48 Hours

Family under attack stops serial killer

August 10, 2013 / 10:15 PM EDT / CBS News

Produced by Chris Young and Anthony Venditti
[This story originally previously aired on Dec. 3, 2011. It was updated on Aug. 10, 2013.]

What if someone wants you dead... but you live to tell? Shea McDonough, 15 at the time, and her parents recount their harrowing story of survival - their firsthand account of how they stopped a serial killer in his tracks... and saved an innocent man accused of murder.

Shea McDonough: I try to avoid 495 at all times ... because it reminds me of a very bad thing that happened to my family and I.

Jeannie McDonough | Shea's mother: Living close to the highway, I never really thought about safety factors.

CHELMSFORD, MASSACHUSETTS | JULY 29, 2007

Kevin McDonough | Shea's father: It was Sunday night and we had just returned home from dinner. Jeannie decided to stay up and watch the Red Sox game and I turned in early.

Jeannie McDonough: The weather was very hot. It was extremely oppressive.

Shea came home. At her curfew. She has a 12 o'clock curfew. She actually came home probably about 15 minutes beforehand.

Shea McDonough: To me, I was like, "Oh, I'm doing good! I'm doing good on time!"

I came in and I went straight to the back door just to see if it was unlocked. And I just left it unlocked ... thinking that my brother was coming home that night. I wanted to make sure that he wasn't going to text me two hours later being like, "Hey Shea, can you come unlock the door? It's locked."

Jeannie McDonough: Shea was being a good sister and looking out for her big brother.

I neglected to tell her that Ryan had called earlier in the evening and said that he was going to spend the night at his friend Ricky's house.

I don't think anyone ever prepares for anything like this to happen to them.

I heard a muffled sound. Like a little whimper ... come from the bedroom right next to us. And I thought that was odd... Shea must be having a bad dream or something. And Kevin got up at the same time.

Kevin McDonough: She said, "I'll check on her." And I said, "No, I'll check on her," which really isn't the norm. Usually I'm selfish and want to get all the sleep I need. ...But that morning something told me to get up. I got up and my wife Jeannie followed me in there.

I opened up the door and I saw a black silhouette over my daughter.

Shea McDonough: I woke up in the middle of the night to a cold object on my neck. I thought it was a gun. I didn't know it was a knife. I just saw dark eyes and a mask.

The man spoke and it was a voice that I had never recognized before. And he said, "if If you make any f---ing noise I'm going to kill you." And that's when I just kinda went into panic mode. ...And I just started kicking. And I just pushed my back against the bed, hoping to make as much noise as possible, so my parents could wake up and hear me.

And my dad - the first thing I heard him say was, "Who are you?" The man stood up from leaning over me and just went straight for my dad.

Jeannie McDonough: And we saw a knife in his hand ...

Shea McDonough: It was the scariest thing I had ever seen. I saw a knife ... a guy that was probably three times the size of my dad ... going after my mom and my dad.

Jeannie McDonough: He was dressed all in black - black pants, black mask. Just a terrorizing figure. And he was huge.

Shea McDonough: My dad just jumped on top of him ... he was trying to grab the knife. I was just trying to get out of bed.

Kevin McDonough: I was saying, "Get the knife! Get the knife!"

Jeannie McDonough: The knife was very big. The blade was - I'm gonna say that long (motioning with her hands). And so I tried to grab the grip of the knife, but the man's hand was huge and it was ineffective ... it wasn't doing anything. So I just grabbed the blade of the knife, because I didn't know what to do.

Kevin McDonough: I instinctively told my daughter, "Call 911 and get my gun." I don't have a gun. But something inside me told me to say that, which would keep him on his guard.

911 dispatcher: What's going on?
Shea McDonough: A man came in with a gun and put it to my mouth...
911 dispatcher: Alright, alright, just relax
Kevin McDonough heard in background "Hurry up"!
911 dispatcher: Is he still there?
Shea screams

Shea McDonough: I was so confusing with the dispatcher and I was so flustered that I didn't even know what I was saying on the phone.

