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Solved case · 1997
The short answer
In April 1973, 7-year-old Girl Scout Joan D'Alessandro was raped and murdered in New Jersey by a neighbor, high school teacher Joseph McGowan, after she visited his home to sell cookies. The case led to New Jersey's "Joan's Law."
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Suggest coverage for Murder of Joan D'AlessandroThe case file
On April 19, 1973, Joan D'Alessandro, a 7-year-old Girl Scout from New Jersey, was raped and murdered by her neighbor, Joseph McGowan, after she went to his house to sell Girl Scout cookies. McGowan was a high school teacher living in the same neighborhood as the D'Alessandro family.
McGowan was subsequently charged in connection with Joan's death and pleaded guilty to the crime.
The crime had a lasting legislative impact in New Jersey. It led to the passing of "Joan's Law" in 1997. The law was later amended in 2017 to specify that a person convicted of murdering a minor under the age of 18 in the course of committing a sex crime would serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Following the crime, Joan's mother campaigned to prevent McGowan's parole and also pursued a civil lawsuit against him, continuing her advocacy in the years prior to the passage of Joan's Law. McGowan remained incarcerated for the remainder of his life and died in prison in June 2021. Coverage from northjersey.com in June 2021 addressed matters related to McGowan's time in prison and the "Joan's Law" legacy around the time of his death.
The case has received continued public attention in the years since. It was detailed in the book The Killer Across the Table by former FBI profiler John E. Douglas, and has also been the subject of a documentary film examining the crime and its aftermath.
5 dated entries · 1973–2021
Joan D'Alessandro, a 7-year-old Girl Scout, is raped and murdered by her neighbor Joseph McGowan after visiting his home to sell cookies.
Contemporaneous reporting (The New York Times) covers the admission and case developments regarding the killing.
"Joan's Law" is passed in New Jersey as a result of the case.
Joan's Law is amended to require life imprisonment without parole for the murder of a minor under 18 committed in the course of a sex crime.
Joseph McGowan dies in prison.
2 named in this file
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
From the record
2 cited
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Pressnorthjersey.comAccessed Jul 10, 2026
EncyclopedicWikipediaAccessed Jul 10, 2026
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