John Katehis

Case record: John Katehis

Background

John Katehis was a 16-year-old and was tried for the fatal stabbing of radio journalist George Weber.

George Weber was 47 years old and was a freelance anchor for ABC News Radio and a well-known radio voice. During an extended career, he worked as an on-air reporter for WABC in New York City, KGO in San Francisco, and KTLK and KMPC in Los Angeles.

Court and media coverage included descriptions of the case as a Craigslist-related killing and a “Craigslist Killer” case. The media described the label “Craigslist killer” as a generic term for murderers who find victims by placing or responding to ads in Craigslist.

The offence

Katehis was convicted of murdering George Weber.

Weber was found in his apartment in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. Police said Weber had been stabbed about 50 times.

The account of the meeting and encounter included the following details: the two men met via Craigslist; Katehis advertised sexual services; Weber was looking for someone to smother him for $60. An appointment was set for March 20, 2009, after a response on March 18, 2009.

During the encounter, Katehis said Weber offered him cocaine. Katehis said he became really jumpy after that and claimed he was “paranoid.” Katehis said he bound Weber’s ankles with duct tape, and that Weber pulled a knife from his pocket. Katehis said they struggled over the knife and he cut his own hand. Katehis also said part of Weber’s jugular vein was cut.

Katehis was seen as having changed his bloody clothes after the attack and put on some of Weber’s clothes.

A medical examiner testified that Weber was stabbed about 40 times and that the cause of death was “exsanguination”, or bleeding to death. Another account described Weber as stabbed some 50 times in the chest, neck, shoulders and hands.

Katehis admitted fishing through Weber’s pockets and taking the $60 that was for the “smothering garbage.”

Investigation

Police believed Katehis answered a Craigslist ad in which Weber, 47, sought a sexual partner and that Weber planned to pay Katehis for sex. Police said the two had arranged to meet on Wednesday, March 18, but rescheduled the meeting for Friday evening.

A neighbor saw someone, believed by the police to be Katehis, speaking on a cellphone outside Weber’s building on Henry Street. Police commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said Weber may have allowed Katehis to enter the apartment about 6 p.m., and that the suspect stabbed Weber about 50 times while he was inside.

Police said no weapon had been found.

Police said detectives tracked Katehis down through a search of Weber’s computer communications and from information received from family members of Katehis’s.

Police commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said a northbound G train conductor saw a passenger bleeding profusely from his left hand at 9:13 p.m. Friday. The passenger was Katehis, who was treated and released at Elmhurst Hospital Center. Police said Katehis told police he had cut his hand on a bottle.

Arrest

Police arrested Katehis on March 25, 2009, outside a bus depot in Middletown, N.Y., in Orange County.

The police commissioner said Katehis was implicated by statements he made after arrest, and Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the New York Police Department, said: “He subsequently made statements implicating himself in the stabbing death,”

The account included details of the arrest process: detectives tracked Katehis to Middletown to a friend’s house on Tuesday morning. In Middletown on Tuesday, law enforcement officials said Katehis’s father helped arrange for his son to go to the bus depot. As Katehis approached a vehicle expecting to see his father, detectives got out; Katehis fled across the street where more detectives were waiting in an unmarked van; they tackled him and handcuffed him.

Trial

On March 26, 2009, despite an original confession a day earlier, Katehis pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and weapons possession.

Katehis was held without bail. His lawyer told reporters that although the pair originally met through Craigslist, they had an ongoing relationship.

Katehis’s first trial ended in a hung jury. He was retried, and he was convicted in November 2011.

A judge in the first trial was Judge John H. Wilson of Brooklyn Criminal Court. Another account stated that Judge Firetog ruled on matters during the trial.

Katehis claimed in court that he had only “jabbed” the victim once in the neck with a knife and that it happened “accidentally” in self-defense.

Defense Attorney Jeffrey Schwartz said: “make him comfortable” so that he would give them a statement that could essentially amount to a confession.

Schwartz also argued: “Without the actual blade, you cannot determine which injury [was caused by it],”

Schwartz also said detectives had tried to “make him comfortable” and asked why no follow-up questions had been asked.

Judge Firetog said that a representative of the DA’s office was not the “proper witness” for questions on “police policy and technique.”

Sentencing

Katehis was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on December 12, 2011.

A sentencing account described that a Brooklyn judge handed down the maximum sentence to John Katehis, 18, for stabbing George Weber 50 times in March 2009.

Katehis’s statement in court included a request for forgiveness and the following quoted remarks:

• “For the death of George Weber, I am sorry,”
• “I regret it.”

A victim family member, Jason Hannas (Weber’s brother-in-law), said: “I forgive you,” and: “I have no hatred.”

Jason Hannas asked Katehis why he committed the slaying and said:

• “John, you are the only one who has the answer they seek,”
• “[Maybe] you killed for fun, or because you could … that's a very hard answer to give a 5-year-old.”

The sentencing account also quoted a prosecutor, Anna Sigga Nicolazzi, who said: “the viciousness” of this “thrill kill,” and warned that if the defendant is ever released, he might kill again.

Anna Sigga Nicolazzi said: “This is exactly the kind of person society should be protected from,”

Appeals

No appeal information was included in the provided material.

Outcome

Katehis was convicted after a mistrial and retrial, and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on December 12, 2011.

Aftermath

After the sentencing, a family member said they forgave Katehis and said they had no hatred.

Handwritten messages on napkins on the bar surrounding a glass poured for Weber were described. One message said: “We’ll all miss you,”

Outside Angry Wade’s, John Peterman said: “Friendships run deep in our neighborhood. And George was friends with many people.”

The material also described friends gathering at Angry Wade’s, a tavern where Weber had been a regular, to recall Weber as someone who loved to talk and debate and who had a contagious laugh.

Timeline

• March 18, 2009 — Katehis responded to Weber’s advertisement for an erotic encounter involving binding Weber’s feet with duct tape and “smothering” him for $60.
• March 25, 2009 — Police arrested 16-year-old John Katehis of Queens, New York, for the murder of radio journalist George Weber.
• March 26, 2009 — Katehis pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and weapons possession and was held without bail.
• October 20, 2010 — Trial coverage described Katehis’s claims of self-defense and testimony about the number and location of wounds.
• December 12, 2011 — Katehis was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Other details

Katehis confessed when apprehended. He said he was a Satanist allied with the teachings on Anton Lavey and the Church of Satan and claimed to be a sadomasochist.

Katehis told police he responded to Weber’s Craigslist advertisement for “rough sex,” but said he stabbed Weber in self-defense after Weber tried to stab him.

Katehis’s videotaped confession included a quote presented during trial coverage:

• “We were both struggling over the knife, we're pulling toward each other and the knife just goes and jabs him in the neck,”
• “Smothering, he wanted someone to smother him,”
• “He (Weber) was still moving around, mumbling and cursing and I went into his left pocket and took the sixty bucks that was for the smothering garbage,”

Medical examiner Floriana Persechino declared the cause of death to be “exsanguination”, or bleeding to death.

The material described that Katehis’s MySpace page (taken down Wednesday) said he enjoyed “drinking, bike riding, hanging out, roof hopping, hanging off trains,” and “extreme violence (chaos, anarchy, etc ...) video games, violent movies and listening to my iPod.” It also included statements attributed to Katehis:

• “II am an extremist, an anarchist and a sadomasochist. As long as you show respect for me, I will show respect for you.”
• “break your neck.”