Kevin McDonough: All of a sudden he got a burst of adrenaline, and he erected himself up off the bed with me on his back ... That's when I - I knew I was in some deep s--t.

Jeannie McDonough: When the man stood up with Kevin on his back, the knife slid through my hands. I thought, "Oh, this is it, we're all dead."

Shea McDonough: It was so stop and go. One minute my dad had him under control and then he'd freak out again. And it - it was scary.

Kevin McDonough: In high school, I wrestled... I knew a choke hold was the only thing with a guy of this size, that I had a chance on restraining him and takin' him down, was if I took his wind out ... And I choked him on the throat and threw my weight back and pulled him with me. And we hit the floor.

Jeannie McDonough: And so at that moment I turned around and I grabbed the knife again, I grabbed the blade of the knife again.

Shea McDonough: And I ran back into the bathroom and saw a lot of blood. And I didn't know what it was coming from, and then I looked down and I saw my mom holding onto the knife for dear life and she wouldn't let go of it.

Jeannie McDonough: I was pissed. And all I could think about was, "I need to distract this guy so that he doesn't try to do anything else." ...So I'm screaming at him, I'm like, "What were you thinking?" That's when the man spoke and said, "I just wanted money." (mimicking his Southern drawl.) And I heard the accent, and Kevin and I looked at each other and went, "Who is this? Who is sitting in front of us?"

Kevin McDonough: And he said, "I'm nobody, let me go." And I said to him-- I said, "You-- you're not going anywhere you fat f--k."

Shea McDonough: When I saw the police come into the driveway, I was ecstatic. I was so relieved and so happy cause I knew that at that point, everything was gonna be fine.

And the second that the first officer got into the house, he just grabbed the guy and got him under control and everything.

I didn't cry. I just immediately hugged my dad. He was really choked up. It really hadn't hit him yet. He just -- I don't think it hit any of us, what had happened.

Jeannie McDonough: As I left the room ... Shea was with me. We just held onto each other for a little bit. And I wasn't gonna let go of her for the life of me.

Det. George Tyros | Chelmsford, Mass., Police Dept.: When I first arrived at the scene, I wasn't sure what to expect at that point. It was very serious.

The sergeant told me that a man had broken into the house. He was heavily armed. Different types of weapons - weapons that I've never seen before. Chinese throwing stars, choking wires, along with this horrifying mask.

Kevin McDonough: After they left our house with this intruder, Jeannie and Shea went by ambulance to the hospital to tend to Jeannie's wounds.

Jeannie McDonough: Ryan was in shock when he found out what happened. He felt bad that he wasn't there, that he was spending the night at his friend Ricky's house.

Shea McDonough: And it's unfortunate cause he shouldn't. Cause it's not his fault in the slightest bit. I think he just wishes that he was there to just protect us.

Jeannie McDonough: Detective Tyros told me... that the man that had broken into our house was a long haul trucker... His name was Adam Leroy Lane - lived in North Carolina and was running routes up and down from - North Carolina, up to Nashua, New Hampshire, and various... locations throughout the metropolitan Boston area.

Shea McDonough: He had a wife and he had three daughters. That made me sick to my stomach to know.

Det. George Tyros: On August 2nd, a few days later, we conducted a search warrant of Adam Leroy Lane's truck. We found his log book, receipts - some more knives.

We also found a movie inside of a DVD player. That movie's titled "Hunting Humans." This movie is about a serial killer that goes around randomly killing people without any motive or reason, other than to just kill people.

Later I learned that Adam Leroy Lane was on the prowl in our town for approximately five hours. He tried to get into at least three other houses before eventually getting into the McDonough residence through an unlocked door.

He was out in our town hunting humans that night.

We started to think, "Maybe he's done this in other places, and just hasn't been caught yet."

