Nancy Korzilius knew what she would be asked as she drove nearer to her Austin, Texas, home: her daughter Katherine would volunteer to retrieve the day’s mail. The six-year-old felt it her responsibility to perform mail services and Nancy always looked forward to the look on Katherine’s face when she granted permission; retrieving the mail and personally bringing it home made her little girl feel like a big girl.

Nancy let Katherine out the car and proceeded to drive home, less than a quarter-of-a-mile away. She expected Katherine home soon, but she never arrived. When Nancy went searching for her, she came upon a parent’s nightmare in finding her daughter lying on the street, near death.

Katherine Korzilius died later that evening. The manner in which she lost her life is uncertain, and her death is memorialized in song by one of America’s most famous rock stars.

Katherine Korzilius

Paul and Nancy Korzilius lived in an upscale neighborhood just outside Austin, Texas, with their two children, eight-year-old Chris and six-year-old Katherine.

The Korzilius Family

Paul was the personal manager of musician Jon Bon Jovi.  On August 7, 1996, they were working in New York City but were able to sprinkle in a little fun as the day was also Paul’s birthday.  Soon, however, it would turn into the worst day of his life.

Katherine, Jon Bon Jovi, And Paul

Nancy, Chris, and Katherine spent the day running errands around Austin. As Nancy drove into Elder Circle, the upscale neighborhood in which they lived, Katherine volunteered for mail duty. The communal mailboxes were approximately a quarter-of-a-mile and four houses from the Korzilius home, located on a looping road.

Nancy drove home in the direction the car was facing; Katherine always walked home in the opposite direction as it was the shorter route.

                           Nancy’s Route                      Katherine’s Route

Nancy expected to arrive home at about the same time as Katherine, but she saw no sign of her daughter as she pulled into the driveway. After several minutes passed, Chris went looking for her.  He searched along the route Katherine used when walking home but could not find her.

A panicked Chris returned home and told his mom he had not found his sister. Mother and son began scouring the neighborhood looking for Katherine. They stopped at several neighbors’ homes, but no one had seen her.

Nancy Korzilius

Katherine’s Mother

As Nancy drove along Elder Circle in the opposite direction Katherine was assumed to have taken, she and Chris saw Katherine lying face down on the street. Curled in a fetal pose with her legs extended, she was unconscious but still breathing.

Nancy knew it is not good to move an injured person, but the day was scorching-hot and she feared the heat on the asphalt pavement would burn Katherine. She scooped up her daughter and rushed her to the emergency room at Austin’s Seton Medical Center.

Katherine Is Found Lying On The Street . . .

Upon arrival at the hospital, emergency room doctors found Katherine had suffered a fractured skull. She soon lost consciousness and was put on a ventilator. Her breathing ceased during the evening, and she died at approximately 11:30 p.m. without regaining consciousness.

. . . And Succumbs To Her Injuries

As police began their investigation, it was believed that Katherine had been the victim of a hit-and-run driver. Elder Circle, however, was a quiet street with sparse traffic. No neighbors had seen or heard anything unusual.

While the road was curvy, a driver should have been able to see Katherine from approximately one-tenth of a mile away, giving him or her plenty of time to stop. In addition, no skid marks or road debris were found near Katherine’s body.

A Hit-And-Run Is Initially Suspected . . .

As the investigation proceeded, more doubts were cast on the hit-and-run theory.

When Nancy had let Katherine out of the car, she began walking toward their home on Elder Circle, but she was found on the opposite side of the circle half-a-mile away along the route Nancy had driven home.

. . . But Is Later Doubted

Travis County Medical Examiner Roberto Bayardo’s report added to the hit-and-run doubts.  He found that Katherine had suffered no broken bones or internal injuries consistent with being hit by a car, such as fractured legs, ribs, or other impact injuries.

The injuries Katherine had sustained included multiple wounds to her head and abrasions on her back and both shoulders and knees. Dr. Bayardo ruled these injuries did not result from having been struck by a vehicle but were likely, instead, the result of Katherine either jumping, falling, or being thrown from a moving vehicle.

A Diagram Of Katherine’s Injuries

In light of Dr. Bayardo’s report, the police moved off the hit-and-run scenario and developed a new theory.

It was suggested that Katherine had jumped on the back of the car without Nancy’s knowledge and had fallen off as she drove home. Such a scenario would explain why she was found on the opposite area of Elder Circle from where she normally walked.

Police Come To Suspect An Accidental Death

Private Investigator Barbara O’Brian, hired by Paul and Nancy Korzilius, concluded that such a possibility was unlikely.

She believes the temperature and humidity would have made the automobile, and its metallic bumper in particular, scorching hot and impossible for Katherine to grasp. O’Brian also concluded Katherine could not have held onto the car door because it would have opened when she grabbed it. The only other place she could have held was the top of the car, but Katherine’s left thumb was broken and in a splint, making it extra difficult for her to have grabbed ahold of anything.

In addition, had Katherine been able to jump aboard and stay on the car, O’Brian believes Nancy would have seen her in the rearview mirror.

Barbara O’Brian

Private Investigator

Paul and Nancy Korzilius believe their daughter was abducted and murdered, pointing to discoveries made by the police K-9 unit several days after Katherine’s death. The dogs tracked her scent over a vacant lot approximately thirty yards from the mailboxes. The tracking indicates Katherine was coming from the mailboxes, taking her customary route home before her scent was then lost.

Paul and Nancy believe Katherine was abducted in the vacant lot near the mailboxes and that the abductor drove the opposite way from her walking route on Elder Circle. In the process of trying to escape, they believe their daughter either jumped, fell, or was thrown from the abductor’s vehicle and that her would-be kidnapper then fled the scene.

The theory is plausible, but doubts are raised in that no skid marks were found near her body and no neighbors heard screaming or any other unusual sounds.

Questions Abound

Despite the doubts, the general consensus now, twenty-eight-years after her death, is that Katherine Korzilius was killed during a botched kidnapping attempt. Police, however, have no suspects.

If you have any information relating to the death of Katherine Korzilius, please contact the Travis County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office at  (512) 854-9770.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64256608/katherine_erin-korzilius

Was Katherine Murdered?

Paul and Nancy Korzilus later divorced. Paul is now a board member of Jon Bon Jovi’s foundation.

Paul Korzilius

Katherine’s Father

Tragedy struck the Korzilius family again. Katherine’s brother Chris, a Senior Deputy for the Travis County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office, was killed in a car accident on March 18, 2020, at age thirty-two.

Chris Korzilius

Katherine’s Brother

The song “August 7, 4:15”, written and recorded by Jon Bon Jovi, is about Katherine’s death. Its title is the date and time Paul Korzilius was called and told of his daughter’s condition. It was released in 1997 as part of Bon Jovi’s Destination Anywhere album.

 

SOURCES;

• Austin American-Statesman
• Morbidology
• Unsolved Mysteries