Jane Doe No More (47 page)

Donna sure thought so.

“I’d like to see Mr. Regan charged,” Donna said. She was firm. She wanted Regan to pay for what he had done to her—she wanted her day in court with this monster.

“I understand,” Noujaim said. “But if you proceed with something like this, be prepared that you would have to testify.” It was well-known by then that Donna had been steadfast in her desire to remain an anonymous rape survivor and victim of John Regan.

“I could,” Donna said, “and am willing, as long as I won’t have to get into specifics with regard to John Regan [because his case had not yet gone to trial].”

“Chief O’Leary would have to be willing to testify too,” Noujaim added. “Neil’s a good friend of mine—you know that?”

“He will,” Donna responded.

Noujaim then got House Republican attorney Chris Adams on the phone and asked him to look into the statutes surrounding Donna’s fight to change the law.

Adams said he would.

Another big question for Donna was whether Regan, if convicted of kidnapping in New York, would have to register as a sex offender and become part of that database.

The answer, she was disturbed to find out, was no.

So Donna decided to speak with the attorneys involved in prosecuting Regan to find out why he was not being charged with attempted sexual assault in New York, and if there was a chance he ever could be.

The first thing she did was call Jim Murphy. It was February when Donna contacted the prosecutor. Donna mentioned how attorneys from Connecticut were probably going to contact him about getting Regan extradited back to Connecticut to face those charges filed for attempting to sexually assault his coworker, not to mention her pending case against Regan.

“If Connecticut begins making noises to get him back, I will tell them,” Murphy said pointedly, “to kindly wait their turn.” Murphy wanted to see Regan prosecuted in New York to the fullest extent, as soon as possible.

Donna believed Murphy was sincere and determined to see that Regan paid for his crimes. She felt good about Murphy being on the job, even if it involved another case. She also found out that Regan’s attorney was an “expensive guy,” somewhere in the neighborhood, she learned, of “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Regan’s attorneys had already contacted Murphy, the prosecutor explained, to begin talking plea deal, but Murphy said he wanted to think seriously about it and, of course, first talk to all the victims involved.

“Regan will claim,” Murphy explained, “that this is his first offense.” He had not been convicted of any crimes in Connecticut yet. That would work to his advantage, the prosecutor told Donna (who was, of course, appalled by this notion). “He currently has
no
convictions.”

Donna didn’t like hearing that. “This is ludicrous since there’s a DNA match.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Palomba, but that’s the law.”

“I’d like to reach out to the Ferguson family,” Donna mentioned.

“That’d be fine,” he said, but explained that now was probably not the right time.

They talked some more about the law and how Donna could effect change using her case as an example, and Murphy applauded her for all she had done thus far to help sexual assault victims, warning, “It will be an uphill battle.”

Donna knew all about uphill battles. She was ready.

“I’m thinking of developing a website for young girls and victims nationally.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“NBC’s
Dateline
has reached out to me through a third party,” Donna said.

Murphy said the popular NBC news magazine show had contacted his office too, along with SA John Connelly. “You can do whatever you want,” Murphy said, but regarding a potential appearance by him on
Dateline,
“John Connelly and I take the same stance and we cannot do anything to jeopardize our cases against Mr. Regan.”

Donna took that into consideration.

“I congratulate you and what you’ve done, Mrs. Palomba, and for getting through what was many years of not knowing. You can call me anytime.”

Donna hung up and thought:
How refreshing to speak with someone who is an intelligent advocate for victims and wants to do the right thing.

In March 2006, John and Donna drove to Saratoga to pick up Sarah for spring break. Donna had contacted Saratoga police chief Ed Moore, and he met them at a local Starbucks while they were in town. It was the beginning of what would become a long-term friendship. Donna and Ed would go on to do great work together with regard to victims’ rights and sexual assault crime-scene first responders.

Ed assured Donna and John how “seriously” they were taking Regan’s case in Saratoga. He explained that they could not have asked for a better, more dedicated and determined prosecutor to try these brutal, severe crimes.

Donna immediately felt encouraged talking to Ed. He had a way of making her believe that they were all in this together, and that everyone wanted to see Regan put behind bars for as long as possible.

After they spoke for a while, Ed handed Donna his card and gave one to Sarah, telling her, “If you ever need to reach me, please do. Contact me anytime.”

Donna knew he meant it. She and John could feel safe when Sarah went back to Skidmore, knowing that their daughter had an ally in Saratoga she could turn to at any time.

Donna indicated a desire to meet with Lindsey Ferguson.

“Look,” Ed explained sincerely and respectfully, understanding Donna was only trying to help, “it’s not a good idea right now. We need to conclude the New York cases against Mr. Regan before you meet with her. We need to be very cautious in that regard. We don’t want to do anything that his attorneys could use against us.”

Ed said that the next hearing in Regan’s New York case was scheduled for about a month away, April 13, 2006. Then Ed told Donna and John that Regan had been ruled out in a case in Warren, Massachusetts, involving a teenage lifeguard, Molly Bish, who went to work one morning and vanished (and was ultimately murdered). Regan was indeed in the area at the time, and he looked extremely good as a suspect, but an investigation into his exact whereabouts proved he could not have committed the crime.

