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Tiny Colts Neck, New Jersey, sits simply 50 miles from New York Metropolis. But it surely may as nicely be a world away. In July 2013, this quiet group was rocked by information of a violent dwelling invasion the place the sufferer was stabbed repeatedly. The one factor extra surprising: the sufferer survived.
Donna Ongsiako: My title is Donna Ongsiako. … I misplaced in complete, shut to 3 quarters of the blood in my physique. There isn’t any earthly purpose why I am alive. None.
Jim Axelrod: If I had requested you on the time to provide me a listing of 100 stuff you’re frightened about, the place would have dwelling invasion been?
Donna Ongsiako: Oh, no. By no means.
Donna labored for a corporation that brokered gasoline for ships on the close by Jersey shore. She and her daughter Kiersten lived in a farmhouse on the sting of flower fields.
Kiersten Ongsiako: She was 20 when she had me. So, we’re solely 20 years and in the future aside.
Buddy Sharon Sharpe employed Donna many years in the past.
Jim Axelrod: Kiersten had simply been born?
Sharon Sharpe: Yeah, Kiersten was a child. … I assumed she was actually courageous … being a single mother … very younger.
Kiersten Ongsiako: I used to be by her aspect on a regular basis.
Kiersten, who now works as a welder, recollects what life was like simply previous to her mom’s assault.
Kiersten Ongsiako: We have been going to the health club a number of instances every week. … Not solely was she, like, mentally robust, however she was bodily robust.
Sharon Sharpe: She was so match. She did Powerful Mudders with Kiersten.
Donna Ongsiako: I like that competitors … I like to point out energy, bodily energy …
Donna Ongsiako: Issues could not have been any higher at the moment.
That is when Saturday of July Fourth weekend rolled round. Monmouth County Detective Andrea Tozzi says they have been having a heatwave.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: It was … humid. … However we had no … rain or something like that. … I imply it was a dry evening.
Jim Axelrod: So, Donna — had her home windows open.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Sure. … She had her home windows open … simply to clearly to flow into air.
Donna Ongsiako: Kiersten was out at a celebration. … So, I used to be dwelling doing laundry. … I would say about 11:00, 11:30. I resolve … I will prepare for mattress. … I let the cat out. I went and brushed my enamel.
However simply as she was drifting off to sleep —
Donna Ongsiako: I heard what I assumed was the cat. I heard one thing, and I remembered, oh, I forgot to let the cat in.
With out turning on any lights, Donna headed downstairs to open the entrance door for her cat.
Donna Ongsiako: However as a substitute, after I opened the door, I noticed somebody standing there. … Within the cut up second … after seeing this particular person on my porch, I noticed the knife. … He was making an attempt to chop into the display of the window that was proper subsequent to the entrance door.
She says she did not acknowledge the younger white male standing proper in entrance of her, holding a big knife.
Donna Ongsiako: I attempted to slam and shut the door. … My fingers have been protruding out. He caught the knife by way of the opening and … reduce my finger in order that I instantly let go of the door. After which he pushed his means in.[…]
Donna Ongsiako: I am backing into my kitchen. We’re head to head. … It did not register to me that he was really going to stab me.
However with out a phrase, that is precisely what the stranger did.
Donna Ongsiako: He slashed my cheek. And you’ll see that right here. And really, it begins again right here (factors to the proper aspect of her face and ear). … There was no option to course of that that occurred.
Donna’s attacker got here at her with the knife once more.
Donna Ongsiako: He then slashed 3 times on this aspect of my neck.
She tried grabbing the knife however solely reduce her personal hand within the course of.
Jim Axelrod: Did you are feeling such as you have been coping with anyone who was actually robust?
Donna Ongsiako: No. However I felt like he was very positive, like he was very answerable for himself.
Donna was beginning to weaken from the accidents.
Donna Ongsiako: I felt like … my legs have been going to provide out. … So, I braced myself in opposition to the nook of my lavatory … proper subsequent to the entrance door.
Certain sufficient, she slid right down to the ground.