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
17 DAYS BEFORE SHEA MCDONOUGH'S ATTACK

Todd Ewalt: Darlene was my wife and friend. She's my partner in life. I've known her since I was 15.

Darlene was sitting outside on our back patio just enjoying the weather, talking on the phone. At 10 o'clock, I opened the door and told her I was headed to bed and she said she'd be up in a little bit. And I kind of laughed. Cuz I knew better, cuz she just would be out on the phone until late. I just went upstairs and I shut the door. I went to sleep.

I was just laying in bed and my bedroom door opened up, and guys started screaming and shining flashlights at me.

Guys were screaming at me to get my hands in the air.

I thought this might be a home invasion or something.

And I started to look past the flashlights and stuff, and could see the silhouettes of the men standing there. And then I could see guns pointed at me.

And then one of the troopers identified himself as a state trooper. So I put my hands in the air.

They asked if my son was there... and he walked up on the police and ... put his hands above his head. Then they handcuffed him.

I was able to look around. I see my wife's purse - sittin' there with her cell phone and keys on one of the chairs at the kitchen table. And I told my son, "We got big problems, your mom wouldn't leave without her phone and her keys." Then I started seeing flash photography going off. I knew that wasn't a good sign.

After about three hours one of the detectives came in, sat me down. That's when they told me that Darlene was d-- dead. And she was killed at the hands of another person.

That's when things started to fall apart for me.

I remember hearing my son scream. (Choking up) He was in the kitchen still handcuffed. He broke the chair he was sitting in. He head butted the refrigerator. There's still two big dents in it. And - (Overcome with emotion, Todd puts his head in his hands and starts to cry).

District Attorney Ed Marsico Jr. | Dauphin County, Pa.,: When I arrived, crime scene investigators were already working in the backyard of what I'd describe as a typical suburban neighborhood.

This woman had been on her back patio talking to a male friend on the phone... Darlene's friend hears the call sort of abruptly end. A sort of muffled sound - an abrupt end to a call that in his experience wouldn't normally happen talking to Darlene. He tells his wife. They hop in their car and drive to Darlene's home... where he discovered - the body on that back patio.

She suffered a fatal stab wound in the neck area ... ultimately causing her death.

Nicole Pogasic | Todd and Darlene's daughter: I got woke up about 6:45 on the 13th from a phone call from my brother.

I answered it. And he was, like, "Nicole, Mom's dead." I'm like, "What? You're kidding me. Tell me you're lying." He's like, "No, she was murdered last night." (Choking up) And then I just felt my whole life just completely fall apart.

D.A. Ed Marsico Jr.: As experience has often taught the police and prosecutors, people who are killed at home are most likely to be killed by someone close to them. That this was not a random act. That it was committed by someone who knew her. And someone who had the opportunity to kill her. Most likely, her husband.

Todd Ewalt: They accused me of killing my wife ... They just wanted me to break down and say I did it, or paid somebody to do it. I knew I didn't do it.

Nicole Pogasic: The cops took me down to the Pennsylvania State Police barracks where they had my brother and my father.

Todd Ewalt: I just remember her coming around the corner from the door. And just running to me and just grabbing her and holding her and giving her a hug. 'Cause I just - there was nothing I could do for her. Nothing I could do to make it better. I just held on to her.

Nicole Pogasic: We both kind of just wanted to rewind time (fighting back tears). I never asked myself once if my dad killed my mom because I just knew.

My mom had no enemies. She was just a great personality and was just loved by everybody. So it was kind of, like, why would someone want to hurt her, let alone kill her? And who would do it? Who could be such a monster?

LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS
ONE WEEK AFTER SHEA MCDONOUGH'S ATTACK

Jeannie McDonough: Shortly after the attack, we had to go to court and see our attacker.

He was kept in a Plexiglas, bullet-proof partition on the other side of the court from us. He just looked like a caged animal. He was disgusting.

Shea McDonoughHe wouldn't stop staring at me and that was the worst feeling in the entire world.

