Post Mortem | Facing a Monster at Trial

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Stepping in as host today to speak to 48 hours correspondent Ann Marie Green about her report on Sean Doyle, who we know assaulted at least two known victims before murdering Lori Leonard back in 2005. One of the survivors, C.C. Openowski has broken her decades long silence.

And she is telling her story publicly for the first time to 48 hours.

Ann Marie, thanks so much for talking with us today. It's interesting to be on this other side of the microphone right now. You're on the hot seat today. Yes. I just want to remind you to all of our listeners.

If you haven't listened to the 48 hours episode yet, you can find the full audio just below this episode in your podcast. Go take a listen, then come back and join us for our conversation. So, Ann Marie, this story is a little bit unusual that we start with a survivor story instead of a murder. Can you tell us a little bit about that decision of starting with C.C. Openowski's story and how she survived that frightening attack by Doyle back in 1996 when she was just 18 years old.

“Natalie, I don't know about you, but one of the questions that I always have when I watched through crime is, you know, I always want to know, well, how did we get here?”

How did this person end up like this? So here we had an opportunity to start from the very beginning. And a huge part of the story has to do with Sean Doyle's history of domestic violence. And we were lucky enough to have C.C. be willing to talk to us. She was his high school girlfriend, and we're able to paint this picture of how his pattern of violence got worse and worse and worse over the years.

The challenge, I think, a little bit, is that normally we have, you know, one victim and the people who are impacted by them. In this case, we had three different victims with two victims who survived with different approaches to the trauma and for C.C. it took decades for her to feel strong enough to talk publicly about what happened to her. And having her come forward, I think, was part of the reason why we thought we need to start with her.

“I seem like the best way to tell this story was from the very beginning, which was with C.C.”

Speaking of, you know, how that attack took place. Let's talk about her friend Shannon, who was so instrumental. I mean, truly, perhaps saved her life. So Shannon was calling C.C. over and over again. And when when C.C. wasn't picking up, the alarm bells were going off with her. Something wasn't right.

And so then she finally gets through. C.C. answers the phone. And she hears C.C. you know, putting away the dishes in the dishwasher.

But they're having this somewhat stilted conversation. It sounds like. And then, and she got to the point where she said, you know, is Sean there with you now. And C.C. you know, was able to tell her, yes, he is here now. I just wanted to know about their relationship now. I mean, our C.C. and Shannon still friends, are they in touch? They are in touch again now. You've probably seen this before with some of the hours that you've worked on, that sometimes actually getting involved with the 48 hour story brings people back together.

But they hadn't been talking for a while. I found Shannon so fascinating. And I could not understand how a teenager was so intuitive. Because when she tells the story of that phone call, I mean, the cues are so subtle. I couldn't understand if she could pick this up, but I asked her over and over again.

But how did you know? How did you know something was going wrong? And then finally she said, well, I've seen this sort of thing within a family member.

“And I was like, there you go. That's why it makes sense. If anyone else had been hanging out with C.C. that day, they might not have picked up on it. She was clued in on it because she knew the science to look for.”

In the hours, C.C. talked about when the police did arrive at her house. She thought that she would then be protected from Doyle.

And then later, she said, they question them together in the same room. I mean, how unusual was that back in 1996?

“I don't know how unusual it was back then. It seems stunning that law enforcement would do that from this vantage point.”

And certainly our producer spoke to the current police chief of the Hudson Falls Police Department.

And he said, look, it sounds terrible. We would never do anything like that. Now, we are trained. We know how to handle victims.

And he was really, you know, sympathetic to what C.C. went through. And she just sort of felt like, you know, the officers then they kind of treated it like a lover's quarrel. They weren't taking it seriously. She couldn't understand because she said, you know, I should bruises her hair was cut.

“It was obvious that this wasn't a little sort of teenage spot. It was something much more serious.”

You know, decades ago, the way domestic violence was viewed was at times very different. Things have changed thankfully.

And everybody has learned to treat domestic violence very seriously because we know how much these things can escalate as it did. In this case was Sean Doyle. Now, C.C. didn't want to relive the trauma by testifying against Doyle. But he struck a deal. And he received a sentence of three years probation. But then in 2000 Doyle violently attacked then 23 year old Sarah Vomer.

And it was it was bad, Natalie. Like, you know, we have this archival footage. We can see the interview that she did with the local news station in Albany.

And she's kind of relaying these facts. Her experience in a really matter of fact way. It sounded terrifying. She's in the bedroom. He ties her up. He uses duct tape. It is stunning that she survived. And this happens.

“And her mother walks in the room. And that's what what ends this horrible violent assault.”

Thank goodness. Her mom walked in at that time. Absolutely. Absolutely saved her life. I'm curious. Then why Doyle was able to get yet another three years probation for that second attack instead of facing a more serious sentence. So in terms of Doyle's charge, he was only charged with two misdemeanor assault and imprisonment charges. And basically, and I'm going to just kind of refer to my notes because they don't want to get it wrong. The punishment guidelines are much much less for these two charges.

