it's unfortunate that we have to think about the day that he was brought home from the hospital to the day that we actually closed the casket. josh mankiewicz: what they want to do is warn other families to watch out for the other katrina bens in the world. cynthia somuah: i pray and continue to pray that even in doing this that it will bring awareness to other people out there about certain types of people and just being very cautious and being aware. josh mankiewicz: so the lesson is be careful who you get close to. very careful. very aware. very important. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i was in a deep sleep. i remember the barrel of a gun to my mouth. i felt like my head was on fire. i was at his mercy. donna (on phone): he told me if i

called the police, that he would be back to kill me. we didn't know if we had some sort of night stalker running around. the lieutenant began reading me my miranda rights. you have the right to remain silent? exactly. it was devastating. oh, i was livid. i wanted to tear one of them from limb to limb. the investigation was completely bungled. did you worry that someone else could be a victim? absolutely. all of a sudden, i had a very forceful arm wrapped around my chest and then over my mouth. man: the police stopped them. andrea canning: what was in that van? man: there were two slipknots ready to go. there was a tarp. i know we have the right guy. shocked to my core. andrea canning: he was hiding in plain sight, the wolf in sheep's clothing. yes. i could never have imagined that he was the monster he truly is. [music playing]

andrea canning: it was warm that september night, so donna palomba cracked open her second-floor bedroom window to let the breeze in. she was beat. she'd worked all day, then taken her two young kids to a concert, getting home at bedtime. donna palomba: i just remember shutting the door and locking it, and then getting the kids in their pjs, and saying their prayers, tucking them in. andrea canning: just another friday evening, except for the fact that donna's husband john was away for a few days. this is pretty incredible, but you and john had gone years without ever spending a night apart? we were married 12 years, and that was the first time that he was away. he was a little concerned, but i assured him, we would be fine. andrea canning: by midnight, her lovely leafy neighborhood

in waterbury, connecticut was in darkness, and the 36-year-old mom was asleep, her children tucked in down the hall. all was well. then, noises. i heard footsteps. andrea canning: footsteps she knew she shouldn't be hearing. donna palomba: it didn't sound like little children's bare feet. i immediately became alarmed. was there any part of you that thought, maybe john came home early? honestly, i didn't have time to think much. andrea canning: she'd left the bedroom door ajar, so she could hear the children, ages five and seven, if they woke. i saw this shadowy figure come in the room. was it a man? could you tell? i could tell that the silhouette was of a man, and he was wearing some type of face covering. and i obviously immediately became alarmed and jolted out of my sleep. andrea canning: a shadowy figure, a man. she screamed. and he jumped me. and he covered my mouth with his hand.

andrea canning: she bit down into a glove. he cranked my arm up behind up my back, and he said, if you don't cooperate you're going to get hurt. did you recognize the voice, the smell, anything? no, no. i didn't recognize at all. again, i was caught so off guard. what is going through your mind at this point? because this is all happening probably so fast. it was terrifying. and i-- i really-- it took a few seconds to realize what was happening. and of course, my first thoughts were of my children. and so i realized that if i continued to scream, they would be the ones that would hear me. and i certainly didn't them to be walking into anything like this. andrea canning: she was face-down on the bed. she didn't move, even when he jammed his knee into her back, bound her wrists and eyes with nylons, and covered her head with a pillowcase.

donna palomba: i knew, at that point, i was unable to fight him. and so i just thought, i've got to do what i can to survive. andrea canning: "to survive," did that mean staying quiet? did that mean not resisting? i couldn't resist at that point because i was bound. so i just remember him cutting my clothing while i was still on my stomach, and then he flipped me over, and he raped me. andrea canning: the next thing she remembers was a gun against her mouth, then her temple. donna palomba prayed. i didn't think that i would survive, so i actually said out loud to god, please, absolve me of all my sins. and i waited. and i saw my life flashed before my eyes. you really thought you were going to die in this moment? i did. and i pictured my children finding me. that's the worst thought right --there

oh, my gosh. --is to be feeling that in that moment. that's a horrible, horrible thought. it was unbearable. and then, he flipped me onto my stomach and put the gun in my back. and he said, if you call the pigs, i'm going to come back and kill you. andrea canning: with that warning, a flicker of hope. maybe, just maybe, she would get through this alive. so i immediately went into a mode of what can i do to make him leave? and i said, this is between you and i. i have no idea who you are. i could never identify you. i'll never tell a soul. you didn't hurt me. i was saying anything, anything i could to will him down those stairs. you're begging for your life. i am. i am. i thought, this was the only way that he could possibly leave, if i tell him that.