Kevin McDonough: I wanted to leap over the railing actually, 'cause I was so angry at that point. And I really wanted to get a punch in or something.

Asst. District Attorney Kerry Ahern | Middlesex County, Mass.: There was no way that we could allow this guy to hit the streets.

The judge held Lane without bail, finding that he was a danger to the community as well as to the McDonough family.

We didn't know a lot about him at the outset. He had no prior record in the State of Massachusetts, no prior criminal record.

But just from what we had at that point, we knew he was one dangerous individual.

We put out an all-points bulletin to see if any of the other police departments along the East Coast had had any type of similar incidents in their communities. And one of the first people to respond was a state police trooper out of New Jersey. His name was Geoff Noble. And he had inquired whether or not Adam Lane might have been responsible for a murder that he was investigating down in New Jersey.

BLOOMSBURY, NEW JERSEY
ONE DAY BEFORE SHEA MCDONOUGH'S ATTACK

Det. Sgt. Geoff Noble | New Jersey State Police: On the morning of Monday, July 30th, 2007, New Jersey troopers responded to the home of Monica Massaro.

Ms. Massaro had been stabbed multiple times in the sanctity of her own home ... It was just the type of crime that someone with an incredible amount of violence and rage would have done.

Monica Massaro was a single, 37-year-old female. She lived by herself, she was very active socially, she had a lot of friends... really lived life to the fullest.

We didn't have anybody that we would call suspects, specifically. And that proved challenging for us.

We knew that our victim lived in proximity to a truck stop. We, of course, felt that we should call the Chelmsford, Massachusetts Police Department. And just kinda compare notes on the case.

Basically, we wanted to know if Adam Leroy Lane was in New Jersey at or near the time Monica Massaro died. So, we asked Detective Tyros if he had any evidence - paperwork, logs, receipts, toll records - anything that would indicate to us Adam Leroy Lane's route of travel.

And all of a sudden, Detective Tyros kind of stops and he goes, "Hey, I have a receipt here." You know, OK. He goes, "It's from Bloomsbury, New Jersey." We all looked at each other like, "Did he just say Bloomsbury, New Jersey?" "When, George? When?" And then they gave us the second piece, which was July 29, 2007, right at the time we believe Monica died.

Det. George Tyros | Chelmsford, Mass., Police Dept.: A short time later, I heard Detective Noble say, "George, we're comin' to Chelmsford."

Det. Sgt. Geoff Noble | New Jersey State Police: When we arrived in Chelmsford, Massachusetts we immediately started, you know, the questions. "Where's the evidence? We want everything that Adam Lane could have had in his possession at the time of the murder." We wanted to know where was the truck ... And we learn that the truck had already been released.

Det. George Tyros | Chelmsford, Mass., Police Dept.: We had Adam Leroy Lane's tractor-trailer for approximately three weeks. Legally, we were only able to obtain evidence that pertained to our case. At that point in time we didn't have any other cases. So unfortunately, after several weeks, the owner of the tractor-trailer was looking for his truck back. Without any other cases, we had to eventually give him his truck back.

Det. Geoff Noble: Everything in there that belonged to Adam Lane, the owner of the company threw into a dumpster which was located in the impound yard in Massachusetts where the truck had been.

The trash hauling company was scheduled to pick up and empty that dumpster on that very day. We got very lucky. We basically beat the trash hauler to the dumpster. And the dumpster was packed. It was full.

We suited up. It took an entire afternoon. We took every piece of debris and trash out of that dumpster. And in that bottom of the dumpster we found ... basically all of Adam Lane's personal property. Clothing, shoes, socks.

Without a doubt, every detective there suspected that we were comin' across key potential DNA evidence in this case.

We couldn't wait to get back to New Jersey, submit this stuff to the forensic laboratory and let the evidence, basically, show us what happened.

Det. George Tyros: Before Geoff went back, he wanted to interview Adam Leroy Lane. ...At that point we told him, "Don't get your hopes up, but it's worth a shot."