Donna Ongsiako: I used to be in fetal place … and I am bleeding. And he came to visit and … it was type of like he was taking part in, you understand, with the knife and simply began jabbing at me. So, that is when he caught me right here (factors to a scar close to the left aspect of her mouth). Um, and he bought me behind my neck right here (level to the again left aspect of her neck).
Lastly, Donna’s attacker spoke to her.
Donna Ongsiako: This was when he determined … to ask me for my automobile keys and if I had a lighter …
Jim Axelrod: A lighter?
Donna Ongsiako: I simply answered him. There is a lighter in my purse. And my purse was on the desk again within the kitchen. … So, he went over and was rummaging by way of my purse and bought the keys, bought the lighter.
Donna’s assailant ended up taking her whole purse with him, however not earlier than returning one final time to Donna, nonetheless bleeding on the ground.
Donna Ongsiako: He stated … “you lifeless bitch” and plunged the knife into my chest.
Jim Axelrod: As soon as he plunges the knife in after which removes it? What does he do then?
Donna Ongsiako: He simply walked out the door.
With no neighbors in ear shot, Donna knew she should get assist — by some means.
Jim Axelrod: Your telephone is not in attain?
Donna Ongsiako: No, my telephone was upstairs in my bed room charging.
Donna had no landline in the home. However even because the blood was draining quickly from her physique, she had one urgent concern above her personal survival.
Donna Ongsiako: Kiersten may come dwelling and discover me. … I simply did not need her to need to expertise … any degree of the horror that I had simply gone by way of or every other ranges find me there lifeless.
Jim Axelrod: So, it is a mom’s intuition as pure because it will get.
Donna Ongsiako: Sure, completely. Yeah.
Jim Axelrod: You already know you must get upstairs if you happen to’re going to have the ability to make a name for assist.
Donna Ongsiako: Proper.
Jim Axelrod: How do you stand up these stairs?
Donna Ongsiako: That I do not know. … There was divine intervention that helped me up these stairs. Little doubt. Little doubt in my thoughts.
AN INSPIRED CLIMB
Laurie Gerhardt: She’s a tiny little girl. … You need to think about … that many stab wounds. And he or she simply willed it. She was not going to die there.
Former Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Laurie Gerhardt says Donna Ongsiako was decided her daughter, Kiersten, wouldn’t come dwelling to seek out her lifeless. She knew she needed to get to her cellphone upstairs.
Donna Ongsiako: I do not bear in mind … my toes or my palms really touching the steps. … The vitality that it took for me to stand up off the bottom and up these stairs. … I used to be undoubtedly guided.
Kiersten Ongsiako: The quantity of energy that goes into that’s simply unimaginable.
Jim Axelrod: However the motivation was you.
Kiersten Ongsiako: Yeah, yeah. Possibly I used to be there guiding her in spirit.
As soon as Donna made it upstairs, she confronted a brand new problem after peering out her bed room window.
Jim Axelrod (outdoors Donna’s home): She had a automobile sitting proper right here?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: She had a automobile sitting proper on this space.
Donna Ongsiako: I may nonetheless see the automobile was there and I may see the automobile was on and he was in it. … If I take my telephone off the charger, it is going to gentle up. … He will see the sunshine.
Afraid her attacker would come again for her, Donna did her finest to cover the sunshine of the telephone. Then, simply getting it to work grew to become the following hurdle.
Donna Ongsiako: My palms are coated in blood. My contact display … I used to be making an attempt to swipe and swipe. … I ended up having to … wipe my palms off, wipe the telephone off, wipe it down … on the mattress. … After which I used to be capable of do the contact display and get by way of to 911.
DONNA ONGSIAKO TO 911: Uh, my title is Donna Ongsiako. I simply bought stabbed actually dangerous. …  Some child simply got here in and stabbed me. He stole my automobile.
911 OPERATOR: OK, OK, OK. Simply keep on the telephone with me, OK? The place did you get stabbed?
DONNA ONGSIAKO: Within the neck. Blood is gushing out. And within the chest.