and i did. andrea canning: and incredibly, he did leave. donna listened to him go down the stairs and close the door behind him. she was shaking, in shock, and profoundly grateful. that must be such a bittersweet feeling, that, ok, i've just been through the worst experience of my entire life, but i'm alive. and that's how i felt, andrea. it's like, i was so disoriented on the bed when he left, but so grateful when i heard that door close, and i knew he had left the house. i just was immediately so relieved, but my first thoughts were of my children. and i could not get to them fast enough. andrea canning: she managed to loosen the pillowcase and the nylons tying her wrists, and she ran to them. i think about you before you've reached their bedrooms and that fear of, oh, god,

please, let them be ok. please, let them be ok. - oh, my gosh. andrea canning: because you don't know. if he's willing to do what he did to you, who knows what he's capable of? exactly. and i didn't know if he had gone to their rooms prior to coming to my room. i didn't know. oh, i could not get to them fast enough. andrea canning: and when she did, she burst out crying. they slept through the whole thing? donna palomba: they were sleeping. and at that moment, i thought, if they were untouched and i had survived, we're going to get through this. i immediately was hopeful. andrea canning: the kids were fine. and donna? still standing after the most terrifying experience of her life, still able, somehow, to count her blessings. donna palomba: i know i was fortunate. i know i was fortunate. andrea canning: your attacker, as horrible as he was to you, he spared you. yes. he spared my life. i don't know why, to this day. but i thought, at that point, that the worst was over.

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andrea canning: donna palomba was raped in her connecticut home back in 1993 when her husband john was away. her attacker disappeared into the night, leaving donna alive and her two young children asleep and untouched. this is every woman's worst nightmare. it really is. i could not believe i was in the middle of this. andrea canning: donna was in shock, but she knew she had to report her assault. she didn't have a cell phone. few people did back then. so she picked up the landline in her bedroom. it was dead. the kitchen phone was dead too. that happens in horror movies, thrillers, where people cut the phone lines. did you think about how scary that what that he methodically cut your phone lines?

i just knew that i've just been attacked and assaulted, and i cannot call for help in my home where i can be with my children. andrea canning: she was cut off from the world. and for all she knew, her attacker was still out there, lurking, waiting for her to leave to get help. if she ran to a neighbor's, would her kids be safe in the house? why not wake them up and take them and say, look, we've got to go get some help, something happened? donna palomba: i did not want to frighten them. i also could not physically carry them down. i didn't want to endanger them. andrea canning: but she also knew she couldn't sit tight in the house until morning. the sooner the police knew about the assault, the sooner they could track down her attacker. i made a very very difficult decision to leave the children to run for help. that was-- that was really difficult, but i--

i knew i had to get help. i knew that i couldn't stay like that. andrea canning: so where do you go? you come out the front door right here. donna palomba: i came out the front door, ran down the sidewalk. and my neighbors on either side were elderly, and the lights were off. and so i ran to my neighbor's, and his back porch light was on. and i knocked on the door. and he answered? he did. and who was it? donna palomba: it was actually a distant cousin of my husband's, cliff. and he took one look at me. i mean, i can't even imagine what i looked like. i had the nylons on my neck, on my wrist. oh, my gosh. i was in a bathrobe. and i just said, i've been attacked. but i was worried about the children. so i just kept saying, cliff, he told me he'd kill me. i don't know what to do. john's away. the children are home by themselves. i ran for the telephone, and i called 911.

andrea canning: donna, terrified, trembling, took the phone from cliff. andrea canning: cliff grabbed an ax and ran to donna's house to stand by the door, guarding the children in case her attacker returned. it started to dawn on me that we've got a maniac that broke into her house and assaulted her in her bedroom. yeah, there was no other choice. andrea canning: donna relived her nightmare. andrea canning: she was hyperventilating.

