Jane Doe No More

by M. William Phelps

  Of course, everyone was eager to hear why a man accused in two sexual assaults and an attempted kidnapping was taking hundreds of photographs of women’s legs and body parts without their knowledge, not to mention traveling with what appeared to be a serial killer’s tool kit.

  But those answers never came.

  A fifty-year-old Waterbury woman, after reading about John Regan’s latest crimes, stepped forward to say Regan had kidnapped and attempted to sexually assault her twenty-four years earlier. Waterbury Police told the press they were investigating whether Regan may have committed other crimes, including the murders of two Waterbury prostitutes during the 1980s. Both girls had last been seen not far from Rocky’s home.

  There was no telling, honestly, the extent to which Regan’s crimes stretched, how many women had been the victims of this man’s twisted, deviant sexual appetite.

  On November 10, 2005, Regan was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in central New York “for evaluation”—which was perhaps his plan all along. Later, a report would detail Regan’s physical and mental health, along with his educational background and social, family, and personal history. According to the report, after college he had gone to work for the roofing company bearing his family name, as a salesman and crew leader. Six years later he started a job at a wholesale building supply company, where he worked until 1992. He bounced around after that, working for various construction companies, a roofing company, finally settling down with a manager’s job at a construction supply house, bringing home a nice $95,000 annual salary. He was fired, said that same report, after he was arrested for attempting to sexually assault a coworker.

  The health report was more interesting. In 1988, after a routine exam, Regan tested positive for hepatitis C. After receiving treatment, he told the interviewer, his hepatitis condition “leveled off.” Since his suicide attempt, Regan had been taking the antidepressants Selatex and Tranzdone. Regan also said he had been drinking “a quart of whiskey a day” since 2004.

  As he sat in the hospital (and later, while in jail), Regan stayed in touch with his wife of twenty-five years and his three sons, all of whom lived at home and sent letters, accepted Regan’s phone calls, and visited him.

  Weeks after entering the psychiatric hospital, Regan was indicted by a Saratoga Springs grand jury on charges of attempted second-degree kidnapping.

  Lindsey came forward and said she was ready and willing to testify against Regan in court anytime the prosecutor needed her to. She wasn’t some sort of weak young girl who was going to cower in a corner somewhere and hide from her attacker, allowing this maniac to get away. Lindsey was going to do her part to put Regan in prison for as long as the law would allow.

  The media picked up on the story of John Regan and took it national—CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and many of the major cable talking-head crime shows, including the outspoken Nancy Grace. Soon Regan was being discussed as a potential suspect in several high-profile cases of young girls who had vanished and were found murdered throughout New England, including Molly Bish, a sixteen-year-old Warren, Massachusetts, lifeguard who had disappeared after her shift one day at a Warren swimming/fishing pond on June 27, 2000. Molly bore a striking resemblance to Lindsey. Authorities could prove that Rocky was in the general area of where Molly had disappeared while working her lifeguard job. Sadly, Molly’s remains were recovered some time later in nearby woods.

  These developments sparked interest in Donna’s case once again and got her thinking about her next move. The one constant in Donna’s life, besides trying to protect her identity at all costs, had been her desire to see that laws were changed with regard to the statute of limitations on sexual assault cases (where DNA was present) and what those first responders did after arriving at an alleged sexual assault and/or rape crime scene. This fight drove Donna. Inspired her. It was her goal to one day effect great change not only in the state of Connecticut, but the entire nation.

  As fate would have it, Donna received an important piece of news as the 2005 Christmas season approached. Nancy Cushins, the executive director of the Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Service (ConnSACS), called. Donna had earlier expressed a desire to help ConnSACS. ConnSACS planned to introduce legislation that would make the statute of limitations for sexual assault retroactive. They were working on finalizing a bill for the next legislative session. It would allow for victims such as Donna, regardless of how many years had passed before a suspect and crime were matched by DNA, to see their attackers prosecuted for the crime of sexual assault and rape.

  “I’ve been reading all the publicity about John Regan,” Nancy said, “and we thought it’d be great if you could testify in front of the house legislators when the bill is introduced.”

  This was Donna’s chance to help effect the changes she wanted so desperately. On the other hand, however, she realized it was becoming harder to achieve her goals and remain anonymous.

  I was torn. I knew that by coming forward I could make a greater impact. I also knew that my family was very concerned about me coming forward. My husband in particular did not want us to be in the public eye. He did not even want me to tell my story to the Waterbury Observer when I did. We were healing very differently: my husband John wanted to move on with our lives and leave the past behind. I could not do that. I became more educated about sexual assault. It is the most misunderstood and underreported crime and affects so many young people. I could no longer remain silent.

  Nancy Cushins explained that similar legislation had been introduced by two people back in 2001–2, but it had not met with any success. With a woman such as Donna, in her position, having faced the remarkable fact that Regan could only be charged with kidnapping in her case, Nancy believed a tremendous emotional impact could be applied with the house legislators. The bottom line was: If DNA had specifically matched John Regan as the man who had allegedly sexually assaulted Donna, why did it matter how many years had passed since the attack took place?

  “It’s illogical,” Donna said, “where there is DNA involved, and I think a strong case can be made to make it retroactive.”

