Dateline: Secrets Uncovered is investigating the crimes of John Regan, a rapist and attempted kidnapper, who gained notoriety after he was finally caught over a decade after a violent home invasion and rape of Donna Palomba in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Donna Palomba subsequently set up the Jane Doe No More organization, which advocates for the victims of rape. She was instrumental in affecting a change in Connecticut law that ended the statute of limitations on sexual assaults that were later solved with DNA evidence.
In the early hours of September 10, 1993, Regan broke into the home of Palomba, where her two young children were also sleeping.
He went into her bedroom, cut off her clothes with a knife, and raped her at gunpoint. Palomba’s husband was out of town at the time.
Regan wore a mask to disguise his identity, and during the attack, he bound up his victim and threatened her. He told Palomba, “If you call the pigs, I’ll come back and kill you.” The rapist also cut the phone lines.
Palomba was able to free herself and ran to a neighbor’s house to raise the alarm. She told the 911 dispatcher that he had held a gun to her head and that she had begged for her life. Her children had slept peacefully through the attack.
John Regan continued attacking women after Donna Palomba
It took 11 years for the rapist to be caught. In 2004, Reagan stalked and tried to rape another woman. The cops were able to compare the DNA with the Palomba attack, and she was horrified to learn that it was a friend of her husband’s.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelIncredibly, Regan was released on bail, leaving him to attack a third woman. In New York, he tried to shove a 17-year-old runner at Saratoga Springs High School into a van with a tarp, noose, syringe, and sedative inside.
Regan finally pleaded guilty to the two attacks in Connecticut and the attempted kidnap in New York. He was sentenced to 12 years in New York and 15 years in Connecticut. The sentences were to run concurrently and be served in NY.
There was a battle to keep rapist John Regan behind bars
In 2017, it was announced that Regan would be released three years early due to a Statutory Good Time law, which allowed him to earn credit for good behavior.
On hearing of his possible release, Palomba later told the press, “My adrenaline started racing; I couldn’t even catch my breath. My heart was beating out of my chest. What do you mean? This is terribly wrong; this can’t be possible.”
However, in October 2017, the NY State Department announced Regan would be kept in custody. He was eventually released on October 27, 2022.
Donna Palomba continues to advocate for victims of rape and abuse, and readers can follow the link to visit her website, Jane Doe No More.
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Oxygen.