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An attorney for Arthur Reeve, on behalf of Reeve’s slain daughter, Susan, gave the check to Rosemarie D’Alessandro, whose own daughter, June, was murdered by a neighbor in 1973, in a case as notorious as the Reeve killing.
Reeve donated the rest of the money from the groundbreaking suit to establish a scholarship fund at Hollins College in Virginia, where Susan went to school.
Robert Reldan, who was also convicted of killing a woman from Haworth, has been spending time since the 1980s behind bars with young Joan D’Alessando’s murderer, Joseph McGowan.
The Reeve family sued Reldan for damages in 2008, in connection with 22-year-old Susan Reeve‘s killing, after discovering he had inherited millions from a deceased aunt. A recent settlement requires Reeve’s estate to get $700,000 upfront, plus annual income from a $9 million trust fund set up for Reldan through his inheritance.
Reldan, 70, gets $200,000, along with $2,080 a month deposited into his prison account. He’d get $50,000 annually if he’s paroled, which appears unlikely, based on previous state Parole Board decisions and the fact that the board has expressed a desire to postpone his next scheduled date.
The irony in the case is that Reldan was serving time for the two murders when he hired a hit man to take out the aunt who left him the money, Lillian Garis Booth, an extremely wealthy Alpine philanthropist who died three years.
After the will was probated, the Reeves filed suit seeking compensation for Susan Reeve’s pain and suffering. Their aim, they said, was to keep Reldan from become wealthy if he should ever be released.
What made it all possible was a law Rosemarie D’Alessandro helped get passed a decade ago this week, after she discovered that her 7-year-old daughter‘s killer was using his mother‘s money to pay for a lawyer to appeal his parole denial.
However, what she didn’t know was that there was a two-year statute of limitations on suing for wrongful death suits. D’Alessando went back to work, lobbying for elimination of the statute. That finally happened in January.
“I really want other victims to know about this law, so they know that the opportunity is there to sue the murderer of their loved one,” D’Alessandro told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Earlier this year, the Joan Angela D’Alessandro Memorial Foundation presented the Passaic Teen Center with a check for $1,500 and a plaque in Joan’s memory.
Joseph McGowan, a former high school science teacher, was convicted of raping and murdering Joan D’Alessandro on April 19th, 1973 (Holy Thursday), before dumping her body in Harriman State Park, where it was found on Easter. McGowan lived three houses down in their Hillsdale neighborhood, and the youngster had come to his door looking to sell her last two boxes of cookies.
IF YOU WANT TO CONTRIBUTE, MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO:
The Joan Angela D’Alessandro Memorial Foundation, Inc.
45 Florence St
Hillsdale, NJ 07642
Her murder prompted the passage of Joan’s Law, signed by Gov. Christie Whitman in 1997 and by President Clinton in 1998. It mandates life in prison for the killing of children under 14 during a sex crime.
Because it was adopted after McGowan was sentenced, the law doesn’t apply to him. But he remains in prison for his crimes, having repeatedly been denied parole.
Meanwhile, Rosemarie D’Alessandro has made helping other parents and abused children her life’s mission.
“Inside I knew great things were going to come out of Joan’s life because of the special energy she had, and has, and the fact that she was found on Easter Sunday,” D’Alessandro told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. Helping others, she said, “is why I was put on this earth.”
For more information, contact Rosemarie directly at begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 201.664.9140 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, email rosebd@email.com or go to Joansjoy.org.201.664.9140
Susan Reeve was headed to her parents Demarest home when Reldan abducted and raped her. Her body was found two weeks later in a nearby park, two years after Joan was killed.
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