Detective Andrea Tozzi says Donna’s capability to position that decision regardless of her accidents was wonderful, however then Donna did one thing much more extraordinary. She gave an in depth description of her attacker.
911 OPERATOR:Â OK. Have you learnt what he appeared like?
DONNA ONGSIAKO: Yeah, he was in all probability about 17. White, actual skinny, curly hair. Blonde, soiled blonde hair. … Backpack.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: It was fairly chilling to … hearken to Donna and be capable of hear her precisely … discuss “that is what occurred. That is what he appears to be like like.”
DONNA ONGSIAKO TO 911: I am shedding consciousness.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: After which hear her fade out.
911 OPERATOR: Donna? Donna? Hiya, Donna? Donna?
DONNA ONGSIAKO: Sure, ma’am. … I believe I simply handed out for a minute.
Police and paramedics arrived lower than eight minutes after Donna dialed 911, however her attacker had already fled. Donna was rushed to Jersey Shore College Medical Heart and into trauma surgical procedure. It could be a number of extra hours earlier than Kiersten arrived dwelling from her get together to a home surrounded by flashing lights.
Kiersten Ongsiako: I noticed the warning tape and that her automobile was gone.
Police informed Kiersten what occurred to her mom.
Jim Axelrod: You have been deeply shaken.
Kiersten Ongsiako: Oh, yeah. I bear in mind at one level … my knees buckled … they’d the SUV, the undercover cop automobile. The trunk was open. So, I used to be like, can I sit right here as a result of I really feel like I will move out.
As Kiersten was processing the information, an all-out manhunt had already begun for Donna’s assailant. Detective Tozzi says one other 911 name had are available shortly earlier than Donna’s assault from a driver who noticed somebody strolling alongside the highway close to Donna’s home.
911 CALLER: I used to be going to select up my daughter and there was a child hitchhiking.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: They noticed a younger man … with a backpack and khaki pants. … He was strolling near the fog line and type of getting into site visitors. … She felt that he was type of a hitchhiker.
911 CALLER: He was on the north sure aspect, strolling south sure, and I am afraid he is gonna  get hit by a automobile …
911 OPERATOR: How previous about? Caller: I am gonna say like 18,19, 20. One thing like that.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: She was involved as a result of she simply thought that possibly he wanted assist in a roundabout way.
Jim Axelrod: And was a automobile dispatched?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Sure. Sure. They did not discover him, although.
Nonetheless, the Good Samaritan driver had inadvertently given the investigation its first lead.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: I felt just like the hitchhiker was my particular person. … It was too coincidental … for that point of the evening in that space, for anyone to be strolling … after which quarter-hour later … Donna’s calling to say that she was stabbed.
And there was about to be one other tip — not lengthy after Donna’s 911 name — from a fast-food restaurant 5 miles from her home.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: They noticed a topic strolling by way of their drive-thru, knocking on home windows, carrying a knife and it appeared prefer it had blood on it.
Workers from the Taco Bell shortly known as police.
OPERATOR: Do you may have any description of him?
CALLER: Yeah, he was carrying um, you understand, like these Military pants? And he had no shirt. … He is White. With, like, actually, like, bushy hair, but it surely was, like, lengthy.  Just like the skater-type hair.
OPERATOR: How previous was he?
CALLER: I do not know. He appeared like he was like 18.
Police rushed to the Taco Bell and began canvassing the close by procuring heart. They did not discover their suspect, however they did discover one thing else.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: So, there had been a BOLO put out on — on Donna’s car.
Jim Axelrod: Be looking out.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Proper. And … within the technique of in search of this particular person right here … they discovered the automobile.
Donna’s stolen automobile had been ditched behind a movie show.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: It was lights on … and it was working. So, it clearly was an deserted car.
Tozzi says the automobile would change into essential.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: There was blood throughout it. And so, we have been hoping that we’d get some type of DNA proof of our suspect.
Jim Axelrod: Did you?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: We did.
