Thought this was interesting...

Paper: Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
Title: "UNSOLVED MYSTERIES' AIRS STORY OF AREA SHOOTING
Author: Bernard A. DuPont; Staff Reporter
Date: January 17, 1990
Section: TELEVISION
Page: A11

PUTNAM - Northeast Connecticut will be featured in a segment of tonight's "Unsolved Mysteries" show on NBC.


Tom Desilets, public relations director at Day Kimball Hospital, said the show's producers said a segment filmed last May would be shown at 8 tonight, if not pre-empted. Robert Stack is the host.The story is about Janice Katilius, a young nurse driving to her job as a social worker at Day Kimball Hospital from her home on Old Town Road in Vernon on the morning of Aug. 22, 1988. She was forced to stop by a man driving a dark-colored pickup truck heading eastward on Brayman Hollow Road in Pomfret.


The man parked his vehicle near a gully on a hill about a mile from Route 97, blocking the path of Ms. Katilius' car. The man got out and walked to her car, firing a single shot from a large caliber revolver through her cheek into her head. She was airlifted to Hartford Hospital where she was confined for several weeks.


Ms. Katilius, then 25, has since recovered and is working elsewhere, Desilets said. Police have found few clues in the case, and the assailant is still free. He was described by Ms. Katilius as a curly-haired man in his mid-20s to early 30s.

Author: Bernard A. DuPont; Staff Reporter
Section: TELEVISION
Page: A11
Dateline: PUTNAM

Copyright (c) 1990 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.

****************************************************

Paper: New Haven Register (CT)
Title: Vernon woman found shot in face
Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Date: August 23, 1988

A 25-year-old Vernon woman was found shot once in the face Monday in a car stopped near Route 97, state police said.State police said Janice Katilius was shot around 9:30 a.m. and found by a passing motorist and in a car on the east side of Braynum Hollow Road off Route 97. State police said they were not sure what type of gun was involved in the shooting.


A motive for the shooting is still under investigation, state police said.


Katilius was initially taken to Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam and transferred to Hartford Hospital by Life Star helicopter.


A hospital spokesman said Monday night that Katilius was listed in critical, but stable condition.

Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Column: Police Roundup

Copyright (c) 1988 New Haven Register

****************************************************

So much for keeping her identity hidden. They gave out enough information on her....why not her phone number and SSN# while they're at it. :rolleyes:

A motive for the shooting is still under investigation, state police said.

There never was a motive. That's what was so crazy about this case. What kind of a jacka*s just pulls over to the side of the road and just shoots some random person in the face?

A motive for the shooting is still under investigation, state police said.

There never was a motive. That's what was so crazy about this case. What kind of a jacka*s just pulls over to the side of the road and just shoots some random person in the face?

I know how you feel. I can't help but wonder if this guy woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, or maybe just wanted to see what it would feel like to shoot someone. It truly was a senseless crime.

I know how you feel. I can't help but wonder if this guy woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, or maybe just wanted to see what it would feel like to shoot someone. It truly was a senseless crime.

I just saw this case last night and couldn't believe it. Does anyone know if they ever caught the guy who did this?

I just saw this case last night and couldn't believe it. Does anyone know if they ever caught the guy who did this?

not to my knowledge.

So sad the punk didn't get caught yet.

I doubt they're even looking anymore.

Thank heavens she's o.k.
Based on what witnesses from the highway said, I think he was probably having a huge road rage incident, then he got on the road and thought she was tailgaiting him and he just lost it, then got out and shot her. She took
the brunt of his frustration from the day.

Too bad they never caught him.

Has anyone on here seen the 1990 title sequence of Unsolved Mysteries?

If not look at it

When it says SOLVED they show clips of stories that were presuambly solved and this was one of them.

Has anyone on here seen the 1990 title sequence of Unsolved Mysteries?

If not look at it

When it says SOLVED they show clips of stories that were presuambly solved and this was one of them.

Yeah, I saw that. They also show scenes from some other stories that are definitely unsolved. So I'm not sure how accurate of a gauge that method is for determining if a case has been solved.

Yeah, I saw that. They also show scenes from some other stories that are definitely unsolved. So I'm not sure how accurate of a gauge that method is for determining if a case has been solved.