  Nancy and Donna agreed to stay in touch while Donna considered testifying.

  At Dr. Henry Lee’s press conference in November 2005, held at the state capitol in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, he read Donna’s letter outlining her case and what had happened to Lindsey. He discussed how DNA had, after eleven years, a major impact on Donna’s case, essentially introducing a viable suspect, and had brought a tremendous amount of publicity to Donna’s “Jane Doe” story and the need for change in these types of cases. Lee had built the conference around the idea of updating the media, mainly, on Connecticut’s role in the DNA database/CODIS. Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, who had taken over for embattled Governor John Rowland (who had resigned in early 2004 after a fraud investigation that ultimately landed the governor in federal prison), stood by Dr. Lee. Alongside the two of them were several law enforcement officials, state prosecutors, and state representatives. Lee had the attention of the house and the public.

  Addressing the crowd, Governor Rell said, “There is no greater responsibility of government than public safety. No more important task than solving cold cases.”

  Dr. Lee explained how the DNA project CODIS began in the early 1990s, claiming that Connecticut was “the first state in the country to create a database,” and adding enthusiastically, “We have a very good record in Connecticut. Very few states can match our record. Every day this DNA is working and lots of cases are being resolved.”

  Then Dr. Lee pulled out Donna’s letter and read it, after which he concluded, “This letter shows how everybody worked together to solve the crime. John Regan fits the profile of a serial rapist. We think there are many other kidnapping cases he was involved in.”

  Donna’s old friend John Murray, from the Waterbury Observer, probably put this portion of the story in context best in
an article that winter, writing, “Although [John Regan] has yet to be convicted of a single crime, the mounting evidence against Regan in the last 13 months has transformed from a ‘he said–she said,’ into an avalanche rumbling furiously down a craggy mountain pass.”

  By the middle of December 2005, a judge had signed a warrant to arrest Regan on charges stemming from an incident in 1981, the oldest sexual assault accusation on record for Regan. The case involved Regan allegedly trying to force a woman to give him oral sex.

  This was great news to Donna. She had been doing so much lately behind the scenes. But the media was not letting go, and they were in this, Donna knew, for the long haul. Good Morning America was interested and willing to interview Donna in silhouette so she could remain anonymous. In consulting with Neil about this, Donna told him, “I am considering coming out in the open and giving GMA an exclusive under the right set of circumstances.”

  “Really?” Neil said, surprised.

  Donna had spoken to everyone in her family about it, she said, along with her doctor. She had even mentioned it to her parents.

  “The key,” she told Neil, “is to have it done on my terms. I would not want it taped and I would want the angle to be a message of hope; the fact that an individual can overcome a trauma with her life very much intact. I also want to let women who are suffering in silence know that there are resources out there. I persevered through a great deal of evil, and the outcome is one of hope.”

  It was here, as Donna began to consult with friends, family, and even a media consultant, that the seeds of what would become Donna Palomba’s new passion in life were planted. She decided, after talking to Neil, that “a website would be the most logical resource” to accomplish the short-term goals she desired. Donna had already bought crimevictim.com and victimrights.com, along with a few other URL addresses. But these names hadn’t entirely captured for Donna what she was feeling, or what she wanted to present to victims and survivors of sexual assault and rape. There was another name out there, she was convinced, but it just hadn’t come to her yet.

  Then John Murray called about another interested media source. He had taken a voice message from a reporter at NBC’s Dateline who was looking for information about John Regan. Dateline was in the beginning stages of gathering information, the reporter said.

  So now there were Geraldo, GMA, CNN, NBC, and scores of other media outlets vying for Donna’s attention. Certainly, if one looked hard enough, it wasn’t difficult to figure out that Donna was the “Rachael” in John Murray’s ten-thousand-word story he had written about her case, but to most of the world Rachael was just another Jane Doe. Yet, Donna wondered, how could she participate in any of this media exposure—getting her all-important message out to the public so that it would stick—and still remain under that anonymous umbrella of Jane Doe? It just didn’t seem possible anymore.

  She’d have to make a choice.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Pleading

  As Donna began to think seriously about removing her Jane Doe mask while working doggedly on getting legislation passed to support retroactive sexual assault charges, John Regan was released from the psychiatric hospital in upstate New York and arraigned again in Saratoga on January 6, 2006.

  During his first official arraignment on charges of attempting to kidnap Lindsey Ferguson, John Regan casually pleaded “not guilty.”

  He wanted to go to trial. Prosecutor Jim Murphy claimed outside the courtroom that he and his team were absolutely ready.

  “She is eager to testify,” Murphy said of Lindsey. “She’s willing to tell her story.” No prosecutor wants to subject a youth to the ordeal of facing her attacker in court, but Lindsey was prepared.

  Regan was placed back in lockup inside Saratoga County Jail. His stay at the hospital was over.

  On this same day, Donna met with Selim Noujaim, the Connecticut state representative from the 47th District, and expressed her desire to advocate changing the law as it pertained to sexual assault and the charge’s time expiration. That sort of law made no sense to Donna. It flew in the face of DNA technological advancements. The law by itself would often cancel any progress investigators might make within an investigation over any number of years. Wouldn’t this particular law—the statute of limitations—stop investigators from going back in time to investigate cold cases?

  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.