WEBVTT - Chapter 6 | The Snake 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:05.160 This series includes sensitive and potentially distressing topics, including sexual 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:22.480 assault and abuse involving children. Listener discretion is advised. By 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:26.200 the time Anthony's second trial finally started, he gathered reams 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.680 of proof pointing away from his guilt and pointing instead 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:34.680 to Howard Gombered as Josette's possible killer. A last proof 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.680 compiled in prison is a far far thing from proof 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:40.960 presented at trial. To simply get a hearing, as a 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:45.599 herculean climb for someone serving life without parole, you must 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.760 first persuade a judge to grant your motion. If you 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.879 somehow get that hearing, you must then convince the judge 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:55.160 to let in new relevant facts, not just the ones 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.080 presented at your previous trial. And as Anthony had learned 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:03.600 in Putnam County, the judges there seemed deeply disinterested in 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:08.320 new facts. But to convey how strong his new proof was, 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:14.319 we'll need to return our attention to the devil. When 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.440 last we left Gombert, he pulled up stakes and moved 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:22.559 across state lines to Connecticut. His father, Howard Senior, owned 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:26.760 a ramshackle house in the working class hamlet of New Fairfield. 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.200 Gombert did not get along with his father, a burly, 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.360 beer guzzling ex marine. We spoke to three of Gombert's 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.800 victims who spent time in that house. They told us 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:42.560 that Gombert and his father fought like sailors. They literally 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.080 sucker punch each other in front of guests. At some 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:49.200 point in his boyhood, Howard either ran away or was 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:53.000 kicked out by his dad, said those women. By the 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.120 age of fifteen, he was living in the woods, sleeping 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.160 in a tent in the dead of winter. He knew 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.800 every square inch of those woods, the woman told us, 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:07.120 and fed himself on what he stole. Were killed. So 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.000 when he returned to Connecticut ninety five as a man 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.040 in his early thirties, he went right back to those 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:17.320 woods in New Fairfield. There he hit out and prowled 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:21.440 for fresh prey. It didn't take him long to find it. 0:02:30.639 --> 0:03:04.280 My madmss laughter, My fears, sorrows, deaths are endless valley idea. 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:17.839 This is the devil's quarry. Just months before she met 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.000 the man of her nightmares, Jane Gunderman was on top 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:24.080 of the world. A nurse on the fast track to 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:28.480 hospital administration. She ran a visiting nurse service in Connecticut. 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:33.119 She was slender, and striking and addicted to style, from 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:36.360 fashion to sex and the city. But then she had 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:40.080 a catastrophic accident at work and her life and career 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:43.920 came crashing down. Her upper spine was damaged and the 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.480 surgery made things worse. She went out on long term 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:51.600 sickly and got hooked on her own pain meds, confined 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.400 to her bed, and she was broken, alone and dealing 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:55.520 with bowel disease. 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:58.720 That's where all this starts. 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.880 Because that's when a guy started coming around doing odd 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:05.720 jobs for the owner of her flat. 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:07.760 That's how I met Howard. 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.720 What Howard looked like in those things. 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.120 Oh, he was funny. He had a good sense of humor. 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:18.799 Believe it or not. There was times that he could 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.880 be very entertaining. He was good looking. He was not 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:25.760 an ugly man. When I first met him. He wore 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:30.039 all black all the time, and he wore black cowboy boots, 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:32.960 and he wore black jeans, and he always had a 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:37.240 wife Beaters T shirt on with a black vest or 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:40.720 a black jean jacket or a regular jean jacket, and 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:44.279 he always flipped the collar up, which I thought was hilarious. 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:46.839 Soon he was over there all the time. 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:49.520 He used to bring the cigarettes. He used to bring 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.120 the coffee. You know. He checked on me every day, 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.360 and he was fun. He was like my best friend. 