That really used to drive me crazy when I was younger. Because they, very often, would show clips of cases that weren't solved under "solved" in the opening sequence. Not just the Carol case but also the Tammi Leppert case, the Mable Woods dog kettle case and the case where the 4 teenagers were driven off the road. None of those have been solved to this day.

That really used to drive me crazy when I was younger. Because they, very often, would show clips of cases that weren't solved under "solved" in the opening sequence. Not just the Carol case but also the Tammi Leppert case, the Mable Woods dog kettle case and the case where the 4 teenagers were driven off the road. None of those have been solved to this day.

Yeah, I have a feeling they did it more because it looked cool rather then as a way to denote solved cases.

Yeah Im shocked by that. Im positive that would never happen today.

That really used to drive me crazy when I was younger. Because they, very often, would show clips of cases that weren't solved under "solved" in the opening sequence. Not just the Carol case but also the Tammi Leppert case, the Mable Woods dog kettle case and the case where the 4 teenagers were driven off the road. None of those have been solved to this day.

All of those cases bother the heck out of me to this day too.

Yeah Im shocked by that. Im positive that would never happen today.

What would never happen today? Someone getting randomly shot in the head by someone they don't know? It happened to a guy a grew up with about five weeks ago. The only thing is, he didn't survive.

http://www.freep.com/article/20081007/NEWS01/81007018/1003/NEWS

So yeah, it still happens today.

anyone else find it odd they didn't mention the city this happened in? referring to it only as "Eastern Connecticut". I would imagine mentioning the city would be crucial to getting more good tips.

This is a very odd story.

1) I'm surprised that whoever did this was able to fire a single shot, through a car window and hit someone. And that they didn't attempt to "finish the job." The bullet must have been a full metal jacket round as hollow points usually lose their accuracy when fired through a solid object before striking a person.

2) I'm also surprised that there are that many black pickup trucks in Connecticut. I'm not that UM got the model correct as the Ford shown would have far fewer models available and appears to be a custom model.

3) No one that lived on the road saw this truck and managed to get a plate number?

4) This is something that the perpetrator would have discussed (or bragged about) with at least one other person . I wonder if anybody had reported that fact.

5) It's a shame that they were unable to recover the bullet,although I'm very glad the woman is alive and appears to be recovering from her injury.

6) This appears to be a lightly traveled country road. While it may have been chosen by the perpetrator for that very reason,you have to wonder if he wasn't already familiar w/ this area, as he seemed to have at least suspected that there would be no law enforcement personnel patrolling nearby.

Hmm...very strange story.

One thing I wonder about this case..I just watched it and it was said the cops checked the state of CT for a list of the same vehicles...I wonder if they did the same thing with the registries of vehicles in RI and MA....CT is such a small state...you can drive east to west across the whole thing in 2 hours...and it wouldnt be hard or much of a stretch for an out of state offender who was similiar with the area to commit the murder as well and the fact he was from a different state slow down jurisdiction possibly? The shooting took place in Putnam...which is extreme eastern CT...so ya not far at all from either RI or MA...Any ideas?

Has anyone ever considered the possibility this might have been a hitman?

I know that the taunting of the other motorists and some of the other behaviour makes it highly unlikely. Its certainly not typical for a hitman to do those things, calling attention to himself before his hit and risk someone calling the cops and spoiling his plan.

But the thing is, you can't always give people credit for brains. And I figure not all paid killers are neccessarily professionals. I'm sure some people who don't have a lot of money but want someone dead might hire an amateur who is just out to make a quick buck or is desperate for money.

More than likely it was just someone who had mental issues, drugs might have even been a possibility.

I know its an unlikely theory, but sometimes you have to go out on a limb when you got a case like this that is completely senseless.

Even though Carol didn't know her shooter I don't think an investigation should refrain from checking out any enemies who might have wanted her dead.

One part of the segment that bothered me is that people kept driving by after the shooting. You'd think people would stop or at least notify police after noticing a car with broken windows in the middle of the road that was caused by a gun. UM said a utitly truck worker stopped to help because he had a higher view from his truck and noticed 'Carol' slumped over.

