Jane Doe No More (28 page)

At the conclusion of Sergeant Griffin’s report, he wrote “. . . [A] supplemental report [was] submitted [and] the investigation then was turned over to Vice and Intelligence.”

Captain Moran had placed the onus on the Detective Bureau, and here was Griffin bouncing it right back to Vice.

By the end of the 1994 holiday season, there was still no word from IA regarding its conclusions. Donna and John thought this was a good sign. The longer it took, the more thoroughly, one would assume, the investigation was proceeding.

It was shortly after the New Year. Pudgie and Neil were no closer to identifying a promising suspect. But as Neil O’Leary and Kathy Wilson spoke to more men they learned had been at that stag party, something important emerged. For one, John had asked a friend to “keep an eye” on his house while he was in Colorado. It was obvious from the interview conducted by Kathy (now helping to support Neil and Pudgie’s investigation) and Neil that John was nervous about going away for the first time in his marriage and wanted to know that his friends had his back while he was away. But this kind of help-a-buddy-out call could have backfired.

One man Neil and Kathy spoke to said, “Yeah, I was at that stag party.” He had gone with a friend. The friend said John had asked him to watch his house because he was going away and Donna was home alone.

The thought was that if John had told one friend, and that friend had told others, just about everybody at that stag probably knew that Donna was home by herself.

Lab results were coming in from everyone Neil and Kathy had tracked down and asked for a voluntary blood sample, and there was no match. Everyone they had tested could be eliminated.

Then the report everyone in Donna’s camp had been anticipating finally came in. On May 3, 1995, more than a year after IA had initiated its investigation after Maureen Norris filed her affidavit, her fax machine beeped—and in came all of a page and a half from the superintendent of police, Edward F. Bergin, detailing what IA had found during its thirteen-month investigation.

The department, Bergin’s letter to Maureen began, had “concluded its internal investigation of your . . . complaint.” Then the letter contained some back-patting for Captain Joseph Cass, the main IA investigator, “for his thoroughness and professionalism in conducting the same.” Bergin made no mention of the fact that it was odd for a captain (Cass) to be placed in charge of investigating another captain (Moran) for misconduct. (In fact, such an assignment for an internal investigation almost never produces truth-telling. That blue blood runs deep in any law enforcement department, which was why an outside agency would have been the most objective party to investigate the case.)

“The investigation,” began the third paragraph of the superintendent’s report, “has found no impropriety on the part of either Captain Robert Moran or Lieutenant Post. It was further determined that Lieutenant Douglas Moran’s conduct toward your client was in no way improper. The criminal complaint was extensively investigated and that investigation had to, as a matter of course, investigate any inconsistencies in your client’s statements to police.”

Maureen was stunned as she sat and read this letter.

“I was devastated by this—because obviously they did
not
do an internal affairs investigation,” Maureen said later. “At that point I felt that Donna was up against a wall. It seemed like everybody in the department was trying to protect themselves and they weren’t going to do
anything.
”

All Donna wanted, she had maintained throughout the IA investigation, was to be acknowledged and to prevent the same thing from happening to anyone else. She demanded the department apologize to her and take responsibility for its personnel. And it wasn’t even a public apology Donna wanted, because she was still standing behind her curtain of Jane Doe anonymity.

Apology and accountability weren’t going to happen, Maureen now knew.

The report from IA continued, throwing salt on a still open wound.

“Lieutenant Moran was remiss, however, in his handling of the tape-recording equipment and I have spoken to him relative to this finding.”

A slap on Moran’s wrist for flubbing the recording that could have answered so many questions.

Most of Bergin’s argument in his letter centered on the fact that Vice and Intelligence “did not have initial control of the crime scene.” Therefore “. . . [A]ny allegation of impropriety relative to the initial handling of the crime scene or evidence cannot be ascribed to them.”

Bergin maintained that Donna’s initial criminal complaint was “extensively and aggressively investigated by this department [and that] [n]umerous individuals were interviewed and eliminated as suspects.”

Where was the response to Donna’s main reason for filing the complaint—that she had been revictimized by Moran, bullied, and made out to be a criminal?

“Likewise,” Begin concluded, “your client’s allegations of police misconduct have been thoroughly investigated and other than the mishandling of the tape-recording device, I find no basis to conclude that any officer acted improperly.”

Bergin encouraged Maureen to contact him personally should she have “or acquire any additional information which you wish me to consider in this matter . . .”

Donna had been concerned all along that the IA investigation was being conducted by the WPD and not an outside agency. But she had wanted to give the system one more chance. Now Maureen sat at her desk, wondering how to call Donna and explain to her that the same system that had victimized her was standing by its actions with such a shallow, insulting report by Superintendent Bergin, who was obviously siding with his fellow officers.

Maureen called. “Donna, listen, I received the IA report. I don’t think you’re going to like what it says.”

“Send it.”

Donna stood. Maureen faxed it to Donna’s office as she waited.

I remember feeling like I had to sit down—and that it was like being stuck with a knife. There was no impropriety on the part of the officers. The idea that the superintendent concluded that my case was “thoroughly investigated,” but that he congratulated his officers, was overwhelming to me.

We’ve pursued every possible channel that we could. We’ve gotten nowhere. We met with the state’s attorney. There were lies. There were all sorts of reasons for me to believe that things needed to change. I could not allow this to end this way.

One of the comments that particularly upset Donna was in a supplemental report filed by the IA investigators, who, among other things, concluded that Lieutenant Doug Moran would have been “derelict in his duties” had he not investigated Donna and her allegations of rape the way he had. It almost sounded as though Moran was being praised for the way he had handled the investigation.

Was it all Donna’s fault because she had unknowingly given these “red flags” throughout the night of her alleged assault and afterward? According to the IA investigation and the WPD, Donna had not acted in the proper manner after she reported the sexual assault.

Every blow became a boost. I was like, “You have got to be kidding me.” After the initial blow of that report and the way that the “brethren” of the WPD were sticking together, I wanted to make sure, more than ever now, that this would never happen to another victim put in my position. These guys were bullies. They needed to be confronted. They thought,
As long as we keep pounding her, she’ll go away
—that this IA report would send me running.

I’ll be damned. This cannot continue. If it happened to me, it happened to others. It will happen again.

I could not allow for it to continue.

Donna was stronger now. Each assault on her character toughened her. She was willing and able to take the WPD head-on—especially the Moran brothers—and fight for what she believed. Her integrity and honor were at stake—not to mention catching the guy who had raped her.

Donna met with Maureen. “I won’t take this,” she said.

“Yeah . . . it’s incredible.”

“I want to file a suit against these officers.” Donna said, referring to the Moran brothers.

“It’s not that simple, Donna. In order to sue them, you need to file a suit against the City of Waterbury.”

“So be it. I’m ready.”