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:00.160 I had no one around when I was recuperating. He 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.040 used to come in every day to see if I 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.960 was okay. No one had done nuts with my surgeries. 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.320 There where health was touch and go. She'd make an 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:14.080 effort for him. The tomb would pop out for meal sometime, 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:16.360 or just take a spin on his motorcycle. 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:22.280 You start out in a relationship. Everything's funky dory, everything's beautiful. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.480 They love you, everything's great. You're falling in love, you're 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.760 doing things together. All of a sudden, something will change, 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.840 something happens at work, whatever. They take it out on you, 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.240 the honeymoon faces. They're buying new gifts. Then they start 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.279 with the little verbal insults and you're not good enough, 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.760 or if you don't want to give me a blowjob, 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.719 say I'll go get it from a whore, you know, 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.479 little things that would make you feel very icky, you know, 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:57.560 like just not nice. And then you start to feel, 0:05:57.720 --> 0:05:59.280 I don't know what's going to happen with this guy 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:00.440 who's little on stable. 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:05.400 Gomberts started forcing sex on Jane and then started taking 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:06.159 swings at her. 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.320 When you're with an abusive person, you are thinking about 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.680 staying alive. Every day. You're thinking about how is he 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:15.560 going to be when I come home? Am I going 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:17.359 to have to be on my defenses and am I 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.359 going to have to be guarded all day? Or is 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:22.200 he going to beat me up because of something that 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.680 happened at work and not because of what I've done? 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.320 Or is he going to take something I say, or 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:31.440 something I cooked wrong or make coffee wrong or whatever. 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:36.719 They just come home and that's it. They're just in 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:41.000 a mood and they take it out on you. One 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.599 thing that clued me in when he was starting, his 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:49.080 eyes would get black as coal. There was no anything 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:54.560 inside those eyes, nothing, they turned black. It was weird. 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:57.840 It scared the hell out of me. The one thing 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.440 I would look at was his eyes if trouble was 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:01.880 a bruin. 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:09.920 At some point, Jane broke up with Gombert then discovered 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.880 she was pregnant. She broke the news to him in 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:14.400 the art of her father's house. 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.880 I mean, when I told him I was pregnant, he 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:21.920 didn't want to hear it. He just got angry and 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.840 he threw me on the ground and that's when he started, 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:30.960 I don't want another baby, and he tried to kick 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:40.320 it out of me. I was screaming nine one one. 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.840 The cop showed up and took Gombert away. Jane went 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.160 to a women's shelter and stayed there briefly, but she 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.560 was mortally afraid to be alone, so she bounced around 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.960 a bit, staying with friends. One of those friends was 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.680 a woman named Kathy. While staying with Kathy, Jane grew 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:03.160 fond of Kathy's kid. Of the three, her darling was Sarah, 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:05.960 a feisty but adorable seven year old. 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:12.080 I always thought of Sarah as my firstborn. I really did. Yep, 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:13.920 that's how much she meant to me. 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.040 Before her own daughter arrived, Jane found a cottage to rent. 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.560 She furnished in the mode of Stevie Nick's so fabrics 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:26.040 and pressed flowers, scarves tied around lamb shades. 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:31.239 I loved that house that I poured my heart into 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:35.160 that place. Also, outside, I did a lot of gardening, 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.320 and I made all kinds of I had a beautiful 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.400 old stump that had the cracks in it, and with 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.880 the wood and the dirt, I even planted flowers in there, 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.000 and they grew like crazy. 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.400 Sarah, Jane's favorite, remembers visiting her there. 