Girl Scout Was Murdered Delivering Cookies In Bergen County In 1973. New Film Tells Story

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Joan D'Alessandro, 7, of Hillsdale disappeared in 1973 shortly after asking her mom if she could deliver a box of Girl Scout cookies to a neighbor on the corner.

A chemistry teacher who lived across the street was sent to prison for her sex assault and death, but he was up for parole in 1993. Joan's mother, Rosemarie, fought to keep him in jail.

According to a new documentary about Rosemarie's grief and struggles, "Rosemarie D’Alessandro began a movement, bringing awareness to the impact parole hearings had on the well-being of families that have lost children to violent crime. As she fought for other families, hers began to break apart."

The film, "Daughter of Mine," premiered last year and has been showing at local film festivals. It was scheduled to be screened at the Ridgewood Guild International Film Festival in Westwood on Thursday, April 25.

Filmmaker Vanessa Martino brought the film to a festival in the Hamptons in December 2023, and last month, to a short film festival in Oakland, Calif. Films that are shown at festivals can win awards and achieve distribution, increasing the changes that they'll be shown in theaters or streamed.

"Rosemarie became a symbol of hope for her community and a rallying point for victims' parents nationwide," according to the film's description. "She found strength in her memories of Joan and the belief that something good should come from what happened to her."

Joan has raised awareness and undertook campaigns that have resulted in Joseph McGowan being denied parole several times.

In addition, a number of laws resulted from Joan's death, thanks to campaigns by her mother.

McGowan received an inheritance, allowing him to appeal his sentence, so Rosemary fought for the right to sue offenders. And Pres. Bill Clinton passed Joan's Law, which denies parole to offenders who murder children while committing a sex crime.

Today, the Joan Angela D'Alessandro Memorial Foundation (which posts frequent updates here) helps abused and neglected children.

"Filmmaker Vanessa Martino examines the crime that left an enduring mark on her quiet suburban hometown, and how they rallied behind the strength of a mother to make landmark changes to the justice system," notes the film's website.

And what happened to Joseph McGowan?

He died in 2021 — still in prison.

Read more about the film here: https://www.daughterofminefilm...

Read about the Ridgewood Guild International Film Festival and get tickets here.