A SUSPECT EMERGES
Sharon Sharpe will always remember the dread she felt when she arrived on the hospital to see her pal Donna Ongsiako solely to be informed she wasn’t there.
Jim Axelrod: I am picturing the colour draining out of your face and the air, leaving your lungs, like —
Sharon Sharpe: Completely … no, this can’t be. There isn’t any means, she needs to be right here.
Jim Axelrod: Did you assume possibly she had died?
Sharon Sharpe: Sure. Sure.
It turned out, together with her attacker nonetheless on the free, the hospital had admitted Donna underneath an alias to guard her. Sharon was allowed to see Donna the following day.
Sharon Sharpe: An intensive care room I’ve by no means seen earlier than. … It appeared like an enlarged, massively enlarged cockpit wall as a result of there have been tons of machines behind her. And he or she appeared nearly like a puppet.
Donna Ongsiako: Surgical procedure was seven hours, I imagine.
Regardless of shedding three quarters of the blood in her physique, trauma surgeons had saved Donna’s life, however at an incredible price.
Donna Ongsiako: I just about appeared like a dwelling cadaver. … I had 37 stitches on my face and neck, 38 staples in my chest, seven stitches in my hand. And now internally, my sternum is wired shut.
And as for that ultimate stab to Donna’s chest simply earlier than her assailant left —
Donna Ongsiako: It missed my coronary heart by the sting of a dime is what I bear in mind them telling me.
The sting of a dime.
Jim Axelrod: When she talks in regards to the margin that the knife missed her coronary heart by.
Kiersten Ongsiako: Yeah … if she was any slouched over … anymore, that might have been it.
Kiersten says as quickly as her mom was capable of speak, she had one easy request.
Kiersten Ongsiako: I bear in mind her saying, all I scent is that this blood in my hair. Can anyone please wash my hair?
Sharon says they bought permission, after which she and two of Donna’s relations did their finest to clean Donna’s hair as she lay in her hospital mattress.Â
Sharon Sharpe: We have been decided to see if we may make her smile. So, we turned it right into a ridiculous fool session with three of us … like a manufacturing unit line. … We laughed by way of our tears. … and any time … anyone would get too critical we’d make it humorous.
However her hair was removed from Donna’s greatest concern. She was positive her attacker would discover her and end the job.
Sharon Sharpe: She was satisfied that he was within the hospital. And we stored telling her, no, you are right here underneath an alias.
Donna Ongsiako: I survived. I stood head to head with him. I may 100% positively determine him. He is coming again for me.
Detective Tozzi says they have been fairly positive the younger man knocking on home windows on the Taco Bell drive-thru shortly after Donna’s assault was their suspect. Inside two days, a buyer who noticed him met with a police sketch artist.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: And … was capable of present fairly nice particulars on the particular person she noticed that evening.
Investigators then took the sketch to the hospital.
Jim Axelrod: What did Donna say when she noticed that sketch?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: She stated, yeah, that was extremely correct. … She tweaked it slightly bit. … She stated that … sure, that appears like the one who stabbed me.
Donna Ongsiako: His … curly blonde hair. … He was like a surfer child … or a skateboarder or one thing like that.
Former Assistant Prosecutor Laurie Gerhardt says the sketch of the suspect was quickly plastered throughout Monmouth County and on legislation enforcement social media.
Laurie Gerhardt: So, persons are clearly speaking and making an attempt to determine, do we all know the place is he from? Who is that this child?… And it is scary since you prefer to have a way of safety in your group.
Investigators reviewed the cameras of shops within the procuring heart close to the Taco Bell to see in the event that they’d get fortunate and spot their suspect, hoping the extra pictures they’d, the extra probably the possibility of figuring out him.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: We have been … making an attempt to return and take a look at video … from varied companies to see the outline and … actually to place out the BOLO like that is who we’re in search of.
Safety cameras had captured the suspect as soon as once more.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: The surveillance we bought from the shop over there … was from the within the shop, but it surely was pointing outwards.
Jim Axelrod: I see. And it undoubtedly caught him.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Oh, yeah. You could possibly see him strolling.