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:52.920 I always smelled like lavender. 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:57.600 I remember walking in and you smelled lavender everywhere, but 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:01.080 in a good way, not like an overwhelming smell. It 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:08.120 was refreshing. It was bright with natural light, and it 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.920 was so insane that there was such light in her 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.400 home and such darkness. 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:15.520 Came with it. 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:22.440 Towards the end of Jane's pregnancy, Gumbert slithered back to her. 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:29.000 It was absolutely the abuse cycle, through and through. I 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:31.880 never let Howard move into my house in New Milford 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:37.360 until after Dana was born. He tried to come in 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.319 the wintertime, and I kicked him back to his parents 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:42.720 and said, I didn't ask you to come here. I 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:43.600 don't want you here. 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.440 Still, he put his best foot forward. He helped her 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:52.160 furnish and paint the baby's room, and seemed genuinely thrilled 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:53.360 about Jane's due date. 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.600 When Dana was born that day, he cried his eyes 0:09:57.640 --> 0:09:59.960 out when he saw her, and he goes, oh, you're beautiful. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:04.760 It's just like your mama, and he just was enthralled 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.680 with her. I was so amazed that this man who 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:11.120 had been such an asshole about everything and beating on 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:14.360 girls and all this stuff and beating on me, that 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:16.880 he was so enthralled with his daughter, I mean, like 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:18.880 in love with her instantly. 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.920 Jane recalls that summer being brutally hot and being knocked 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.800 on her back posteheart him. Her friend Kathy would comby 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.240 to lift her spirits and sometimes brought her daughter Sarah 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:36.040 to entertain the baby. Once scorching Saturday morning, when Jane 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:41.120 was stuck in bed, Howard offered to take Sarah swimming first. However, 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.080 she needed a bathing suit. 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:48.680 I believe we went to a kmart maybe, and he 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:52.480 bought me a fucking bikini. Excuse my language, but he 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:54.800 bought me a seven year old It was like a 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.880 leopard or cheetah print bikini to wear. 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.839 Then they drove over to Squadt's Pond, a popular spot 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:04.840 near his dad's house a new Fairfield. 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.920 We parked on like a side of the street, and 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:11.320 then we were going down a normal trail, like a 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:14.160 dirt trail. But then he cut off into the woods 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:16.720 and it was just like I was like, where are 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:18.400 we going? And he goes, don't worry, I know the 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:24.720 way okay, and then all of a sudden, he brought 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:29.680 me to a perfectly cut out circle of trees. It 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.760 looked like someone made it that way, like it was 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:38.200 almost like he'd been there before and that's where everything 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:44.280 took place and he knew where to stop. Now, it 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:47.240 looks like it reminds me of like a where you 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:51.480 would do a sacrifice. I hate to say it, but 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:53.360 it's it's really what I felt like. 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:55.480 So it was like prepared ground. 0:11:55.720 --> 0:12:03.520 Oh yeah, wow, had been mixed. He asked me to 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:09.720 remove the bottoms of my pants and he proceeded to 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:10.640 satomize me. 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.199 Then Gombra took his shirt off and shoved it in 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:17.400 Sarah's mouth. 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.880 Because I had screamed and he threatened me. 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.320 Then Gombra climbed on top of her and produced a 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:27.440 Polari camera. 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:33.679 When he first started, he was like touching me and 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:37.160 taking pictures of down there. That's what the pictures were of, 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.720 and it made it that much worse when he showed 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:42.240 them to. 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:44.920 Me, and it was more than one picture. 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:48.920 It was multiple, it definitely, because he did it like 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:51.280 a deck of cards. When he showed them to me, 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.280 there was probably like four or five, I would say, 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:58.240 but I did watch him set them on fire, and 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:05.679 I was so confus used as to why he showed 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.199 them to me, Like why did you need to do that. 