Digital Forensics Dispatch

Mobile Forensics: Text Messages Assist in Conviction of Husband Accused of Murder

August 10, 2021

Joe Gorman of WKBN 27 reports that on August 4, the prosecutors in the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court entered text messages between a man and his estranged wife as evidence. Mr. Francis Rydarowicz is accused of killing his wife Katherine Rydoarowicz at the King’s Hotel on U.S. 422 in Coitsville, OH. Among the charges brought are murder, aggravated murder and domestic violence.  

An analyst from the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation read the string of text messages in court from June 2019. It took the analyst approximately 90 minutes to read the messages into the record while Catilyn Andrews, the Assistant Prosecutor, questioned the analyst. “Defense attorney John Juhasz objected to each text as it was read into the record, first when Andrews asked who was either receiving the message or sending it and for the content of the message” Gorman writes. The Judge presiding over the case overruled each objection.  

The messages included some that dated right before Katherine Rydarowicz was stabbed. The message contents reveal Francis Rydarowicz calling his wife names and shows arguments between the two. 

Gorman reported Friday that a jury found Francis Rydarowicz guilty of murder for the stabbing of his wife Katherine on June 22, 2019. Jurors deliberated the afternoon of August 5, 2021 and left without reaching a verdict. They returned the following morning where they continued deliberation until approximately 3:30 where they delivered their verdict. Along with the murder charge, the jury found him guilty of felonious assault and domestic violence.

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