So in 2005, a local reporter by the name of Don Lee, when you saw him in the hour, he asked the district attorney at the time. His name's Robert when, you know, why these charges. He said that the allegations did not fit the criteria for more serious charges like felony assault or felony unlawful imprisonment. And without a felony charge, there wasn't much of a possibility for lengthy prison term. I can see you shaking your head. Natalie, because I know I know that to me, it's like, you know, if the pattern of behavior is there, he's done this before it's escalated and had her mom not walked in when she did.

Sarah Voma might not be here today. That's not the case. Absolutely. And when you see what he did with Sarah, you see that he was well on his way because he used some of the same techniques that that he used with Lori do authority suspect. I mean, given that pattern that Doyle perhaps had more victims than Lori CC and Sarah. Do authorities suspect they do. Do they have anyone who's willing to come forward? They don't. As we learn in the hour, Sean Doyle's assaults tragically would lead to murder. And we get back. We're going to dig into Lori Leonard's case and the lasting impact her death has had on both her family and CC stay tuned.

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All day and she never returned home after saying that she was going to pick up Yankees tickets in Albany. Now Lori never ended up making it to Albany to pick up those tickets.

Her body was discovered three months later in that toolbox floating in an upstate New York canal. Police were able to link Doyle to the crime from a key that was found in his car that matched that toolbox lock, as well as materials that were found in his home, including duct tape and the bandanas like the ones that were used to bind and gag Lori just horrific. Jennifer immediately suspected that Sean Doyle was involved and that was Lori's ex boyfriend at the time.

But Doyle's friend Dorothy was absolutely convinced of his innocence. Why do you think she believed him?

Look, I don't have a psychology degree or anything like that, but I think that it gives you a little hint as to sort of the charm that Sean Doyle could have when he needed to turn it on. There's obviously another side to Sean Doyle.

“Dorothy, and I really should pronounce her name Dorothy with an ace sound because that's how she pronounced it. She, you know, 100% her husband now was friends with Sean Doyle.”

And so he would come around and they would hang out together and then she took him under her wing.

Like sort of a maternal figure, you know, he would come in and ask her for advice on his love life, his home life, his family.

Um, she liked him. So, you know, she believed Sean Doyle until she didn't. And then when police reached out to her after Lori's body was found. I mean, this is a woman that just pays attention to detail. So she just gave them all the information she could remember. She feels absolutely terrible about the things that she yelled at Lori's family when they were in kind of the middle of town trying to get answers trying to find her. Absolutely believe that Sean Doyle had nothing to do with it. And they were kind of be smirching his name. And she has lived with that guilt ever since.

The defense did not have a lot to work with in this trial, but they did go after Dorothy. Um, she says that she's got, you know, some intuition. She's got a gift. I don't know if a rude caller psychic, but there's something there. And they went after her about that. You know, the defense attorney said, so you're, you know, a self-reclaimed psychic and she said, I don't know if I would proclaim. And they said, well, what about these books about which craft that you have in your house? She said, I have a lot of books.

“I'm trying to kind of, you know, characterize her as this wacky woman who just loves the spotlight. And that's why you're a part of this.”

But man, she stood firm. Key witness for the prosecution. Um, let's talk about, you know, some of the most poignant interviews that you did with Lori's family, including her two sons just broke my heart watching those. They're now grown up, but of course, they still feel her loss very deeply and angry. It's clear. I mean, it's almost 20 years later, but everyone you talked with in the hour, everybody still feels the pain of losing Lori. So these two young men, they are little kids when Lori is taken away from them.

Um, Austin's nine Zacharies five, you can imagine the psychological burden that these kids are under. And, you know, they start to fight with each other. They're little kids. You know, Zachary will say, Um, you know, I remember when mom did this and Austin would be like, how can you remember? You were only five. You don't know mom. You don't know what she's like and they have now as adults worked their way back to each other. And they're very grateful that they've rebuilt and continued to rebuild their relationship.

This is a single mom. So the loss of the central figure to those boys in their life at that young age and to grow up with those memories is just horrific to think about.

“I know how hard it is and I know it was hard for you to report on this as well. It was emotional for you, right?”

When we talk about how emotional this was, this is the only story that I've ever worked on were everyone cried.

But I think that I was just thinking exactly as you just kind of just mentioned about these boys and how they miss their mom at this like tender age.

And we're both parents. So you know, you like you go, you think about your own kid and then it's just, it's water works. Oh, I know, and I have two boys. So seeing those two, it just crushed me. You know, when they came to do the interview, of course, they brought tons of pictures and then they brought something that their grandmother had made for them. We took all of Lori's clothes and made two quilts for them. Yes, including the, you know, the Yankees shirt or dried on with shirt or jersey, but you know, if she was going get those Yankees tickets, she was huge Yankees made.