andrea canning: all she could think of was her attacker's threat and that gun. andrea canning: the officer on the phone counseled her. andrea canning: but she was frantic to get back to her children. andrea canning: a police officer arrived at cliff's, and donna handed the phone to him. the two officers shared a somber assessment.

andrea canning: the officer then asked for a key to donna's front door and took off to her house. donna started calling family members. your phone jolts you out of your sleep? bill palomba is donna's brother-in-law, john's younger brother. does she say exactly what happened, or just that you need to get to the house? i needed to get to the house. somebody broke into the house, and she was clearly upset. andrea canning: bill threw on a pair of sweats and tore out of his house. donna, waiting at cliff's house as she'd been told to do, could stand it no longer. she ran to her home, now a crime scene crawling with officers. donna palomba: i just remember seeing flashing lights and walking into this scene that was so surreal in my own home. and my first thoughts were of my children. and i was able to go upstairs and check on them, and they were still asleep. oh, wow. even as officers shone flashlights in their faces.

they are two super active, healthy kids. and they were sleeping. and to this day, it just-- i'm so grateful. did you feel like god was watching over them? absolutely, absolutely. it was like angels and god was watching over them. andrea canning: bill palomba arrived and helped carry the sleeping children to their grandmother's house nearby. and then, a discussion ensued. had you said to donna, we need to call john? i think when all my brothers were in the kitchen with her, we really said, you know, we're going to need to tell him. but she was very hesitant on telling him until he got home. andrea canning: john, who was in colorado at a good friend's wedding, was due back the next day. donna palomba: i did not want to call john, and i would not want to talk to him at this moment to frighten him when he couldn't be there. that would just be torture for him. andrea canning: some people would think that that maybe should have been your first call, to your husband.

donna palomba: if he was in the area, absolutely. but he could do nothing from where he was. andrea canning: doing nothing was not in john palomba's dna, especially not where donna was concerned. everyone braced for his return. coming up-- are you thinking, what's going on here? i was confused, but i quickly became aware that something was wrong. andrea canning: a meeting with an investigator takes an unthinkable turn. he put me in a small interrogation room. he took out a little white piece of paper and began reading me my rights. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues.

[music playing] andrea canning (voiceover): john palomba was due home on sunday, september 12th. he had no idea a nightmare awaited him. i knew john would be crushed. andrea canning (voiceover): donna had gone to the hospital for a sex crimes examination. her rapist's dna collected, now she steeled herself to tell john what had happened. he assumes everything was ok at home. right. and then he walks through the door, and his life changes in an instant. absolutely. andrea canning (voiceover): john knew something was up when he reached the front door. it had a new deadbolt.

donna palomba: he saw the deadbolt and came flying into the house, and we broke the news to him. and i remember him flying out of the room and just saying, no, and how could this happen? and it was his worst nightmare. andrea canning (voiceover): john palomba still has trouble talking about that day. and it just-- you know, it hurt me that there was nothing i could do. i was angry. i was very angry. i mean-- did you feel any kind of-- any of that guilt that, oh, i shouldn't have gone, i shouldn't-- - absolutely. i felt that i let them down. i wasn't there. that's what hurt, is that you just felt like you let your family down. andrea canning (voiceover): it hurt even more because john had always been vigilant, super protective. donna picked up on that the first time she met john at a party years before. they were two college kids, both waterbury born and bred,

and they just clicked. and i thought she was very nice. donna was very quiet then. donna quiet? i don't know what happened, but we hit it off. andrea canning (voiceover): they got married a few years later. you know, we don't have a story like we were at the beach, and the waves came crashing in. no romantic, unfortunately. i mean, it was basically just something we grew into. andrea canning (voiceover): not mr. romantic maybe, but loving and deeply family oriented. that was john palomba, always on guard for any possible threat. john palomba: i used to tell her all the time, make sure the doors are locked. if i'm going out for a walk, make sure the doors are locked. andrea canning (voiceover): remember, john's trip to colorado was the first time he'd been away from his wife in a dozen years of marriage. donna couldn't join him. she was needed at the small marketing firm where she was a partner, but she encouraged john to go. donna palomba: he loved the mountains, and so, i thought,

