Naman Shrestha
Joan Giambra was a single mother of three who led a seemingly content life in her Buffalo, New York, home. When she was found dead in September 1993, shockwaves were sent across the entire community. The detectives lacked sufficient evidence to get to the bottom of the case until nearly one and a half decades later, when they cracked the case wide open with the help of DNA evidence. All the intricate details of the case and the decades-long investigation that ensued are covered in Investigation Discovery’s ‘The Buffalo Butcher,’ which also features exclusive and insightful interviews with Joan’s loved ones and officials who worked hard to solve the case.
Joan Giambra Was Found Dead in Her Home, With Her Daughter Lying on Top of Her
On March 7, 1951, Earl F. Knop Sr. and Elizabeth Maria Bald Knop were blessed with the birth of Joan Lynn Knop Giambra in Buffalo, New York. At one point, she was employed at the Greyhound bus station. On the personal front, she married Samuel Anthony Giambra, but their marriage didn’t stand the test of time, and they parted ways in 1993. She then single-handedly took responsibility for her three children, including her daughter, Kathleen, and her son, Don Cormier.
Leading a peaceful life in Buffalo, New York, the single mother of three was looking forward to seeing her children achieve success in life. Unfortunately, her dreams were shattered as fate intervened. When Joan didn’t show up at a food pantry where she had volunteered on September 9, 1993, other volunteers grew concerned about her well-being. After the authorities arrived at Joan’s house on Hillside Avenue, they found the 42-year-old woman dead, without any clothes on, in the living room. Moreover, her 11-year-old daughter, Kathleen, was lying in a critical condition on top of Joan’s remains. Although Kathleen survived the ordeal, her mother died of strangulation. The autopsy also revealed that she had been sexually assaulted.
Joan Giambra’s Killer Was Apprehended Using Advanced DNA Technology
Due to a lack of evidence at the crime scene, Joan Giambra’s homicide remained unsolved for several years. With the advent of new DNA technology, the authorities tried matching the assailant’s DNA recovered from Joan’s fingernails to some of the persons of interest, including her former husband, Samuel Giambra. Although he died of suicide in 2000, a sample of his DNA was preserved. Upon testing the DNA from the crime scene against his, the detectives found that they didn’t match and thus, eliminated him as a potential suspect.
The authorities then focused on a local bartender named Dennis Donahue, who dated Joan for a while, according to her daughters. After the tragedy, the daughters also recalled a mysterious phone call from a man who claimed to have dated her, asking for information about her. The detectives then tracked down Dennis, who was unemployed at the time and living with his relatives on Buffalo’s south side. They knocked on his door, and he agreed to give them a DNA sample. After taking a DNA swab, it was sent to the lab for further testing. Shockingly, Dennis’ DNA matched the DNA found under Joan’s preserved fingernails.
Upon digging deeper into him, it turned out that Joan had dated him for a while and had broken up with him a few days prior to the murder. Now that the authorities had enough evidence against him, in September 2007, they arrested him and charged him with second-degree murder in connection with Joan’s killing. Soon, the detectives linked him to two other Buffalo murder cases — Carol Reed in 1975 and Crystallynn Girard in 1993. For Crystallynn’s murder, her mother, Lynn Dejac, was reportedly falsely convicted and spent about 15 years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit. After DNA evidence indicated that Dennis was involved with Crystallynn’s killing, she was exonerated.
Dennis Donahue Passed Away While Serving His Sentence
Several months after his arrest, Dennis Donahue’s murder trial got underway in 2008. The prosecution presented a series of incriminating evidence against the defendant, including the DNA evidence. In the end, in May 2008, the jury deliberated for six hours before reaching a final verdict. Thus, he was found guilty of killing 42-year-old Joan Giambra by strangulation. More than a month later, on June 30, 2008, Dennis was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the gruesome crime. After serving about 13 years of his prison term, on September 10, 2020, he died of natural causes at Coxsackie Correctional Facility in Greene County, New York.
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