Chelmsford Mom Discusses Saving Daughter From Serial Killer
CHELMSFORD (CBS) - A Chelmsford mother who helped catch a serial killer hovering over her 15-year-old daughter is now sharing her story in a book.
Jeanie McDonough was sleeping in her home, when she and her husband Kevin heard whimpering from her daughter Shea's room. They walked in together, and found Adam Leroy Lane crouched over Shea with a knife.
"He was standing over our daughter, he was dressed in black, he had a black mask on," said Jeanie.
WBZ-TV's Karen Anderson reports.
Kevin McDonough immediately went after Lane and wrestled him to ground. Jeannie grabbed the knife. They held Lane until the police arrived.
"We had angels watching over us that night," Jeannie said.
The McDonough's say they only later learned about Lane's MO. Authorities say Lane was a truck driver who would stop at rest areas, and then walk into neighborhoods dressed in black, wearing a mask, and carrying an arsenal of knives, and go house to house looking for unlocked doors. Once inside, Jeannie McDonough says, "Lane would hunt humans."
According to investigators, Lane had killed at least two women and attacked another. Two weeks before the Chelmsford home invasion, on July 13, 2007, police say Lane murdered Darlene Ewalt outside her Pennsylvania home. Authorities say five days later Lane tried to kill another Pennsylvania resident, Patricia Brooks, as she slept. She survived her injuries. On July 29, investigators say Lane killed Monica Massaro in New Jersey.
Jeanie McDonough says, "These kind of random crimes happen to everyone. No one is immune. I never in a million years imagined someone would walk in off the street and terrorize us like that."
"Caught in the Act" will be on store shelves March 1st.
Hear more about the McDonoughs' terrifying encounter Saturday night on 48 Hours. It starts at 10 p.m. on WBZ-TV.