Several years ago, I was driving home late one night when someone tried to run my car off the road. They literally swerved their truck into my lane as I approached. I had to make a hard turn to the left (into the lane he was in) to avoid a collision. It was dark, and I was so shaken up I didn't get a good look at the driver or at the vehicle. I doubt this person knew who I was. My thoughts were that the driver was a person who had just been dumped, lost their job, or received similar bad news and just decided to end it all and take someone with them.

The point of my story being that I think something similar could have happened to Carol. I think something traumatic happened to this man and this was the result. He snapped for some reason. Carol was in the wrong place at the wrong time and took the brunt of this man's misdirected aggression.

I don't buy this was a professional hit because I doubt he would have been taunting other motorists earlier in the day. I also think that if he was a professional killer he would have "finished the job" so to speak. Not to mention Carol didn't seem to have any enemies.

Several years ago, I was driving home late one night when someone tried to run my car off the road. They literally swerved their truck into my lane as I approached. I had to make a hard turn to the left (into the lane he was in) to avoid a collision. It was dark, and I was so shaken up I didn't get a good look at the driver or at the vehicle. I doubt this person knew who I was. My thoughts were that the driver was a person who had just been dumped, lost their job, or received similar bad news and just decided to end it all and take someone with them.

The point of my story being that I think something similar could have happened to Carol. I think something traumatic happened to this man and this was the result. He snapped for some reason. Carol was in the wrong place at the wrong time and took the brunt of this man's misdirected aggression.

I don't buy this was a professional hit because I doubt he would have been taunting other motorists earlier in the day. I also think that if he was a professional killer he would have "finished the job" so to speak. Not to mention Carol didn't seem to have any enemies.
Professional hits sure is a popular theory on this board lol. No, it has all the makings of someone just....over the edge in meanness. This person was determined to try and harm someone that day with his earlier actions of playing chicken with other cars. Situations like the one you endured show that people can just be insane for no logical reason. I can remember one time when my ex and I were driving into our small town off the highway and for whatever bizarre reason this idiot was tailgating, flashing his lights, yelling, speeding up and slowing down on our bumper, then making illegal lane changes and cutting us off...only to stop in front of the safeway. Really?! Ex and I were so shocked that neither of us thought to call 911, as this person should not have been on the road. My ex didn't know him. People need to understand that there are people out there who just get their kicks off being mean and cruel.

Just watched this episode again. I am surprised that this person has not been caught yet. It would seem that the suspect would kill again and surely be caught. I doubt this was the last time he ever killed someone. Also surprised a how many other vehicles like his were in the area. Something like 300,000?!

Just watched this episode again. I am surprised that this person has not been caught yet. It would seem that the suspect would kill again and surely be caught. I doubt this was the last time he ever killed someone. Also surprised a how many other vehicles like his were in the area. Something like 300,000?!


He didn't "kill" her. She survived but I doubt this was a contract hit.

That really used to drive me crazy when I was younger. Because they, very often, would show clips of cases that weren't solved under "solved" in the opening sequence. Not just the Carol case but also the Tammi Leppert case, the Mable Woods dog kettle case and the case where the 4 teenagers were driven off the road. None of those have been solved to this day.

I've never seen that 4 teenagers one. What's it called? Is it on our favorite website?

Every article I have read on this story says that the woman was "shot in the face," but there is never mention of the window. On the UM segment it clearly shows the driver's side window shattering from the impact of the bullet. I can't imagine it would make much of a difference whether the window was up or down when he shot her, but it would be worth knowing.

I've never seen that 4 teenagers one. What's it called? Is it on our favorite website?

Kenneth Dungee was the teen that was killed in the crash along I-40 in North Carolina. The other three were Lavern Allen III, Kenneth Newkirk, and Darius Bannerman. IIRC, Darius has posted on this forum before, and all three survivors have gone on to lead productive lives. Sadly, the man in the Monte Carlo that ran them off the road was never caught, and I can't imagine what it would be like to go on every day having something as horrible and senseless like this happen to you and the offender go unpunished.

If looking on YT search "hit and run part 1" Not to be confused with the UM episode "Boating Hit and Run" although that's a sad case too.

