner took the lead on Pam and Anita's case.
"I've had other cases I didn't solve, but if there were ever victims who deserved to have their case solved, they were the victims," Dessoye said.
Dessoye is now the assistant director of the police academy at Lackawanna College in Scranton. He tells each incoming class of cadets about Pam and Anita's case and how it still haunts him.
"Did we get close? Is that what stopped it? Did the suspect die? Did the suspect go to jail? Did he move out of the area? I can't tell you. All I can say is I'm not taking credit for anything. It's an unsolved case in my mind, and it always will be, and it will be my greatest failure as an investigator," he said.
CASE GETS FRESH EYES
When Action 16 Investigates contacted Wilkes-Barre Police about the case, the chief reopened the 34-year-old case file, and an officer was dedicated to going through it in hopes of finding something that could break the case now.
Dessoye told Action 16 Investigates he will take another look at the file, too. Though he's never really stopped thinking about it or about Pam and Anita. The three still consider themselves friends.
"One of Pam's last texts to me recently was, 'Don't be burdened by this.' She was more worried about me being upset about not solving it than the fact that it wasn't solved. I mean, that's just the kind of good people we were dealing with here," he said.
The cousins credit their survival to having shared that, too. Each anniversary gets a little easier.
"He didn't win. He didn't win. My life has been affected, but whoever he is, he didn't win," Pam said.
The way evidence is collected in rape cases is a lot different today than in 1989. Today, federal law requires evidence be tested for DNA.
Investigators said there may not be anything in Pam and Anita's file to test today, but they're looking.
See the full interview with Pam Fendrock and Anita Fendrock Janicki below or on the WNEP YouTube channel.