Jim Axelrod: Wow.
As police stored in search of the suspect, Donna Ongsiako was turning a nook, at the least bodily. Amazingly, after simply 4 days, Donna was launched from the hospital. Sharon says that was all as a result of coaching Donna had completed previous to the assault.
Sharon Sharpe: Clearly, she’s very bodily match. … She would not have survived this if she wasn’t.
Jim Axelrod: It is an incredible factor. You have been out in 4 days. However as you permit the hospital, you might be additionally strolling again right into a world the place whoever did this to you remains to be on the market.
Donna Ongsiako: Proper. But in addition … I wasn’t going again to the farm. I wasn’t going again to my home. No, there was no means.
In truth, Donna would by no means step foot in her home once more. She and Kiersten moved in with household dwelling in New Jersey. Then, simply eight days after the assault, not lengthy after the police sketch started circulating, Detective Tozzi’s telephone rang.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: I take the decision and the girl on the opposite finish … says that she’s calling in regards to the stabbing in Colts Neck. I stated, “OK.” I stated … “How can I make it easier to?” And he or she stated, “I … assume … my cousin Brennan Doyle might have one thing to do with that.”
It was the primary time Tozzi had heard the title Brennan Doyle. He was simply 16. His cousin informed Tozzi phrase was going round her household that Brennan was concerned within the Colts Neck stabbing. The cousin had seen Brennan simply days previous to Donna’s assault.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Between July third and sixth, as a result of he was up in Connecticut for her marriage ceremony together with his household.
Jim Axelrod: He had attended her marriage ceremony?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: He attended her marriage ceremony, and she or he was capable of present us an image of what he appeared like in the course of the time he was up there for the marriage.
Laurie Gerhardt: The picture she sends is Brennan with lengthy, curly hair, carrying camouflage shorts. Trying very very like the child within the sketch and extra importantly on the videotapes.
Brennan’s resemblance to the sketch throughout city was about to change into much more vital due to what the cousin informed Detective Tozzi occurred a number of days later.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: She was staying at … Brennan’s household’s lake home in New Hampshire as a marriage present. And Brennan, his brother and the mom confirmed up there surprising.
Jim Axelrod: Dangle on. This girl is in Lake Winnipesaukee. She’s on her honeymoon?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Sure.
Jim Axelrod: And impulsively there’s Brennan, Brennan’s mom, Brennan’s brother, crashing her honeymoon?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Sure. And the canine.
However what was much more stunning was Brennan’s look.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Brennan’s hair was reduce.
Jim Axelrod: The subsequent time she sees him, he is reduce his hair?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Sure.
Jim Axelrod: In order that’s a giant pink flag.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Sure.
AN UNLIKELY SUSPECT
Brennan Doyle’s cousin informed investigators that Brennan confirmed up simply days after Donna’s assault, tons of of miles from dwelling, together with his hair instantly reduce brief. Like Donna, the Doyle household resided in Colts Neck.
Laurie Gerhardt | Former Assistant Prosecutor: They lived in a really good home, two sons, a mother and a dad. … The lifetime of a typical Colts Neck’s teenager. It is a lifetime of wealth. It is a lifetime of privilege.
Brennan was a scholar athlete on wrestling and hockey groups. Detective Tozzi began digging into his background.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: He had by no means been arrested. … There was by no means any prices filed in opposition to him previous to … our … investigation.
In line with the prosecutor’s data, police had been known as to the Doyle home for what they check with as “household conflicts.” The placement of the house would change into crucial.
Jim Axelrod: The place did Brennan stay?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: So, if you happen to make a proper up right here, um, and also you go up possibly 1 / 4 of a mile, uh, on the left.
Jim Axelrod: So, that is shut.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Yeah.
The teenager and his household lived inside strolling distance of Donna’s home — up the very highway that driver had reported seeing somebody she described as a younger hitchhiker simply previous to Donna’s assault.
Jim Axelrod: When does the Doyle household return to Colts Neck?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Later in July.
