Q&A with Prosecutor Michael McIntyre
(“When the Dust Settled,” Forensic Files)
After three hours of fruitlessly combing the internet for an epilogue for “Katy Doyle,” I tried watching “When the Dust Settled” one more time.
Sure enough, the end credits of the Forensic Files episode said that some names had been changed.
It turns out that the woman who murdered her husband so she could divert all of her bandwidth to a workplace Romeo was actually named Kathleen Ann Foley.
Her husband, whom she shot four times in his sleep on July 30, 1998, was Joe Foley.
Kathleen, a 36-year-old psychiatric aide at Allentown State Hospital in Pennsylvania, probably didn’t know that her boyfriend, George Fleming, was romancing another woman on the side, but she certainly knew that he was married.
Nonetheless, Kathleen happily cashed in a $1,177 savings bond to give George, who worked in housekeeping at the hospital, a down payment on a Chrysler Concord.
While the widow was looking forward to using her husband’s $212,000 life insurance payout to underwrite new escapades with her Casanova, the police were slowly building a case against her. They didn’t believe her story that an anonymous intruder killed her husband.
Results of an autopsy on Joe Foley, a union official and recreational therapist at the hospital, conflicted with the timeline of the story that Kathleen offered. And the clothing at the crime scene was arranged the wrong way.
Still, Kathleen Foley maintained that an unknown thief took her husband’s life, and her defense lawyer tried to finger everyone from a local trade organization to a foreign terrorist group.
A Lehigh County jury rejected those contentions, and she received a life sentence on October 2, 2000.
But the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections doesn’t list a “Kathleen Foley” as an inmate, and newspapers haven’t mentioned her name in years.
What happened to her?
Fortunately, former District Attorney Michael P. McIntyre, who prosecuted Kathleen in 2000, agreed to fill in a few blanks about the case for forensicfilesnow.com. Following are excerpts from our phone conversation:
Did anything about the case surprise you? I handled it from the arrest through the trial — I was the one pressing for the arrest. The amazing thing is how she remained free for 15 months after she shot her husband. It was soon after the time of the OJ Simpson trial, and the defense came up with the mantra “rush to judgment,” and investigators didn’t want to do that anymore.
What did you think George Fleming’s role was in the crime? The boyfriend was the whole impetus for this killing. Our theory was that he was selling Kathleen on something like “go ahead and kill him.” But he had an iron-clad alibi. We couldn’t find anything on him. He testified for the prosecution. In my heart of hearts, I thought he might have had something to do with it, but we couldn’t prove it.
Why did Forensic Files use the fictitious last name “Doyle” for Kathleen and Joe Foley? No clue.
I read that Joe Foley was one of nine children. Did you meet any of the siblings? Yes, I met at least two of them and they pushed for the prosecution. They assisted me and told me to talk to this person, talk to that person.
Was Joe Foley a prominent citizen around the area? Joe Foley was well-known in the Irish community. He started a program that brought poor Irish kids to the U.S. for the summer.
What do you recall about the defense’s attempt to shift the blame away from Kathleen Foley? I think there was some kind of defense that had to do with Joe’s work life with the union. Or over the Irish program — they were saying maybe the IRA did it. I never put any credence in it. It’s the defense’s job to come up with theories.
Kathleen Foley only made one appeal attempt. Did that surprise you? It’s very rare. There’s no downside [to an appeal], nothing to lose.
Kathleen Foley served her time in the SCI Muncy prison — what’s it like? I’ve never been there, but I think it’s brutal, one of our toughest prisons for women.
Pennsylvania doesn’t list Kathleen Foley as an inmate. Was she released? No. She died a year or two years ago.
Was a fellow inmate to blame? I heard it was natural causes, nothing traumatic.
How did you like working with Forensic Files? It was a good experience. They found some gunshot residue on the nightgown that she wore, and we used that as evidence.
Are you still working for Lehigh County? I retired from the DA’s office in 2001, but they brought me back for one more Forensic Files, the Patricia Rorrer case. It was my half hour of fame — Foley was my 15 minutes.♠
The time in the spotlight was even more fleeting for Kathleen’s paramour George Fleming. It ended with the trial and the 2003 Forensic Files episode.
