Episode 157: Donna Palomba
Donna Palomba of Waterbury, Connecticut, lived with her husband John and her two children, ages 5 and 7. On September 10th, 1993, she arrived back at home with her kids after taking them to a concert at a school in the area and then out for pizza after. Her husband John was in Colorado for a friend’s wedding, and this was the first time he was away from home in the 12 years of their marriage.
Later that night, Donna awoke to the sound of footsteps in the hallway and saw a masked man entering her room. Before she could even react, he was on top of her. Donna fought back as hard as she could but the man was strong, and he covered Donna’s mouth with his hand. She bit him, but he was wearing gloves. He threatened to hurt her, then covered her face with a pillowcase, wrapped nylon stockings around her eyes and mouth and tied her hands behind her back. Not wanting to wake her children and potentially put them in danger, Donna did her best not to scream and to do what the attacker was telling her. The man cut off her clothing with a knife before sexually assaulting her. The man then pulled out a gun and put it in Donna’s mouth through the pillowcase and nylons, threatening to kill her if she went to the police. Eventually, the attacker walked out of the house, shutting the front door behind him.
After a moment of shock when Donna realized she had made it out of the attack alive, she ran to check on her children, who were still asleep in their beds. Donna then ran to the phone but found that the phone lines had been cut. She ran to a neighbor’s house to call 911. Police arrived on scene and took no photographs or fingerprints, and rather than securing the scene the house quickly filled with other officers, neighbors and concerned relatives. After Donna went to the ER for an evaluation and rape kit, she gave her statement to police at the station where it was recorded.
About a month later, Donna and her sister went back to the station to inform officers about a strange encounter they had that they felt could be important to the investigation. Instead, Donna was brought to an interrogation room and questioned for hours, with the lieutenant accusing her of lying, threatening to put her in jail and saying she could lose her job, children and her husband. This traumatic ordeal was incredibly difficult for Donna, but it would not be the end of the trauma she endured at the hands of the Waterbury Police Department. Several days later, she requested further updates from police, who said that they never listened to the tape of her giving her statement.
Frustrated and beyond upset, Donna and John sought legal counsel from a friend who was an attorney. They met with the state’s attorney, and they then learned that someone had heard a rumor that Donna was having an affair, and to cover it up she made up the story about the rape. This was reported to police, which was why they weren’t taking her seriously. After the meeting, the state’s attorney asked the officers for the tape of the original police interview, but the officers told him that the tape had faltered and there wasn’t a saved recording. Donna’s case was reassigned and an internal investigation was ordered for the police department, but it amounted to no change.
In response, Donna sued the department as well as the City of Waterbury, using this as an opportunity to formally develop a list of all the changes she wanted to see within the police department to prevent future victims from going through what she went through. Some of her demands for change included sexual assault training that would ensure that victims would be treated with dignity and respect, as well as a formal apology and an acknowledgment that she wasn’t lying. She specified that she would settle and avoid trial if her requests were honored, but this wasn’t the case. The trial was set to begin in January of 2001. In mid-December, Donna was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. After consulting with her doctors, she made the decision to hold off on surgery and radiation until after the trial.
Despite brutal questioning from the defense that debated the validity of her injuries, the words she used on the phone with 911, and even how good of a mother she was, and false statements from multiple police officers, on January 31st, 2001, the police and the City of Waterbury were found guilty. Donna received $190,000 in damages, but what was more meaningful to her was the apology that she asked for. She never received this. The lieutenant that treated her like a criminal was also promoted to a captain position before taking an early retirement.
In the summer of 2004, Chief O’Leary called Donna and asked that she and her husband John come meet with him at the station. He told Donna and John that a man had recently attacked his coworker, a 21-year-old girl, in Waterbury. The girl was able to break free and call police. The attacker was arrested and identified as John Regan. Donna’s husband was shocked as Regan was a good friend of his who he had known since kindergarten, and he had been over to the house to re-shingle their roof and for dinner with his wife and kids. Police obtained a DNA sample from Regan, and on October 22nd, 2004, Donna and John were called back down to the police station and were informed that Regan’s DNA matched the DNA collected on Donna’s rape kit. Her case was finally solved after 11 years.
Regan was arrested, but the statute of limitations on sexual assault had run out. He was charged with kidnapping, pleaded not guilty, and was released on $350,000 bond. On October 31st, 2005, John Regan was in Saratoga Springs, New York, hiding in the parking lot of a high school watching a 17-year-old girl. He grabbed her as she was walking to her car after track practice, putting a hand over her mouth and trying to pull her into his van. The girl bit him, then screamed and fought as hard as she could, and her coaches heard the commotion and came running. Regan was arrested for attempted kidnapping, and police saw the pending cases in Connecticut for Donna’s attack and the attempted kidnapping of the 21-year-old. On November 3rd, 2005, Regan’s 49th birthday, he attempted to hang himself in his cell with bed sheets. He failed.
On July 14th, 2006, John Regan pleaded guilty for attempted kidnapping of the 17-year-old in New York and was sentenced to 12 years in state prison. On October 26th, 2006, John Regan pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine to kidnapping in Connecticut for Donna’s case and was sentenced to 15 years in prison to be served concurrently in New York. In August of 2017, Donna was notified of the possibility of Regan being released as he qualified for ‘statutory good time’ which took 1472 days (over 4 years) off of his sentence. Regan finished his sentence in New York at the end of October 2017 and is currently being held under New York’s Sex Offender Civil Management Law, a law that was enacted in 2007 in the state to enhance public safety by providing for the civil management of sex offenders upon the expiration of their criminal sentence. A trial was held in November of 2021, and a jury found that Regan has a mental abnormality related to committing sexual crimes and was deemed to be a likely reoffender. He was then confined to a secure treatment facility for care, but would not be released.
Through the trauma and all that she endured, Donna Palomba founded Jane Doe No More in 2009, a nonprofit organization that focuses on education, prevention, advocacy and support with the goal of eliminating shame and placing blame on sexual assault survivors. Their website is: janedoenomore.org
Image sources:
janedoenomore.org - “Donna’s Story”