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:13.000 At some point, two men walked past them in the woods. 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.720 They stopped to ask if something was wrong, but Gombert 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.600 told them no, they were perfectly fine. And when they left, 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.840 you raped seven year old Sarah. 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:27.880 In the moment, it felt like it was going on forever. 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:32.239 I didn't think I was going to live. I was terrified. 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:39.680 Do you remember him saying anything, either during or. 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.800 After this to you that if I screamed, I was 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:48.839 going to die? That was very much how he was 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.000 going to make you die. No, he just told me 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:53.959 that my family was never going to see me again. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:07.439 And I listened and I did stay quiet, And then 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.360 afterwards we carried on like it was a normal day. 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:11.600 Ah. 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.280 I got down to the rocks and he was like, 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.640 we'll jump off the rocks, and I remember swimming out 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:21.880 in the water and just looking out at all the 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:26.320 happy people and thinking I didn't want to be there. 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.920 For months, Sarah's stonewalled what have happened to her? And 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.800 anytime she even thought about telling her mom, Gombert's threat 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.080 rang out in her ears, but nor could she will 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.960 herself to forget, because suddenly Jane and Gombert was sleeping 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:56.280 over at her house. He'd sit and drink coffee with 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.280 Sarah's mom in the morning and take her two brothers 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:00.520 fishing on weekends. 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:03.920 And then when him and Jane came to my house, 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:08.240 because he had also brought a box of gifts to 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.000 me that I don't know if my mom went through 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:14.120 them or what, but there was weird stuff in there, 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:16.120 like woman zingerie and high heel. 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:20.320 Gombert was so brazen that he attacked Sarah in her 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.680 living room while her mom was making dinner in the kitchen, 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:26.120 and then he got up and walked away from her 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.680 as if it was just another day around the house. Somehow, 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:35.040 Jane suspected none of this. She had severe postpartum after 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.880 the baby, as well as bowel flare ups that kept 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:42.720 her in bed. Worse, Gombert was coming unhinged. He got 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:45.480 in the hold of her lumsum from workmen's comp that 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:49.960 was blowing through it buying narcotics, his poison of choice. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:54.800 Cracked cocaine unleashed the beast in him. He'd come home 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:58.600 hell ben for sex or violence, or often enough both 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:04.720 at once, like Sarah felt cornered. And then one weekend 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:08.360 in February of two thousand or hell broke loose in 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:12.160 that cottage. Gombert held Jane and the baby hostage in 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:16.200 their own home, raped and beat Jane for three days straight, 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:20.480 and threatened to killer. Finally, he named her in such 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.200 an intimate way that it can't be spelled out here. 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.880 All while their baby was desperately ill, spiking a very 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:28.640 high fever. 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:31.880 So please let's take her to the doctor. 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.840 But Gombert wouldn't let them leave the house, and the 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:40.560 baby's fever worsened. Jane's only hope Gombert had a court 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:44.040 date that Tuesday. If he missed it, they'd send the 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.080 marshals to arrest him. 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.840 And I remember thinking they'll take him that day. Jane 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.640 just hang in there, just hanging there, just hanging there. 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:58.640 Finally Tuesday came and Gombert left for court. He wasn't 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:01.280 out of the driveway two second and I was on 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:05.320 that phone and I was like, I'm coming, Can you 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:08.239 please see me this morning? It was the nurse and 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.520 I burst out crying. It was like the damn broke 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.560 And I told her and I said, can you please 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:19.840 have the police come here, and she said why And 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:23.320 I said, you'll want to call the police when you 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:25.080 see me, is what I said to her. 