There were two more murders, 15 miles away.

When police arrived, they found the telephones and electricity lines.

We have a weird homicide.

A scene described by one investigator as reminiscent of a weird...

A cop of murder.

Parents today know the dangers of door-to-door sales.

But that was not always the case. On April 22nd, 1973, a young girl did

something totally normal and seemingly safe when she left her home and walked a few doors down

to sell some Girl Scout cookies. The door she chose to knock on, safely just a few feet away from her own home, would end up being the last choice that she was ever able to make.

So if you like your coffee hot but your bones chilled, sit back and start your day with a morning cup of murder.

On April 19, 1973, a seven-year-old Girl Scout in Hillsdale, New Jersey, named Joan

Di Alessandro, told her mother that she was going door-to-door selling cookies.

After saying a casual goodbye, telling her mom that she would be right back, the young girl left and started

her journey. Just three doors away from her own, Joan knocked on the door belonging to the

mother of a chemistry teacher named Joseph McGowan, a choice that would end up costing her

her life. Getting her inside, this man took the girl, sexually assaulted, raped, beat, and strangled her to death,

before wrapping up her body and taking it out with him to his car.

After a panic-filled few days where everyone searched for this missing girl,

Jones' body was found on April 22nd, 1973, in New York's Harriman State Park, after police

received a call from Joseph McGowan, just 27 years old, confessing to her murder.

He unexpectedly pleaded guilty to the murder, and in his hearing, admitted he murdered Joan, quote, while committing or attempting to commit a rape.

Because of his guilty plea, a trial was foregone, despite the fact that his lawyers emphasized that Joseph had no intention to plead guilty to the rape itself.

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