Det. Geoff Noble: Goin' into the interview with Adam Lane, we had basically very low expectations. Because he didn't speak to the other detectives in Massachusetts we felt he wasn't gonna speak to us.

Det. George Tyros: After Detective Noble went in to interview Adam Lane, my sergeant and I waited for him. We were thinkin' we were gonna be eating dinner shortly. It's probably not gonna go very long. After about a half hour - 45 minutes - we realized, he's talkin'. After an hour, we decided, "You know what? We better go eat without him."

Det. Geoff Noble: As we started talkin' to him, it became evident that Adam Lane actually, much to our surprise, wanted to speak with us.

For the first hour, hour-and-a-half of the interview, he never once asked us what crime we were investigating. My impression of that is he didn't need to ask 'cause he knew why we were there. He knew it, and we knew it.

Adam Lane interrogation: They took movies that I had in the truck... and made it seem like I was the worst mass murderer that you ever seen in your life. Just because I like horror movies.

Det. Geoff Noble: We did not have the benefit of the forensic results. So this whole interview was done basically with my partner and I just feeling out Adam Lane as we went.

We told him, "We're not here because we think you did something in New Jersey." We told him, "We're here because we know you did something in New Jersey."

And you could see Adam Lane's demeanor start to change ... and my impression of it was he was starting to come to the realization that he was caught.

And after several seconds he said the words, "I'm done." I packed up our stuff; we turned off the tape recorder. My partner and I got up to leave. We walked out of that room, and after several minutes Adam Lane made a motion through the window of the door, made a nod for us to come back in. And at that point we knew exactly where we were. We knew that Adam Lane wanted to confess.

Adam Lane: This is gonna kill my family.

Det. Geoff Noble: That he wanted to tell us what happened that night.

Adam Lane: She sit straight up and got out of bed when she seen me. And started screaming. And I tried to get her to be quiet.

Det. Geoff Noble: He described how he stabbed Monica.

Adam Lane: I had the knife (making stabbing motions), it was on the bed. It was about that long. She rolled against it and cut right here (motioning to his neck)

Best I could tell, and I'm no medic, it cut this jugular vein right here.

Det. Geoff Noble: He described where he stabbed her.

Adam Lane: Between her legs. On her stomach...
Det. Noble: Did you have any sexual attraction during any of this?
Adam Lane: No.
Det. Noble: Did you-
Adam Lane: Look, I love my wife, I love my wife very much. I ain't out for sexual toys...
Det. Noble: What happened next Adam?
Adam Lane: She bled to death. I couldn't do nothing about it... It didn't take very long.
Det. Noble: About how long?
Adam Lane: Less than 60 seconds.

Video: Adam Lane's interrogation and confession

Det. Geoff Noble: Adam Lane, no doubt about it, is perhaps the most dangerous man that I've seen personally. And the reason is because there is no explanation. There is no "why" with Adam Lane.

And he killed Monica Massaro just, in my opinion, for the sport of it.

Jeannie McDonough: I received a phone call on my cell phone from the Chief of Police.

They told us that Adam Leroy Lane had murdered a woman the night before he came to our house. ...When we heard that we were, we were just floored. We knew at that moment ... that we came seconds, milliseconds from losing our daughter in the most horrific way possible.

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA

Nicole Pogasic | Todd and Darlene Ewalt's daughter: My biggest fear, after I lost my mom, was that I was gonna lose my dad. I didn't want him to end up in prison for something that he didn't do. Emotionally, I couldn't bear to lose another parent.

Todd Ewalt: I had been subpoenaed to appear in front of a grand jury the early part of September 2007. As it drew closer, the more worried I was getting.

Det. Geoff Noble | New Jersey State Police: Several weeks after we submitted Adam Lane's knives to our laboratory for analysis, we received word of what the results were. The results showed that not only was Monica Massaro's DNA on his knives, but also Darlene Ewalt's from Pennsylvania. Her DNA was also on Adam Lane's knives.