“So including that and gave each of the kids a quilt for them to kind of like cuddle up and remember their mother by which I thought was such a great gift.”

So three, yes. And then the other thing I wanted to tell you about was Bruce Hamilton, who was the original detective on this case.

He died in 2014, so we could not talk to him, but he was so committed to solving this. And he was so committed to those boys. He had pictures of the boys in his office. He would call the family on a regular basis. And his commitment was almost infectious. So let's talk about Lori's nephew, Dustin. He was the one who helped her move into that house to start her life over again. I want to share a clip of Dustin who really talks about how Lori's murder impacted his life. How do you think the murder of your aunt impacted you? Did it change you?

I'm sure it did. Yeah, here's stories. You know the things like that are possible, but now you have to now you have to know it's real and you have to look it in the eye and you know just it made it harder to kind of put trust into anybody, it made it harder to really love anybody because you know that they could be gone.

“So, you know, Natalie, I think that we're both parents and you kind of hope that there'll be an adult in your kids life that is like parent adjacent, right?”

So that's a kind of relationship that he had with his aunt, like Lori was his kind of other parent, you know he adored her. And so, you know, losing her was devastating. He heard him say it made him hard to trust once again in his own life and I think CC was deeply affected by that as well, right? That level of trust disappeared for her. Let's talk about what how important it was to hear her at the trial because the prosecution fought to have both CC and cerebral and retestify at Doyle's trial to show that he had a history of abusing women. Now the judge allowed for that in this case there were so many similarities in the attacks that it was really kind of showing this is a pattern.

So, I think that was a big win for the prosecution to certainly have that opportunity and yeah, the prosecutor, you know, you heard him in the story said we saved the best for last in CC was kind of the final witness. The first witness was Lori's mom who has since passed away, but CC brought it home. I mean, if you're a jury and they show you, you know, your early girlfriend and that was your behavior back then when she broke up with you, that's kind of the lingering message. That the prosecutor wanted the jury to sit with. And did CC tell you what it was like to be in that courtroom to look at Doyle back, you know, seeing him sit across her, look at him in the eye.

You know, she had been scared before and she was not scared. CC said she really wanted to look at him. He looked completely different.

“You know, no more like tough guy bald head bandana. I think it was Lori's sister described him as choir boy, right? I thought that was so that was such a perfect description because he had the collared shirt and the blue sweater.”

Yeah, totally. And so yeah, it was very empowering to sit in front of him and sit in front of him fearlessly.

On January 26, 2006, the jury found Doyle guilty of second degree murder. He received the maximum sentence of 25 years to life with the possibility of parole.

So yeah, I'm curious. Why wasn't he found guilty of first degree murder? I mean, you know, they go for second degree instead of first degree. Yeah, it's it's very interesting. So here's what I have learned about the state of New York when it comes to first degree murder and you're right, first degree murder typically considers premeditation.

And a few examples of what an aggravating factor might be the victim was a police officer. The murder was committed while the defendant was serving a life sentence already imprisoned. The murder was committed for higher.

“The murder is committed in the course of another felony, like maybe robbing a bank. So it didn't quite fit the first degree murder charge, which of course was upsetting to Lori's family. You know, they said they wanted to see a harsher penalty.”

They, they didn't want the possibility of parole. You know, the parole process begins in 2030, which is like really not that far away. Not that far away. I know these, these are the stories. They're so hard to tell, but they're so important because, you know, if telling CC's story can save one life from potentially a domestic violence attack. I'm sure she will feel good that she was able to come forward and tell her story.

Play a clip from the show where CC talks about why she's speaking out now. And what she hopes our audience will take away from hearing her story.

Be vigilant. Look at what's happening in front of you and make sure someone knows. Don't keep it quiet. Pay attention. And when you have that feeling that one that doesn't go away, you know, the one that you try to push down.

“That's the one you should listen to them most. And she's spot on. It pains me so much that she felt guilty for so long because she was just a kid.”

How could she know? It totally changed the trajectory of her life. She left the college. She was going to. She moved as far away as possible from New York. She eventually ended up in California.

You know, she went to law school because somebody suggested maybe she might like it. And then she just went. She was good at it. And she's a successful entrepreneur now.

But you can see the impact of this trauma today. And I know it took so much courage for her to come forward. So we have to thank her for telling her story and telling it to us. And we should remind our listeners and our viewers if you or if someone you know is victim of domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence hotline that numbers 1-800-799-7233.

And we're a wonderful reporting. Great to connect with you on this story. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

Thank you. And if you like this series post-mortem, please rate and review 48 hours on Apple Podcasts and follow 48 hours wherever you get your podcast. And you can also listen, add free with a 48 hours plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Thank you for listening. The critically acclaimed series comment from accounts returns for a brand new season. You proposed to me drunk out of nowhere at my best friend's wedding.

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