With Brennan and his household again on the town, Tozzi reached out to the household, saying investigators have been canvassing the neighborhood.
Jim Axelrod: What occurred while you went to the home?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: We spoke with Mrs. Doyle. … She was … nervous. … Her voice was cracking.
Jim Axelrod: Did this elevate an eyebrow for you?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: It did.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: We requested if Brennan and his brother may come and take a look at the composite sketch … if they’d any concept who that particular person may be on the sketch.
Jim Axelrod: Did Brennan come out?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: He did.
Tozzi says she wished to see Brennan’s hair to verify what his cousin had informed her: that it had been reduce a lot shorter. It appeared the teenager tried to remain a step forward when he got here out to greet the detective.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: He was carrying a hat. He was carrying a baseball hat.
Laurie Gerhardt: I believe carrying a baseball cap … was a calculated transfer.
It may need been, but it surely did not work.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: You could possibly inform his hair was reduce brief.
Subsequent, Tozzi confirmed Brennan the police sketch of the suspect — the identical one Donna helped tweak to look similar to her attacker.
 Jim Axelrod: How did he react?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: He … appeared away. He checked out it, appeared away. And stated,” “I do not know. I do not know.” … He was nervous, and he was scared. … And he bought very quiet.
Matt Troiano: There’s a response. Eyes are down. … No eye contact. Individuals are nervous. Mother begins redirecting the dialog.
Brennan Doyle’s household and his legal professional denied “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview. We requested Matt Troiano, a protection legal professional and CBS Information guide, to check the case file.
Matt Troiano: And I believe that that in all probability confirms what they imagine moving into.
Brennan’s odd conduct and resemblance to the sketch and video proof might have been putting, however with nothing else to go on but, Tozzi thanked the Doyles for his or her time and left.
Jim Axelrod:Â Do you know that was your man?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: I used to be fairly assured … that we have been heading in the right direction with him. However we even have an obligation … we had different leads that have been coming in. … So, we have been doing numerous … observe ups.Â
As investigators labored the case, Donna was struggling. Weeks after the assault, the truth of what had occurred to her had taken maintain.
Donna Ongsiako: I misplaced the whole lot that evening. I misplaced my dwelling, had nowhere to go. I misplaced my automobile. They took it into proof.
Jim Axelrod: Donna, you misplaced greater than half your blood.
Donna Ongsiako: Precisely. I misplaced — I misplaced lots.
Donna says that is when, along with her bodily restoration, she confronted a brand new problem.
Donna Ongsiako: Signs of PTSD began to point out up. …  I am not consuming. I am not sleeping. I do not care about something. I am offended. I am unhappy. I am completely happy. You already know, each emotion underneath the solar at any minute.
Donna Ongsiako: I felt like I used to be going loopy. … I used to be … at all times considering … “I do not know who this child is, however he climbed by way of the window in that second that I fell asleep and now he is hiding within the closet.” You already know, type of loopy ideas.
Sharon Sharpe says Donna’s concern meant even pleasant visits required a brand new protocol. –including saying her arrival each step of the best way in order to not set off Donna.
Sharon Sharpe: “I will come across the hedges now and I will enter the yard. I will be touching the gate in three, two, one.” … I’d shake my keys first, which had bells on them … Say, “It is me, Sharon. I am coming.”
The investigation lasted by way of the summer time of 2013. Brennan Doyle remained the one probably suspect. Detective Tozzi says investigators took the following step in September.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: We bought a warrant to acquire his DNA … his fingerprints, images of him, simply issues which are private to him.
When the outcomes got here again —
Matt Troiano: There is a fingerprint match, then finally there is a DNA match.
Brennan Doyle’s DNA was a spot-on match to unknown DNA present in Donna’s automobile — in plenty of locations.
Matt Troiano: Eleven completely different DNA samples and items of proof present in that car. And actually, there is no purpose why Brennan Doyle’s DNA ought to be on this girl’s car. … He is a stranger to her.
