Predator at Large examines the case of Carrie Ann Jopek, a 13-year-old schoolgirl whose murder went unsolved for over 30-years until a guilty conscience got the better of Jose Ferreira, and he finally confessed.
Jopek was suspended from her Milwaukee school for wandering the halls without a pass on March 16, 1982. Instead of going home, the 13-year-old went to a house party. Her mother later reported her missing when she failed to come back that night.
She was missing for a year and a half before a carpenter found her remains under a porch of a house close to Jopek’s home in September 1983.
Four days after her body was discovered, a neighbor informed police that they’d spotted Jose Ferreira crying while standing over the spot where she was found. When interviewed by investigators, Ferreira denied having any involvement in her death, but he remained a suspect.
The case lay dormant for the following 33-years until one day in October 2011 when Ferriera phoned a crisis hotline and confessed to being involved in the death of a teenage girl in the 1980s.
Jose Ferreira was burdened with guilt over the murder
On the same day, Ferriera then phoned a reporter at WISN 12 News and told them a similar story before then walking into a West Milwaukee police station to make a full confession.
It transpired that in 1982 a 16-year-old Ferreira had attempted to “make out” with Jopek and had forced himself on her when she spurned his advances. In the ensuing struggle, he pushed the teenage girl down a flight of stairs, which caused her death.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelFerriera spoke of how Jopek had haunted him all these years since her death. He allegedly once told Jopek’s mother, Carolyn Touisgnant, that he couldn’t escape her daughter. “Your daughter’s haunting me,” he told her.
On March 17, 2017, Ferreira was found guilty of causing Jopek’s death and was sentenced to 7-years in prison. He told the court, “I can’t take back how it happened. I’m sorry, from the deepest, bottom of my heart, sorry.”
More murders from Investigation Discovery
Follow the links to read about more murders profiled on ID.
Previously on Predator at Large, Alejandro Avila abducted 5-year-old Samantha Runnion from her home in Orange County, CA., in 2002, before sexually abusing her and strangling her in a hotel room.
In New York in 1991, 4-year-old Anjelica Castillo was murdered by her cousin Conrado Juarez. The family never reported her missing so that when her remains were discovered, she was unidentified for 22-years.
Predator at Large airs Thursdays at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.
1. Why did it take from 2011 to 2017 to put him on trial?
2. Only 7 years??