Nicole Pogasic: I found out that my mom's DNA was on a knife from the newspaper.

I think I called my Dad. I'm like, "So you're clear?" And then it just kind of becomes a blur after that. Just knowing that finally that they have the evidence to clear my father.

District Attorney Ed Marsico Jr. | Dauphin County, Pa.: After we discovered that Darlene's blood was on the knife taken from Adam Lane, I did meet with Todd Ewalt and explained to him that we had found the perpetrator and apologized that he had been a suspect, treated as he believed, somewhat unfairly during the investigative process. And I wanted him to know that we would do whatever we could to bring Adam Lane to justice.

Todd Ewalt: I can't even begin to think of how bad it would have been if Lane was never caught... I think I would have been on trial for the murder of my wife.

D.A. Ed Marsico Jr.: The DNA match of Darlene Ewalt's blood on Adam Leroy Lane's knife was a complete game changer.

We knew that he was incarcerated, that he faced charges in Massachusetts and he faced charges in New Jersey. Since he was locked up, and we knew he wasn't going anywhere, we decided we would defer to Massachusetts and New Jersey before commencing our prosecution here in Pennsylvania.

LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS

Jeannie McDonough: Even though he terrified me I wanted to face this guy down. I'm sorry, but you don't come into my house and attack my family - I'm gonna be there. And I'm gonna watch you every step of the way.

Asst. District Attorney Kerry Ahern | Middlesex County, Mass.: We knew pretty much from the outset that this case was not going to go to trial. There was really no defense that he had to offer. He was caught red-handed in the McDonough's house by the Chelmsford police. So at some level, we knew it was going to be a plea. And what it came down was how long of a sentence were we gonna get on this guy.

The one sticking point for Adam Lane seemed to be the sexual assault charge. He was adamant that he wasn't going to sexually assault Shea McDonough. This wasn't about sex.

So I went to the McDonough's and we discussed it. If that was the one sticking point, did they feel comfortable with dismissing that charge if it meant that the plea would go forward on all the other counts and he would receive 25 to 30 years in state prison?

Jeannie McDonough: That meant Shea would not have to get up on the witness stand and recount everything that she went through that night and just traumatize her all over again.

We said, "OK, let's accept the plea bargain and go forward with it."

ADA Kerry Ahern: I would have liked to have seen a longer sentence since that's what we were advocating for. But, we also knew that Adam was gonna face murder charges in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. So at the end of the day, we knew he was never gonna get out.

Jeannie McDonough: I felt compelled that OK, even though the legal battles for us were over, I was gonna see this thing through and I was gonna make sure that I was at every hearing that he was at - that I was with the families of the other victims.

HUNTERDON COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT, NEW JERSEY

Jeannie McDonough: We went down to the sentencing for Monica Massaro.

I was just heartbroken for Faye and Frank Massaro. Monica was their only child and only daughter. And their whole lives revolved around her.

Shea McDonough: I remember giving Monica's mom a hug and just saying how sorry I was, and just really feeling her pain. And it was hard. It was really hard.

Jeannie McDonough: As we were walking into the courtroom, we noticed this gentleman sitting against a railing outside of the courthouse. And he just looked lost. We learned that it was Todd Ewalt, the husband of Darlene Ewalt. I gave him a big hug. And I just felt, like, awful. Awful. Like, "Why am I here and his wife isn't here?"

Todd Ewalt: I was just really thankful to meet them the first time. To be able to shake their hand and tell 'em, "Thank you."

Jeannie McDonough: For [the Massaros] to finally have their daughter's killer face the consequences for what he had done - I was relieved that they were able to be there and see him sentenced.

Judge: You are sentenced to serve 50 years in the New Jersey State Prison.

Jeannie McDonough: I wanted to know why Lane would go off and start killing people. I started digging, looking for answers. It just snowballed and it ended up turning into a book.

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