by Diane on March 8, 2010
Gina Gentile (L), Vanessa Dorwart (R)
Two beautiful teenagers died recently and I was there. I’ll never forget what happened.
I needed to get from New York to Washington, D.C. for a business meeting but a massive snow storm was set to slam into the Northeast. I thought the meeting would be canceled. It wasn’t, so a trip aboard Amtrak’s high speed Acela train seemed the best bet.
As two colleagues and I were strategizing we felt a bump and heard a cracking sound. There were murmurs of, “We must have hit a patch of ice,” and “I think it was a big tree branch on the track.” Then the train stopped dead.
There we sat for two hours in Norwood, Pennsylvania watching the snow fall outside our windows. [click to continue…]
by Diane on February 15, 2010
The Face of Domestic Abuse?
Inside a cozy courtroom in Aspen, Colorado this week I came face to face with Carlos Irwin Estevez as he appeared to face multiple domestic abuse charges. I said hello. He remained silent.
This is a man whose past is littered with complaints from the women in his life. One of his ex-wives alleges he became absorbed in pornography, abused alcohol and street drugs and threatened her safety. Several of his past female companions worked in the porn industry and he once shot a girlfriend in the arm. He’s been in and out of rehab for cocaine abuse and court ordered probation violations but still he keeps popping up on law enforcement’s radar. So far he’s avoided prison time.
On this day Estevez was dressed in somber black, including his skinny tie and horn-rimmed glasses. He was memorable for what he wasn’t wearing. He’d left his trademark smirk and cocky bad boy attitude back home in Los Angeles where he makes a multi-million dollar living as an actor…. [click to continue…]
by Diane on February 1, 2010
Mark Kerrigan - Troubled Man
D
ateline: Stoneham, Massachusetts
There’s one in every family – the black sheep, the bad seed, the troubled child who keeps the parents awake at night worrying and praying.
In the household headed by Daniel Kerrigan and his wife Brenda of Stoneham, Massachusetts it was their son Mark. While they reveled in the accomplishments of their two other children, TV producer, Michael, and figure skating Olympic medalist, Nancy, it was Mark who had long caused the couple sleepless nights.
Who knew the heartbreaking secret the famous Nancy Kerrigan’s family endured all these years? [click to continue…]
by Diane on December 28, 2009
Number One Threat - Terrorism
W ith the year end celebrations mostly behind us it’s time to look ahead. 2010 is just days away and as I do every year here’s my wish list for a year filled with better news on the crime and justice beat.
My top wish is for everyone to truly understand the threat anti-American terrorism still holds for our country. To highlight that I wish the upcoming trials in New York for the 9-11 terror suspects would be televised. Just as the Watergate hearings enlightened America … [click to continue…]
by Diane on December 20, 2009
All American Family Man? Hardly!
Everyone is talking about Tiger Woods these days – even the nice man who drove me to the airport the other afternoon. He and I had an in-depth conversation about how an icon like Woods, described in the past as an All-American family man and the greatest golfer the world has ever seen, could have fallen so far so fast.
My opinion? That Woods had to be profoundly arrogant to think he could act so badly and expect silent loyalty from those involved. Woods, I concluded, must lack the character and the integrity that we were all led to believe he possessed. How could we all be so fooled?
My conversation partner seemed to think the story was really a private matter between a husband and wife and it was the media churning up controversy. Besides, he said, “Isn’t integrity and character the same thing – what’s the difference?” [click to continue…]
by Diane on November 30, 2009
Alamo - Guilty - 175 Years in Prison!
On this Thanksgiving weekend I want to tell you about a group of young people who are giving thanks for the first time in their lives. This year they are extremely thankful that their tormentor, the self proclaimed preacher Tony Alamo, has finally been brought to justice.
In U.S. District Court in Texarkana, Arkansas the 75 year old Alamo was recently sentenced to 175 years in prison on charges of engaging in sex with minor members of his so-called “church.” One of the five brides identified was just 8 years old. My sources, escapees of the church, tell me there were many more Alamo brides.