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:30.000 At the er, they treated her baby immediately. She had 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:33.320 double pneumonia, said the doctor, and would have died or 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:37.120 suffered brain damage had Jane not called. When she did, 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:42.160 the cops were summoned to the hospital. They took Jane stateon, 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:46.480 photographed her wounds and bruises, and collected the DNA on 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:51.600 her garments, and then they swarmed the cottage to arrest Gombert. 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:54.920 The custom as he tried to slither off on his belly. 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.200 He was literally on the ground like a snake, trying 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:04.679 to get away from them. I said, perfect just I 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.600 couldn't believe it, and I laughed. I said, well, he 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.880 is a snake, and they all just were like, yeah, 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:11.680 you're right there. 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:19.800 That day, February twenty ninth, two thousand, was momentous for 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.240 many reasons. For one, it took Gombert off of the 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:27.760 streets and almost surely saved two lives, Jane's and the babies. 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.320 For another, it compelled the Connecticut cops to do with 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:36.680 the Putnam cops refused to build a criminal case against Gombert. 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.160 When the cops searched the cottage, they found a trove 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.760 of stolen goods hidden in the ceiling of Jane's garage, 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.919 because that was Gombert's other nasty habit. He was a 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:52.879 lifelong thief and burglar. Among those stolen goods were cameras 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:57.560 and camquarders. He'd secretly been filming Jane and others for years. 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:02.160 And then Jane pointed to a suitcase he squirreled away. 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.400 When they opened it, they found his collection of prize trophies, 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:11.520 nine pairs of worn but on wash panties. Each was 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:17.080 carefully wrapped and sealed in airtight plastic baggies. The Connecticut 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:29.960 cops booked him for raping Jane. Months later, while Gumbert 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.560 was in jail awaiting trial, Sarah, who was eight then, 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:37.159 was on a school bus going home and tortured by 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:39.840 a memory that wouldn't die. 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:42.080 I didn't know if I did something wrong. I didn't, 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.679 you know, heck, but I think at that point I 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:50.240 felt safe enough because he couldn't hurt us anymore. 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:53.840 On the bus, she was chatting with an older friend 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:56.680 when suddenly it came pouring out. 0:19:57.800 --> 0:19:59.679 It was like I needed to tell someone, but I 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:02.320 didn't know how to explain it because the words that 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:05.399 I used were not adult words at all. 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:05.920 It was. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:10.720 I explained it as his hot dog. So there were 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.240 things that I was still little trying to describe to 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.240 my best friend what happened to me, And she knew 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:19.639 because she was maybe like four years older than me, 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:21.240 like she needed to tell someone. 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:25.720 That friend got off the bus and marched Sarah straight home. 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:28.760 There she pulled Sarah's mom aside and told her what 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:33.119 Sarah had just told her. The cops were summoned. Sarah 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:36.560 told them what Gombert had done to her. They promptly 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.720 arrested Gombert in prison, and she harshed him with the 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:43.520 rape of a minor, and so the jury got to 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:48.440 hear her story in full. They gave Howard John Gombert 0:20:48.520 --> 0:21:15.640 Junior the maximum of thirty years in the Connecticut prison. Afterwards, 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:20.000 Sarah grew up angry and alone, pushing away family and friends. 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.480 When she graduated high school, she ran off and joined 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.679 the army, but there she was assaulted by a fellow 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:31.119 soldier and forced to take early discharge. For years, she 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:35.560 struggled to get her bearings, hearing from drugs to detox. 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.600 I didn't understand until I was an adult how much 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:45.159 it like chemically like in my brain, chemically changed me, 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:48.480 changed what I thought about love, what I thought love 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:49.560 was supposed to be. 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:53.040 It changed a lot for me. 