Pittsburgh public TV station WQED on April 20 will air an abridged version of the new documentary “The Rock: The Therese Rocco Story” about Pittsburgh’s first female assistant police chief.
Rocco and the film’s producer, Sharon Liotus, will appear on the WQED program “Filmmakers Corner” at 10 p.m. April 13, along with a short preview of the film.
About 50 minutes of the 70-minute documentary will air on “Filmmakers Corner” at 10 p.m. April 20.
The film, which had its premiere March 7 at a special showing at the Heinz History Center, tells the story of Rocco, the first woman in the country to become an assistant police chief. She joined the department as a clerk in the Missing Persons Bureau in 1948 and retired as an assistant chief in 2004.
Rocco of Brookline grew up in Pittsburgh’s Hill District and achieved renown in the police department for her work on missing persons cases, particularly those involving children. She was the lead investigator in the case of Mary Ann Verdecchia, a 10-year-old girl who disappeared in 1962 and whose remains have never been found.
More recently, Rocco was instrumental in helping Pittsburgh police obtain a DNA match for Mary Arcuri, a Pittsburgh woman who disappeared in 1964 and whose skeletal remains were found in 2018.