i'll just stay here with the kids. did you think in your wildest dreams that something would happen? no. if i thought that, i wouldn't have went. andrea canning (voiceover): at first, the police made slow progress. donna went over her memories of the assault again and again, hoping to retrieve details to help them. donna palomba: i do remember an odor when he was on me that smelled like grease or oil. did you think that maybe this is someone who works with cars, a mechanic? yeah. i mean, i thought that that was important to relay to the police so that they could pursue that angle, perhaps. his voice, did you feel like he was using his regular voice? i thought, perhaps, it was someone that was, like, talking deeper. it was a very threatening tone that he used. andrea canning (voiceover): the investigators were stumped by one question in particular-- how did the attacker get into the house? donna told them the doors were always locked at night.

donna palomba: there was no broken windows. you know, the door wasn't jimmied in any way. so, it was troubling. it was troubling to them, and it was equally troubling to me. andrea canning (voiceover): donna believed her attacker was a stranger, but as the days went by, she and john began to wonder about that. we kind of had a feeling that it was someone that we knew. why did you have that feeling? because it just-- i was never away. and so, somebody would have had to known. andrea canning (voiceover): the palombas lived in a tight-knit community. even so, the couple kept the assault private. donna was identified publicly only as jane doe. she tried to reassure john, telling him they'd get through it, but john struggled. his anger had been lit and had endured. you know, if people looked at me wrong, i was-- you know, i was ready to fight. i just had that pent-up anger in me, and it was unhealthy. andrea canning (voiceover): donna worried that john's anger might propel him into an act he'd regret.

it was one reason she worked so hard to help the police, which is why, a month after the assault, she went down to the waterbury pd to talk to the investigator in charge about a possible lead. instead, she got the shock of her life. he was very, like, abrupt. and he put me in a small interrogation room with a desk. and on the desk, there was a tape recorder. he hit play and record. are you thinking, what's going on here? i was confused, but i quickly became aware that something was wrong. he took out a little white piece of paper and unfolded it and began reading me my miranda rights. what? donna palomba: he read me-- you have the right to remain silent? exactly, and i said, what are you doing? and-- how shocking. i was dumbfounded. and so i asked him. i said, what are you doing? he said, this is how i'm going to handle this. handle what? i know, so i said, what are you talking about?

and he looked at me, and he said, why don't you tell me what really happened that night? andrea canning (voiceover): donna suddenly realized she was being accused of lying about her rape, the most traumatic experience of her life. what in the world was going on? coming up. he said, we have rock-solid evidence that you purposefully lied to the police. i sat back. i was like, please. i have done nothing but tell the truth. andrea canning (voiceover): donna comes to a stunning realization. so, you've been raped, and now you're the one who could potentially be arrested. right. i've become the suspect. andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. ♪♪ when your child has moderate-to-severe eczema, it's okay to for them to show off. show off their clearer skin and noticeably less itch with dupixent.

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making an appearance on snl this weekend just days before the election. her cameo came during the cold open alongside actress and comedian maya rudolph who portrays her. the appearance coming just hours after the new -- iowa poll recognized vice president kamala harris leading trump in the hawkeye state 47 to 44% within the margin of error of. trump winning iowa in 2016 and 2020. for now, back to dateline. [siren wailing] andrea canning: a month after donna palomba was raped, lead investigator, lieutenant douglas moran, sat across from her in a cramped interview room at the waterbury police department read her her rights, and threatened to arrest her if she didn't tell him what really happened that night. donna palomba: i looked at him, and i said,

i told you what happened. and he said, we have rock-solid evidence that you purposefully lied to the police. i sat back. i was like, please, something is terribly wrong. i have done nothing but tell the truth. andrea canning: then, she says he laid it out. donna palomba: he said, you have everything to lose. he held up his hand, and he said, your children, your husband, your career, your reputation, unless you tell me right now what happened. i started trembling and shaking. and i'm like, please, you're scaring me. what are you talking about? he said, listen, we have countless interviews and photographs. - of what? that's what i said. i said, please, show me the photograph. show me the interviews. he would hear nothing of it. it's like an ambush. i was so blindsided. it was the last thing that i had expected. remember, this was one month after the crime. i was still healing, still reeling