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.679 And it was almost like he killed a version of 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:58.119 me that I can never get back. 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:08.720 But then midway through her twenties, Sarah's luck turned. She 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:11.439 found a trauma specialist at the VA and worked with 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:16.240 her for years. She emerged from those sessions smarter and stronger, 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:20.760 and soon found her life's passion working with animals. She 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:24.359 opened a dog grooming business and eventually bought herself a house, 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.080 and somewhere in the thick of that, in twenty eleven, 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:31.439 she got a visit from a private eye. He was 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:34.679 working for Anthony. To Pippo, he said, and taking a 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:39.439 long hard look at Howard Gombert studying his most specific 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:44.320 criminal mo and his history is a violent rapist of children. 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:50.119 He told me about Anthony and Andy, and I couldn't 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:55.200 not help knowing that something that happened so bad to 0:22:55.240 --> 0:23:01.919 me also affected so many other people. Yes, yes, and 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:05.320 in such a different way, Like Andy and Anthony went 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:09.040 through something horrible that was awful for them, and I 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:12.399 could only think like, Okay, well this was really bad 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:18.520 both things, but helping them is good. So there had 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:21.000 to be a silver lining for me, and they were 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:26.919 the silver lining. The reason to rehash it was they 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:27.760 don't deserve that. 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:31.800 And so Sarah added her story to the one that 0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:35.639 Rachel told, and then three more women came forward and 0:23:35.680 --> 0:23:40.240 added theirs. Stacked together, those women told him metas story, 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:43.439 the story of a man who for almost twenty years 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:51.639 had committed unspeakable crimes, taken together his reign of terror 0:23:51.720 --> 0:23:57.080 race Three very salient questions. First, why did There's Putnam 0:23:57.080 --> 0:24:00.320 cops give a whole past to Gombert, whom they knew 0:24:00.320 --> 0:24:04.480 to be a predator of children? Second, was one of 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:07.240 as many crimes, the rape and murder of Josette Right? 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:11.520 And finally, how much more Gombert proof would it take 0:24:12.000 --> 0:24:14.760 to get a Putnam judge to free Anthony? To Pippo, 0:24:19.520 --> 0:24:22.760 one of Anthony's investigators was a man named lou Morgan. 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:27.480 Lewis tall and dapper, who drives a top end Mercedes 0:24:28.000 --> 0:24:30.920 and can read you from across the room. He was 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:33.919 an essential player in profiling Howard Gombert. 0:24:35.480 --> 0:24:41.520 Well, Anthony had a lot of information on potential other victims, 0:24:41.920 --> 0:24:43.119 so we went after them. 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:47.960 Blue started piecing together Gombert's m when he first heard 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:54.040 Rachel's story, the elaborate rope knots he tied, the ritual degradations, 0:24:54.840 --> 0:24:56.160 the panties he used to. 0:24:56.200 --> 0:24:59.840 Gagger Gombert had raped her and her mother. 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:03.520 Lou knew there had to be other girls out there, 0:25:04.119 --> 0:25:08.479 girls Gombert attacked before Rachel the last. Where sex crimes 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:12.960 are concerned, especially against minors, it can be punishingly hard 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:17.040 to track down victims. Their names are redacted in transcripts 0:25:17.080 --> 0:25:21.879 and newsclips, and the core transcripts are often sealed. But 0:25:22.000 --> 0:25:25.840 Lou Margan ducked deep into Gombert's past and came up 0:25:25.880 --> 0:25:31.880 with the name of his first victim. 0:25:32.320 --> 0:25:36.240 And that's when we found out about a girl named Caruso. 0:25:37.440 --> 0:25:41.160 That'd be Colleen Carusoe. She was eleven or twelve when 0:25:41.200 --> 0:25:45.000 she first met Gombert. He was fifteen or sixteen then 0:25:45.520 --> 0:25:48.480 and living in that tent in the woods. In fact, 0:25:48.480 --> 0:25:50.520 the first time she met him, he stepped out of 0:25:50.560 --> 0:25:54.439 those woods and smiled and said hi to her. She 0:25:54.600 --> 0:25:56.680 was flattered by an older boy's attention. 0:25:57.760 --> 0:25:58.960 It was exciting to me. 0:26:00.160 --> 0:26:04.920 Used to have these things on a string, nunchucks, whatever 0:26:04.920 --> 0:26:05.159 they are. 0:26:05.200 --> 0:26:07.760 He always used to like I remember, always just a 0:26:07.840 --> 0:26:10.080 swing was yeah, yeah. 0:26:10.119 --> 0:26:11.880 And I think what it was is he was trying 0:26:11.920 --> 0:26:15.840 to be the top guy, as you will. 0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:18.960 Lou found Colleen in twenty fourteen and told her why 0:26:19.000 --> 0:26:23.040 he was asking about Gombert. He listed off Gombert's victims 0:26:23.080 --> 0:26:26.320 to her and named Jo said is another likely victim. 0:26:27.359 --> 0:26:31.560 Colleen listened in horror, then told him her story about 0:26:31.600 --> 0:26:35.560 being bound and repeatedly raped in the woods beginning at 0:26:35.600 --> 0:26:40.000 age twelve by Gombert. At fourteen, she turned him into 0:26:40.040 --> 0:26:43.399 the cops. She said. He was convicted of assault and 0:26:43.480 --> 0:26:47.440 sent to prison, but wrote her constantly from his cell. 0:26:48.320 --> 0:26:51.639 He Warndeder. He he had people watching her movements and threatened 0:26:51.640 --> 0:26:53.000 to kill her when he got out. 0:26:54.560 --> 0:26:58.520 I think I was his first prey to kind of 0:26:58.560 --> 0:27:01.160