Alamo’s real name is Bernie LaZar Hoffman. He was a phony from the get-go. Back in the early 70’s he and his wife, Susan, dreamed up the “Alamo Christian Ministries” to rescue drugged out homeless people from the streets of Hollywood. They gave the unfortunates a cot to sleep on, food to eat, a rousing sermon and an odd job or two to perform as payback. City fathers donated money to show appreciation for the more tourist friendly streets. [click to continue…]
by Diane on October 19, 2009
Victims Can Survive
It was an overcast October Saturday at the Joint Forces Training Base at Los Alamitos, California. The 7 am start time was daunting but I’d promised to go.
I’m glad I did.
It was the annual “Survive and Thrive” 5k run/walk event put on by a group called Crime Survivors. Note that it’s not crime victims – it’s crime survivors. And before you ask, no, I didn’t run but I did walk.
The woman who started Crime Survivors is Patricia Wenskunas, my hero.
She is a blond dynamo, a catering event planner by trade and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and attempted murder. She speaks gently but her message packs a wallop: Crime victims deserve consideration, at least as much consideration as the criminal gets. [click to continue…]
by Diane on September 14, 2009
Finally, A New Approach
Have you gone into a bank lately and noticed anything different?
During my recent travels I noticed a bank in Albuquerque invited me, via a sign on the door, to “Please remove your sunglasses so we can smile at you!” At a bank in Los Angeles I was greeted by not one but three employees who looked me directly in the eye and chanted a hearty, “Good afternoon!” Maybe you have noticed how suddenly friendly and accommodating your bank staff has become.
Why is that? Have banks suddenly realized that to engage the unfamiliar customer might be a good way of thwarting robberies? [click to continue…]
The End Result of Confidential Sources
Every investigative journalist must rely on confidential sources. Their inside information is the only way truth leaks out from government, institutions, corporations or celebrity entourages. And every good investigative journalist will tell you that what a single source says is never enough. You take the information from the source but then you must confirm it in other ways before making it public. Confirmation can come from other inside sources, from public documents, from sworn testimony – from all sorts of corroborating subjects. My most visible investigative efforts have come from my work looking into entertainer Michael Jackson. My work began in 1993, with the first allegations of child molestation against Jackson, were renewed in 2003 when a second young boy’s claims caused the story to erupt again and culminated when I covered the Jackson’s criminal trial in 2005. I wrote a book about my findings. All this work flowed from those brave enough (yes, brave enough) to come forward to reveal what they thought was important information. Some said they were sick at heart that children were being molested, some told me they feared for Jackson’s physical safety because of his addictions to drugs and alcohol, some were members of law enforcement and child protective services upset that the system was bending to celebrity worship. Since Michael Jackson’s death I’ve been flooded with e-mails, both admiring and attacking, about this body of work. I’ve been astounded that some angry Jackson fans continue to demand I give up my sources. They feel that what I’ve been reporting over all these years cannot possibly be true because I haven’t revealed the genesis of the information. In the forward to my book, “Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case,” I take special pains to thank all those countless sources of information I’ve had on the Jackson story. I wrote, “To all my sources over the years; you helped me understand the nuances. I couldn’t have asked for better navigators over difficult waters. A reporter’s work is only as good as her sources. Most of you were seeking truth as was I.” So to all those Jackson fans who continue to write in, adamant that I reveal where I’ve gotten my information: It’s not going to happen. 
Let's Admit - There Was A Dark Side
When I was plying my trade as an investigative reporter the most famous criminal defendant I ever covered was entertainer Michael Jackson. Boy, did I cover him! From breaking the first news about the molestation claims against him back in 1993 to being the first to report the 2003 abuse allegations of a young boy who was a cancer patient when he first met the King of Pop. I was there for every day of the criminal trial and I wrote a book drawing on what I’d learned about the man over the course of the decade I’d investigated his story. Now, Michael Jackson is dead at age 50. Since his death, likely related to his long term drug abuse and anorexia, I’ve been asked to explain the fascination so many have for this Pop Icon. What was it about Jackson that caused the great worldwide crowds of people we saw to drop everything and gather in public forums to mourn his passing? … [click to continue…]