from everything that had happened that night of the horrific attack. and here i am at the police station, another safe harbor where you go to get help, and the tables are turned. and he's questioning me in the most relentless, horrific way. and there was no reasoning with the man. so you've been raped, and now you're the one who could potentially be arrested. right. i become the suspect. but the worst part is he didn't tell me what he had. he just kept at me, saying, we know you're lying. we have rock-solid evidence. but not willing to share it. not willing to share anything, but he made it clear. he said, if you do not tell me what happened, you will be arrested. i started crying. and i looked at him, and i said, what could you be thinking of doing this to me? and he looked at his watch and said, i'm thinking of what i'm going to have for lunch.

it was devastating. you must have felt so helpless and alone in that tiny, little room with him. i felt, honestly, worse than i had ever felt before. i-- andrea canning: worse than the attack? yes, because i was being retraumatized. but yet, you didn't just get up and leave? donna palomba: i didn't. because he was going to arrest me. i tried everything i could to set the record straight, to let him know he's on the wrong path. whatever he has can be explained. andrea canning: finally, she fell silent, and the lieutenant issued an ultimatum. donna palomba: he said, i'll tell you what, i am going to let you go under the condition that you come back here this afternoon. you tell me what really happened, and this tape goes in the drawer. i'm going to close the case. but if you don't come back this afternoon, i will find you and arrest you,

and your picture will be in tomorrow's paper. i see. so he's saying, if you confess and tell the truth, this will all go away. exactly. and he also said, i have 27 cases on my desk. one way or another, this case is getting closed today. andrea canning: donna was reeling. she stumbled out of the police department and told her family what had happened. you went down to the station to confront-- oh, yeah, i went down with her father. --the officer. what happened when you went down there? he didn't even take me in a room. he met me in the hallway, and i started yelling and screaming at him. and he didn't even have the courtesy to sit me down and tell me what he had. and he goes, i got irrefutable evidence that your wife is lying. and he said, her story is full of holes, and, yes, there is the threat of her arrest, but he didn't say why. andrea canning: after that angry exchange at the waterbury police department, john suddenly realized what the police were thinking, that donna had had an affair and had invented the rape as a cover up in case she was discovered.

john knew he had to ask his wife if that was true. it was very hard for me to even have to even ask that question. i mean, but i just figured, all right, they say they got irrefutable evidence and this and that, so i got to ask her. andrea canning: john palomba says his trust in his wife never wavered. after all, he knew donna. john palomba: i mean, if anybody had a clean reputation, it was her. andrea canning: a real lady, is how john describes his wife, a throwback to yesteryear. john palomba: donna wasn't the kind that went to happy hour with the girls, or she wasn't the kind that would be out by herself or with a girlfriend. she was a person who was home. andrea canning: all the same, john knew he'd have to ask his wife that painful question. john palomba: i just looked at donna, and i said, is there anything i should know about?

andrea canning: coming up-- did you think that you were going to meet with the supervisor, and you'd get answers, and this would-- everything would be cleared up? john palomba: we thought. it was so blatant what this lieutenant did to me. andrea canning: a new encounter with police enrages john all over again. oh, i was livid. i was livid. i wanted to tear one of them from limb to limb. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues. (luke) homes-dot-com is a new, elevated home-shopping experience.music] it's the only site that always connects you to the listing agent. feels like a work of art! (marci) what about the app? (luke) uh-oh! (marci) wow! went all in on gold. (vo) ding dong! homes-dot-com. we've done your home work. ♪♪ when you have moderate to severe eczema, it's okay to show off. with dupixent, show off your clearer skin and less itch. because you have plenty of reasons to show off your skin. with dupixent, the #1 prescribed biologic