Yet another essential piece of proof was present in early October in essentially the most surprising spot.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Repairmen have been servicing an air con unit that was on the highest of the strip mall. … They discovered the knife … on the roof proper close to the air con unit.
A knife, trying weathered, as if it had been there for months was discovered on a bowling alley roof in the exact same procuring heart the place the Taco Bell was situated and the place Donna’s automobile had been deserted.
Jim Axelrod: How vital was the knife?
Det. Andrea Tozzi: It ended up being crucial as a result of … the knife was from a set. … We decided that that knife matched one other knife that we knew got here from the Doyle family that had been taken months earlier.
Via a twist of timing and destiny, the Colts Neck police already had one other knife from the Doyle dwelling, taken after police have been known as to the home a number of weeks previous to Donna’s assault, following an altercation between Brennan and his brother.
Matt Troiano: There is a knife that is apparently utilized by the youthful brother … in a threatening method. Police are known as. Police take the knife… and the scenario ends.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: There was no prices or something that got here of it, however … they secured the knife of their proof vault. … It was the identical … model title, the identical look. … It was a silver knife.
Jim Axelrod: It was from the identical assortment.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: Appropriate.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: That was type of the icing on the cake to get … a search warrant. … That they had moved in the course of the course of this investigation. So, we bought a search warrant for his or her new dwelling.
The search of the brand new Doyle residence, additionally in Colts Neck, turned up the remainder of the knife set matching the one discovered atop the procuring heart. In late October 2013, Brennan Doyle was arrested.
Jim Axelrod: What sorts of prices was he going through?
Matt Troiano: Severe ones. Tried homicide, carjacking, weapons possession. These are essentially the most critical of crimes that now we have.
THE STRENGTH TO MOVE FORWARD
Months after Donna’s brush with loss of life, her alleged attacker Brennan Doyle was in custody, going through six counts together with tried homicide and carjacking. He pleaded not responsible.
Laurie Gerhardt: You need to take a look at the seriousness of the offense.
The prosecution felt the crime warranted making an attempt Brennan as an grownup — although he was 16 on the time.
Laurie Gerhardt: in juvenile court docket, Brennan is taking a look at 4 years most in … a youth detention facility … In grownup court docket … he is taking a look at as much as 30 years.
A decide would rule in Assistant Prosecutor Gerhardt’s favor, however there was a catch. Brennan would now be entitled to submit bail, set at $760,000, which he did.
Jim Axelrod: If you heard he was out, did all the concern come dashing again?
Donna Ongsiako: It wasn’t a lot concern because it was anger that he was even allowed to be bailed out.
The considered working into Brennan terrified Kiersten. She says he even haunted her goals.
Kiersten Ongsiako: I did not understand how a lot it was affecting me … I had no concept till I used to be, like, falling asleep. And all I see is his face.
As prosecutors developed their case, the main points of what occurred that horrific evening started to emerge.
Jim Axelrod: What does Brennan Doyle say occurred the evening of July sixth, heading into the morning of July seventh, 2013?
Matt Troiano: Mushrooms. He says he was … underneath the affect of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
In line with investigative stories he examined, Matt Troiano says that on the evening of Donna’s assault, Doyle claimed he was shedding contact with actuality and had gotten right into a combat together with his father.
Matt Troiano: He has a knife in his hand. … Dad kicks him out. … And … he type of loses his thoughts, makes dangerous selections.
Police thought it probably that Brennan, who lived a brief distance away, approached Donna’s dwelling trying to steal her automobile.
Det. Andrea Tozzi: I do not know if his intent was to kill Donna. … actually, when he began stabbing her, that grew to become his intent.
Laurie Gerhardt: To me, what he is doing is he is eliminating the witness.
Gerhardt believes Brennan didn’t act like somebody incapacitated by medicine. Brennan drove 5 miles to that procuring heart after leaving Donna’s home.
Laurie Gerhardt: This child … manages to ditch a knife … He abandons the automobile … That is not a child who’s so excessive on mushrooms, he does not know what he is doing.
Troiano says whereas numerous the proof in opposition to Brennan Doyle was robust — the knife, the safety digicam movies — one factor put this case excessive.