There's simply no way this was a contract hit or murder for hire. The shooter wouldn't have been taunting other motorists which would draw attention to him and potentially get him caught. Plus, "Carol" was thirty minutes late for her job and she was the one who came upon the shooter on the road, not the other way around. Had this been a hitman, how lucky would this guy have been for his target to just so happen to come upon him while he was "searching" for her? IMHO, this was a random attack. I don't know what motive there could be other than speculation that he was angry about something that happened to him and decided to take it out on others, or perhaps he just gets his kicks by terrorizing other people.

She Didn't Know Him, But He Shot Her In The Face
May 22, 1994|By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY; Courant Staff Writer

POMFRET - — Police still don't know why a man got out of his truck one summer morning a few years ago, walked back toward the car behind him, and shot the driver in the face.

Police seem to have more questions than answers. They have not been able to identify the man. They don't know what his motive was. And they have only a brief description of him -- Janice Katilius, the woman who was shot, remembered what he looked like in the seconds before she was shot.

``This is a unique case,'' said Det. Michael Foley, who is investigating the case for the Eastern District Major Crime Squad.

Foley described what happened that day:

On Aug. 22, 1988, Katilius was driving to work on Brayman Hollow Road, or Route 244. Katilius, who was 25 at the time and lived in Vernon, used to take the quiet, country road to her job as a psychotherapist at Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam.

But at about 9:15 a.m., a new- model, dark-colored pickup truck with running boards stopped in front of her, and the driver walked back toward her car. The man fired a silver-colored revolver at her, shooting her in the face. Katilius later told police she did not know the man.

A telephone repairman found Katilius shortly thereafter.

After the shooting, state troopers stopped traffic on the road, asking motorists whether they saw the truck or anything unusual that morning. They eventually found out that a driver of a dark-colored truck had antagonized another motorist on the same morning on the same road. Police believe it was the same man.

The motorist told police that another driver pulled out in front of him, slowed down to a stop, and acted as though he would let the car behind him pass him. But he then pulled in front of him again, Foley said.

Other motorists said they were driven off the road by a ``maniac driver'' on other days around that time period, although the offending driver was not driving a dark-colored truck, Foley said. None of the drivers was hurt.

But the information didn't lead police to the man. Neither did telephone tips called in after the airing of the national television show called ``Unsolved Mysteries.'' The show has been broadcast more than once.

Foley said his office has received 500 tips -- many generated by the television program. Many of the tips, though, were about unrelated incidents that some callers thought were linked to the Pomfret shooting, he said.

Occasionally, Foley is in touch with Katilius, who has recovered. Surgery on her face, he said, was successful and her injuries are not obvious.

``She's a very lucky lady,'' he said.

She was able to work in a similar profession after the shooting, although not at the same place.

``She had a real hard time going back there,'' Foley said.

But Foley won't give up on the case, which remains open.

``For obvious reasons, you just can't forget about a case like this,'' he said.

``The guy's still out there.''

http://articles.courant.com/1994-05-22/news/9405200134_1_dark-colored-truck-stopped-troopers

You posted this about 3 years ago but I'm replying they say Carol worked with mentally ill patients so this could be a motive a mentally ill maniac

Yeah, I always wondered if perhaps the guy that shot her was someone she knew.

I remember this segment from my childhood; one of the all time scariest. I was always extra freaked out by the crimes that occurred in broad daylight.

It's been years, but I seem to recall there was something unusual about the route she took. Maybe it was just that she took a quiet country road to work in order to avoid the highway?

It is possible she knows more than she is saying. It may not be such a random shooting

I remember this segment from my childhood; one of the all time scariest. I was always extra freaked out by the crimes that occurred in broad daylight.

It's been years, but I seem to recall there was something unusual about the route she took. Maybe it was just that she took a quiet country road to work in order to avoid the highway?

I don't remember if it was a shortcut, but I remember the segment saying it was a lightly traveled road.

It's been years, but I seem to recall there was something unusual about the route she took. Maybe it was just that she took a quiet country road to work in order to avoid the highway?

Nothing unusual. That was the same route she used as a shortcut for work every day. The only thing different about that day was that she was running 30 minutes late.