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andrea canning: after a waterbury police officer accused donna palomba of lying about her assault and implied she was having an affair, donna's husband asked her the hardest question he'd ever put to her. was there anything he should know? john palomba: and she said, absolutely not. i said, ok. i'm with you. you know your wife. that was all you needed. yeah. andrea canning: and i would imagine that you're going to trust the word of donna over a lieutenant? i knew her well enough. i knew her character. i knew who she was. and after she said, absolutely not, it never came up again. andrea canning: donna and john hugged after that exchange, donna in tears. the meeting with the lieutenant had set her back. donna palomba: i really felt like i was getting stronger. i was back to work. we were trying to keep things as normal as possible for the children. it wasn't until this lieutenant did this that it really, really stopped my healing. andrea canning: was it like these officers,

instead of protecting you, were more like the enemy? oh, for sure. i mean, i feared-- i feared law enforcement. i mean, the attack happened at my home, which you think is a safe place when you're sleeping in your bed. and then, to be attacked again by people in power that have taken an oath to protect and serve-- your whole world is shattered. andrea canning: the palombas demanded to meet with lieutenant moran's superior to complain about what had happened. did you think that you were going to meet with this supervisor, and you'd get answers, and everything would be cleared up? john palomba: we thought. it was so blatant what this lieutenant did to me, and i knew it had been recorded. so the first thing we did is ask, did you listen to the tape? and he said, no, it's an ongoing investigation. and i said, well, can we listen to it together? and he said, no. and then i said, well, you're going to have to hear what he said to me. and his demeanor was, instead of concern,

it was very nonchalant. it was more like i'm going to solve this case one way or the other. andrea canning: this meeting with the police was also recorded, though john and donna didn't know it at the time. andrea canning: he also told them the investigation was, in his words, kind of stymied. but he said the police did want to question the children.

andrea canning: the palombas certainly weren't going to let the police talk to their kids now. i mean, after what they had done to me, i wouldn't let them anywhere near our children. oh, i was livid. i was livid. i was livid. i wanted to tear one of them from limb to limb. andrea canning: donna and john didn't know it at the time, but there was a reason the police thought donna had invented the rape. an informant had gone to them to pass on rumors. what the police told the palombas was irrefutable evidence turned out to be town gossip. donna palomba: and this informant said, there's a rumor going around that donna is having an affair and that the night of the crime, she was with her lover. and the eldest child woke up and saw something, and she put her back to sleep and concocted the rape

to cover up an affair. this is a vicious rumor. it is completely untrue. andrea canning: and donna couldn't understand why the police hadn't just asked her about the rumor in the first place. donna palomba: it would have been so easy for him to talk to anyone that knew me if there was this person that i was having an affair with, and he would have learned that that was not the case. he just ran with it. he ran with it. andrea canning: the palombas later learned the captain they'd complained to was the lieutenant's brother. by now, donna and john were convinced they'd never get a fair shake from these investigators. as they agonized about what to do, the only thing they knew for certain was that donna's attacker was still out there, maybe even preparing to strike again.

coming up-- myself and some others felt really horrible about the way donna palomba's case was handled. andrea canning: a damning report of the waterbury police response the night of donna's assault from one of their own. so these officers came to this crime scene. did they cordon it off? no. did they canvas the neighborhood? did they talk to people? no. did they call in the forensic team? they did not. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues.

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scent can't sanitize. andrea canning: john and donna palomba had lost faith in the investigation after the lead investigator accused donna of lying. so the palombas reached out to the state's attorney and asked his office to investigate. as they waited, rumors whirled around donna. are you worried that the neighbors-- it's going to start getting around town, that people are going to start whispering, wondering? this rumor was so contrary to the way i had lived my life and what i do every day. and so i became sensitive to the looks i would get and the little whispers. so even though you were known as jane doe, people were starting to realize, this is donna. some people. and it really hurt me that this vicious lie that i was having an affair and could somehow concoct this horrific crime was out there.

andrea canning: in the spring of 1994, more than six months after donna was raped, everything changed. neil o'leary was then, one of waterbury's crack detectives. on the order of the state's attorney, o'leary took over donna's case. neil was a good cop. he was a good cop. he knew right away that this case was mishandled. and he wasn't afraid to tell us that. and he was afraid to say it either. andrea canning: o'leary knew it would be a huge challenge to find donna's attacker because so much time had passed. witnesses disappear. memories disappear. evidence disappears. but, you know, we started as if it happened the night before, and we canvassed the neighborhood, and we interviewed witnesses. andrea canning: o'leary listened to donna's 911 call again and again. did this sound sincere to you? at that time, i was a police officer for 13 years, and i was--