Matt Troiano: What will seal the destiny of this boy, this child, is that there is DNA in her car that hyperlinks to him. … It is indefensible.
However because it turned out, there can be no want for a protection. In August 2015, Brennan Doyle agreed to a plea deal. In return, the prosecution dropped all however the two most critical prices — carjacking and tried homicide.
Donna Ongsiako: It was crucial for me that he admit his guilt … If he took the plea, he must confess his guilt to the court docket.
In October 2015, Brennan Doyle, now 18 years previous, appeared in Monmouth County Superior Court docket for sentencing. Donna, who’d attended each court docket look, was there to face him one final time.Â
Donna Ongsiako: Although I felt overpowered by concern … I wished him to see me as robust and as a survivor.
It was an emotional day for Kiersten, there to assist her mom.
Jim Axelrod: If you would take a look at him in court docket? What do you bear in mind feeling?
Kiersten Ongsiako: Anger. Very offended. Sorry (cries).
Brennan was permitted to handle the court docket.
BRENNAN DOYLE (in court docket): The medicine turned me right into a monster that evening. … I pray and hope her wounds will reduce, and she is going to get better ultimately. I’m asking you to forgive me.
BRENNAN DOYLE (in court docket): Going to jail would be the hardest factor I’ll ever need to face in my life and I am afraid.
“Brennan Doyle later despatched “48 Hours” this assertion:
“The one factor I can say is an apology to the sufferer. My actions have altered her life cruelly. She ought to by no means have needed to tackle the ache and struggling I inflicted. She didn’t deserve what occurred to her, and it was solely my fault. All I can do is get up every day guided by my unforgiveable actions, and act with the dignity my 16 yr previous self didn’t possess. I’m sorry for the whole lot.”
Brennan Doyle was sentenced to fifteen years in state jail. The legislation requires him to serve at the least 85 p.c of that point.
Laurie Gerhardt: Justice needs to be completed on each side, and now we have to be delicate to that. We have now a 16-year-old child who for essentially the most half had completely no prior historical past. … The court docket has a balancing act to do.
Jim Axelrod: Did it really feel like justice?
Donna Ongsiako: It didn’t.
Jim Axelrod: What would have felt like justice to you?
Donna Ongsiako: Extra like 30 years. 40 years. 50 years. If not longer.
Even with Brennan off the streets, Donna was nonetheless struggling. She had discovered PTSD and home violence assist teams however says there have been none for victims of random assaults. So, in 2015, she determined to create her personal: Survivors of Violent Crimes.
Tiffany Ott: [The] purpose … we took to the assist group … was … to assist one another cope.
Donna linked with fellow survivors Tiffany Ott and Dana Richards. Collectively they held conferences and felt gratified they might assist when extra survivors joined.
Dana Richards: They’re discovering reduction in understanding that they are not alone.
However Donna says her work is not completed. Her future plans embody serving to victims join with trauma therapists and providing self-defense courses.
As she grows her assist group, she’s additionally educating others. She travels to prisons, assembly with inmates and addresses police cadets to allow them to perceive the sufferer’s viewpoint.
DONNA ONGSIAKO (talking to police cadets in 2019): I bought up and made it up the steps to my bed room the place my cellphone was … however I bought by way of to 911.Â
Sharon Sharpe: She survives. And he or she’s constructing a life. … How may anybody not applaud that?
Donna says the bodily scars that stay are a reminder of the surgeons who saved her life.
Donna Ongsiako: You could possibly both get sucked into the darkness … otherwise you simply preserve going. … I did what I needed to do to — to be right here at the moment … and go one other day.
Donna Ongsiako filed a civil go well with in opposition to Brennan Doyle and his father. She was awarded $5 million. She has but to obtain cost.
Brennan Doyle can be eligible for parole in 2027. He can be 30 years previous. 
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Produced by Susan Mallie and Kat Teurfs. Marcus Balsam, Michelle Harris and Jud Johnston are the editors. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the manager editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.
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