I've looked up Brayman Hollow Road on Google maps and while it's technically a "country road," it's not as desolate as many country roads usually are. And there were plenty of cars that passed by her car in the minutes after the shooting. Just pure luck on the shooter's part that no other cars happened to be driving by at that moment.

It is possible she knows more than she is saying. It may not be such a random shooting

I doubt it. Other witnesses came forward and said that the same vehicle who shot her was causing trouble to other vehicles on the road.

I feel like whoever shot her was going through something heavy (break-up, divorce, fired, fatal diagnosis), or was drunk/high. Scary.

It is very possible that the guy who did this is in prison for an unrelated crime.

It is very possible that the guy who did this is in prison for an unrelated crime.

That's always possible I guess.

People that commit violent acts and get away with it once probably aren't likely to stop doing that type of stuff and eventually get caught for something else.

Hasn't that happened a few times with UM cases where they find the perp and it turns out that the guy is already in prison for something unrelated?

This Brayman Hollow Road case is an especially disturbing UM segment; just saw this. Interesting that they finally revealed the woman's name years after the segment aired in 1990, given that her identity was protected when this originally aired. Also, I noticed that the woman's age was changed; in the segment, it stated that she was 20. And, the much later article (that revealed her identity) it stated she was 25. Obviously they changed the age in the original segment to conceal her identity as well.

As far as a motive, per the description the guy was acting strangely even before the crime (swerving all over the road). And, I wonder if what set him off here was that he felt the victim was tail-gating him?! People have been killed in road rage incidents for a lot less, unfortunately.

This Brayman Hollow Road case is an especially disturbing UM segment; just saw this. Interesting that they finally revealed the woman's name years after the segment aired in 1990, given that her identity was protected when this originally aired. Also, I noticed that the woman's age was changed; in the segment, it stated that she was 20. And, the much later article (that revealed her identity) it stated she was 25. Obviously they changed the age in the original segment to conceal her identity as well.

As far as a motive, per the description the guy was acting strangely even before the crime (swerving all over the road). And, I wonder if what set him off here was that he felt the victim was tail-gating him?! People have been killed in road rage incidents for a lot less, unfortunately.

Unlikely. He was apparently harassing other motorists, so clearly something was going on with this guy. We can only speculate what.

My best guess and gut feeling is the shooter was a one time offender who had something traumatic happen in his life at this time, whether it was the loss of a job or his wife running off with someone and just lost it, went out this morning and decided to take it out on someone else since maybe she was gone and he couldn't take it out on her. The fact that he had a gun with him says he went out expecting some kind of trouble.

Then when Carol/Janice survived he no doubt heard about it, and it could very well have scared him into never doing anything like it again. He may have even got help. It does happen, Robert Jones supposedly abducted and killed Kari Lynn Nixon because he was angry with his wife. Maybe this was something similar to that, even though there was no rape involved with Carol/Janice.

If so, he still should be caught and punished. If he was a one time offender who just lost it and did something like this, he at the very least should write Carol/Janice an anonymous letter and apologize even if he doesn't turn himself in, he's getting up there in years now, this was in 1988 and he was thought to be around 30, he'd probably be in his 60's now.

Of course, this is all just speculation and one theory, he may very well be a career criminal and a sociopath who doesn't give a hoot what he did. But from everything I can gather about this case, I just have the gut feeling this was a one timer who just flipped over something and was not a career criminal. Obviously I could be wrong.

When you look (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Day+Kimball+Healthcare,+Pomfret+Street,+Putnam,+CT/Old+Town+Rd,+Vernon,+CT+06066/@41.8611717,-72.3367243,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89e427b0f165ff5b:0xf2294d929d2ec4f7!2m2!1d-71.9138024!2d41.9063631!1m5!1m1!1s0x89e6f706c9124f9d:0xf0538ee88b9f7656!2m2!1d-72.4795948!2d41.8611696!3e0) at the drive she would have taken from her house to the hospital where she worked, you can see that there is no way in hell that she was targeted. She was shot just outside of the town of Pomfret. The cops could find no current or former patient of hers and ruled that possibility out. Most likely some loser who wanted to take his anger out on someone.