10 of those years, i did nothing but major crimes. and i heard a lot of and listened to a lot of 911 tapes. i thought it was agonizing, terrifying. i could feel her fear through the phone. and it still bothers me terribly that she, first of all, went through that ordeal, but that the officers didn't understand and didn't feel the same way. andrea canning: but the first investigators had issues with that call. one of the words she used to describe her attacker was "gentleman." correct. they didn't like that. they didn't like that. and i didn't understand that because if you know donna palomba, that's how donna palomba speaks. one of the biggest mistakes, i think, that the initial detectives made was they didn't get to know the victim, donna palomba. and had they taken the time, i think they were at a difficult time believing

some of the other things that came out later. andrea canning: the more o'leary learned about the police response the night of the attack, the more disillusioned he became. he called it a perfect storm of mistakes. so now these officers came to this crime scene. did they cordon it off? no. did they canvas the neighborhood? did they talk to people? no. did they call in the forensic team? they did not. did they take photos of the crime scene? no, they did not. and so with all of these things that weren't done, how would you grade this response to a major crime? i would give them a d-minus, at best. and the only reason it's not an f is that the responding patrolman, the youngest person on the scene, had the wherewithal to resort to his training and collect the bedding and the clothing at the hospital when donna went for the rape kit at waterbury hospital. andrea canning: instead of focusing on the medical and forensic reports that supported

donna's story, o'leary says the initial investigators zeroed in on donna's actions that night. they didn't like that she didn't want to call her husband right away. correct. that was an issue. they didn't like that she had left the children sleeping. yes. her husband is out in colorado, and he's coming home just in a few hours. what is that going to do by arousing him at 2 o'clock in the morning and then having him fly home with that going on? and with the children, why wake them up? because then you're going to traumatize them as well. andrea canning: o'leary started talking to everybody he could, beginning with donna, then john, family, friends, neighbors. neil o'leary: i felt from the very, very beginning that this was someone that donna knew. it was too much of a coincidence for me because of the fact that it was the first time ever that john palomba was away from the home. there was no forced entry, which led me to believe that whomever was responsible for this attack somehow had access to the key

somewhere. andrea canning: as he investigated, o'leary learned there had been a stag on the night of donna's assault, a bachelor party in a waterbury restaurant. o'leary says about 50 men attended. john palomba, a popular guy, would have been there too. anyone at that party would know absolutely that he was missing. absolutely. this is such a tight-knit-- they're a very tight-knit neighborhood back then in 1993. andrea canning: o'leary realized donna had been attacked not long after the party ended. he got a partial guest list, collected some 40 dna samples, hoping to get a match to the dna collected from donna. we drove the connecticut state police lab crazy with all of our dna samples. but nonetheless, we struck out on each and every one. andrea canning: months passed. as the first anniversary of the assault came and went, o'leary says he wasn't the most popular guy on the force. after all, he'd been highly critical of the first team of investigators. and yet, he'd come up empty himself.

were some of the officers giving you the cold shoulder? yes, definitely. andrea canning: knowing that donna's attacker was still out there, the palombas learned to live with constant suspicions. the worst part is you started to think, well, maybe it was this person. maybe it was that person. kind of like everyone's a possible suspect. right. andrea canning: but then, the last straw, an internal police report assessing how the initial investigators had handled the case. the headline? no impropriety on the part of captain robert moran or his brother, the lieutenant who had accused donna of lying. donna was incensed. donna palomba: i felt, as i was reading that, like i was being punched in the gut. this is not only being tolerated, but it's being condoned. that would be a tipping point, for sure. and that is when we decided to sue the police. i just could not imagine this happening to another family. andrea canning: the palombas say neither of them

wanted to sue, and neither cared about winning money. i've never sued anybody in my life, but the only way we could get results was to do this. andrea canning: but if the palombas felt betrayed by a few officers in the waterbury police department, another betrayal, this one profound and personal, lay ahead. and it would change everything the palombas and the waterbury community thought they knew about the case. coming up-- they were chopping out her credibility with every single story. andrea canning: donna makes a decision that will test her all over again. she was very nervous, very fragile. andrea canning: will it pay off? when "dateline" continues. andrea canning: the palomba's lawsuit accusing the moran brothers and the city of waterbury of negligence