Donna said she appreciated the information. They said their goodbyes and agreed to stay in touch.

When the April 13 Saratoga hearing date arrived, it was deferred to May 8 because of scheduling conflicts claimed by Regan’s attorneys. The reason for the hearing was to decide whether to preclude a potential jury from hearing about the items Regan had in his van at the time he tried to abduct Lindsey. His attorneys were arguing that the items were nothing more than tools Regan needed for his job—everyday utensils someone in Regan’s line of work required to conduct routine business.

Shortly before Regan’s May 8 court date, Neil O’Leary called Donna and left a message: “I’ve been talking with the Saratoga police, and there is something I need to get with you about . . .”

Upon returning home and hearing the recording, Donna was anxious.

Neil called back and said, “Listen, Donna . . . we found something in Regan’s van I need to tell you about.”

Her stomach tightened. “What is it, Neil?”

“Are you at your computer?”

“Yes.”

Neil said he’d e-mail it.

“I immediately got a sick feeling,” Donna said later, “not knowing what I was about to see.”

It was a photo. Regan had digitally photographed a picture of Donna from an article that had been in a local newspaper in September 2005. Donna had received the Woman of the Year Award from the Business Women’s Forum and made the front page of a Waterbury newspaper. Apparently, all signs indicated that Regan was still fixated on Donna Palomba after all these years.

“I don’t think he was following or still stalking you, Donna,” Neil said, trying to reassure her. “It was the only photo they found of you inside his van.”

One was enough, Donna knew.

“Have you found out anything else?” Donna asked.

“The DNA on the dead prostitutes [who were last seen on the streets near Regan’s house] was not a match to Regan,” Neil confirmed. Rocky could be ruled out of those horrible crimes, even though he lived down the street from where both girls had walked their beats.

“Everyone feels Rocky has done more crimes, Neil.”

“Yeah, I know. Fact is, though, those crimes dating back to the 1980s and ’90s will most likely remain unsolved. Most of the detectives on those old cases have retired, and in many of these cases it was
before
DNA was ever collected or used.”

Donna mentioned that she was thinking seriously about meeting with producers from NBC’s
Dateline.

Neil said they had reached out to him too, and he said he’d do the show only if Donna was involved.

Ed Moore contacted Donna soon after she spoke to Neil and explained that his investigators had taken a successful trip to Waterbury, meeting with Neil and his team, and the case building against Regan was stronger than it had ever been.

“What we were hoping to find,” Ed said, “we found
.
”

Still, the main worry at this point was that a jury would not be allowed to hear about those “items” found inside Regan’s vehicle at the time of the thwarted abduction. Ed explained that the judge presiding over the case in New York often erred on the side of caution regarding the type of evidence that could lead to a convicted defendant winning an appeal. The judge, in other words, did not want anything in his trial that would come back later on appeal and offer the chance for the defendant to walk. He would toss it out beforehand if there was a question.

“I’d be shocked, however, if he suppressed this evidence,” Ed said.

Donna was concerned that Rocky was going to skate on this New York charge with a slap and a few years in jail.

A few days before the hearing, prosecutor Jim Murphy called Donna to bring her up to speed on what was happening.

“The hearing is still on,” Murphy said, “as far as I know. And we’re prepared.”

“What about media coverage?” Donna asked. She was interested in this for many reasons. She also figured that
Dateline
would likely be covering the case in New York. Producers would be at the proceeding.

“There are no cameras allowed in the courtroom,” he said. “You’d have to fill out an application with the judge and get it approved.”

“What about a decision?”

“That will take some time. The judge won’t have it right away. This judge usually takes, oh, two to three weeks.”

Donna wondered about the charges.

“I am not so sure we’ll be successful with a kidnapping charge, seeing that Lindsey was not
physically
transported anywhere.”

This worried Donna. It would mean far fewer years behind bars for Regan. Also, Donna was concerned about the charges in her case being affected by this same issue. She had not been transported anywhere either. Could a suspect be charged with kidnapping if he broke into a house but then left without the victim?

Later that day Donna received word of another development from the SAO handling her case. Regan’s attorneys in Connecticut were on their way north to speak with his attorneys in New York. One of Regan’s New York attorneys was apparently pushing Regan to make a plea deal so he could escape any serious time that might come with a conviction by jury.

“They’re going to advise him to take twelve years,” Donna’s contact at the SAO told her.

There certainly seemed to be a lot going on behind the scenes with regard to John Regan and lawyers and deals. But Donna was being kept in the loop. That was a good sign.

“The prosecutor up there won’t budge,” Donna said. “They want the full fifteen of a five- to fifteen-year sentence.”

“The talk is on.”

“Will there be any
chance
of parole with something like that?” Donna wondered.

“Parole is determined by the Department of Corrections up there and is based on good behavior. A good way to look at it is about 85 percent of the actual sentence.”