From Orphanage to Forensic Pioneer: The Untold Story of Dr. Laura Pettler

Memoir Forthcoming

Laura Pettler's story doesn’t begin in a courtroom or a crime lab—it begins in an orphanage.

Born on September 11, 1974, to a 15-year-old girl, Laura spent her first days of life in institutional care. In 1976, she was adopted by Donald Pettler, a banker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and his wife Barbara, who was active in gender equality advocacy through the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Laura's early childhood was filled with the promise of a bright future—educational opportunities, musical training, and her first love: horses. She showed talent, spirit, and fierce independence from a young age.

But in 1989, at the age of 15, Laura's world fractured. Barbara abruptly divorced Donald and, within eight months, married his best friend—a man who had also been Laura’s godfather. The betrayal was seismic. Barbara built a new life with her new husband and his children, leaving Laura emotionally abandoned. Once a secure and vibrant young girl, Laura was suddenly alone, a latchkey kid trying to navigate a collapsing world.

In April 1992, during her junior year of high school, Laura gave birth to her daughter, Alexis. She was 17. The pregnancy, born out of chaos, marked a turning point in Laura’s life—not an ending, but a radical new beginning. Alexis, biracial, became a lightning rod for the prejudices of a small, conservative town. As a teen mom with no support from her mother, a shattered relationship with her father, and a child that challenged the norms of 1990s Beaver, Pennsylvania, Laura became an outcast. She and Alexis were shunned, stigmatized, and left to fend for themselves.

Those years were marked by pain. A broken school system offered little support. Adults who should have intervened turned away. Laura teetered on the edge of collapse. But through it all, a tight circle of loyal friends—Melinda, Ashley, Maria, Allison, Jenni, Chief, Ryan (who tragically passed in 2023)—stood beside her, helping raise Alexis with fierce devotion. Her high school teacher, Mr. Lou Naccarato, became a lifelong friend and mentor. Alexis’s biological father was never involved. Laura was, by every measure, alone—except for Alexis, her anchor, her why.

Her father, Donald, devastated by betrayal, struggled deeply in the aftermath. But over time, he rebuilt his life and married a kind, loving woman. Though their post-divorce relationship was rocky at first, he and Laura became inseparable. He passed away in 2016, but for 41 years, Donald Pettler poured everything he had into his daughter. He saw her intellect. He believed in her potential. And he never stopped fighting for her future.

Laura, unable to live at home as a teenage mother, spent her final high school years in an attic apartment. She worked tirelessly to graduate while raising Alexis. With limited options, she enrolled in community college. One year—and countless sacrifices later—she earned a place at a four-year university. It was just the beginning.

College. Internships. Working multiple jobs. Enduring cycles of poverty, intimate partner abuse, and domestic violence. Laura kept going. She was fighting not just for survival, but for transformation.

In 1997, after college graduation, she moved to North Carolina, opened her first equestrian center, and formed her band Cherry Rain, which eventually became #LauraPettlerMusic. During the week, she trained horses. On weekends, she performed. In 2003, she completed her master’s degree. Four years later, she signed with Lamon Records and released her debut album, #TruckR4Girls, which took off nationally and led to a whirlwind tour.

By day, Laura was employed as a homicide investigator for Prosecutorial District 20A of North Carolina. She co-founded and directed the Crime Scene Reconstruction & Behavioral Analysis Program, and later helped lead its Cold Case Homicide Task Force. By night, she was headlining venues across the country. In 2009, she retired from professional music and became Dr. Pettler in 2011 after earning her PhD with a dissertation on crime scene staging—the third of its kind ever written, now housed in the Library of Congress.

In 2012, Laura transitioned into television as a forensic expert in true crime programming. In 2013, she reinvented her 2008 Tubular Dowel Kit into the Kaleidoscope Shooting & Bloodstain Reconstruction System — a groundbreaking tool used in both fictional and nonfictional programming. Kaleidoscope achieved international distribution and has been sold in over 30 countries.

In 2015, Laura published the world’s first book on staged homicides, Crime Scene Staging Dynamics in Homicide Cases, which became a five-star bestseller and established her as a global authority on the subject.

Her life's journey came full circle in 2025 when she was sworn in as Deputy Coroner Commander of the Lancaster County Coroner's Office Mounted Response Unit—the first equine-based medicolegal unit in the U.S., combining forensic investigation, search and rescue, and community outreach.

Today, Laura splits her time between Los Angeles and her horse farm, CR Equine & Kennel, in Monroe, North Carolina. She breeds and trains crossbred Drafts, Friesians, and Gypsy Vanners, and raises Russell Terriers. She also invented the True Crime & Equines Agritourism Event Series, which blends forensic science with farm-based education and healing through animals.

She is the creator and host of the podcast Saddled in Secrets, founder of CSI Horse Camps, and continues to lead forensic education programs for civilians, professionals, and law enforcement.

At 28, Laura found her biological mother. But that, she says, is a story for another day.