The only subsequent mention of him that turned up in the media was a 2006 Morning Call item noting that his storage facility items would be auctioned off to satisfy a lien.
Incidentally, Kathleen Foley is not the only Forensic Files killer to sacrifice everything for a love object who ended up helping the prosecution. Sarah Johnson made the same mistake.
They both should have listened to my old hair-stylist’s advice, “Don’t lose your head over a little piece of tail.”
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime
Ahh, one of my favorite episodes. Didn’t it mention that Joe and Kathleen have kids? Any news on their whereabouts at this time?
I’m curious about that too, but none of the media accounts mentioned kids.
As always, you write like a dream, R.R…and I very much enjoyed your follow up with McIntyre. Cheers to you & looking forward to more Forensic Files Now in the coming year!
Thanks so much, Jean!
Great interview with McIntyre! So cool that you tracked him down.
Thanks, Rebecca. Saw this ep a couple of weeks ago. Strange about the FF name-change. I do wonder why the corrections databases don’t report deaths in custody, as it leaves the searcher assuming they’ve got the wrong name, state, or that the person’s been released. A very callous act by Foley, but 16-ish years’ imprisonment and a premature death means she’s paid the price…
It’s frustrating — I haven’t come across any states that give information about inmate deaths, and most of them don’t give a record of when prisoners are released.
This has very quickly become my favorite blog. Thank you so much for your efforts!
Hearing from readers makes it all worthwhile — many thanks!
It was noticeable in the episode that Katy/Kathleen wasn’t in it. So it’s doubly weird that they didn’t use her real name. Kudos RR for catching the “names have been changed” part, and for scoring the interview! Thanks for the write up.
Thanks, so glad you liked the interview — he was very kind to give his time right around Christmas.
I always enjoy your blog. I just watched the Fred Andros episode. That is my hometown and that case rocked Poughkeepsie for a while, along with serial killer Kendall Francois, who killed women and buried them in his home across from my pediatrician.
I would love to hear your take on either or both those cases.
Thanks, Chi — I remember the one you mentioned. Such a surprise that the nice woman who gave the on-camera interview turned out to be the killer.
Chi and Rebecca: Andros was, it seems, an ugly man in all major respects – including physically – but it seems he had the ‘x-factor’ as he got through quite a few women (four marriages, alleged extra-marital affairs, and sex orgies with the two women in this drama). Narcissism – a characteristic of many FF antagonists – is alluring to some people, notwithstanding its negative denotation, and that such allure could incite someone to kill may indicate its power.
The woman he got to do the dirty-work, Dawn Silvernail, strikes me as articulate. She’s expressed remorse for her terrible act, but is at a loss to explain how Andros got under her skin to commit a crime she knew to be terribly wrong. Someone has said, “You couldn’t find an actor ugly enough to portray Mr. Andros. He’s so ordinary, and yet so extraordinary. He demonstrates what tremendous emotional power can exist in the most unprepossessing package.” More Tom Thumb than Tom Cruise.
C’est la vie…
Andros loaned Silvernail I believe, $10,000 and said he would waive the debt if she killed the victim for him. So she did.
Hahaha I love the piece of advice at the end lolol!
I attended union meetings with Joe and met Kathleen once. He was an awesome man and to be killed over such a stupid thing! Just leave the relationship!
It’s understood that the reason for not ‘just leaving’ was $$$$$$$$$$$$$ insurance. Isn’t that often the motive? Furthermore, no division of assets, such as the house. These are powerful motivators to someone who could be as low as to contemplate murdering anyone, let alone someone they once claimed to love: almost by definition they’re self-centred.
Likely the best thing that could’ve happened to Ms Foley post-murder is her death of natural causes. She was deeply wicked (and she may share some of that with Fleming…)
The reason they used Kathleen Doyle and Joe Foley was probably out of respect for Joe. Once she murdered him in cold blood she neither deserved his name, nor was she his wife anymore
Now, that makes sense!