Post Mortem | Facing a Monster at Trial

Welcome back to Postmortem. I'm CBS News correspondent Natalie Morales stepping in as host today to speak to 48 Hours correspondent Anne-Marie Green about her report on Sean Doyle, who we know assaulted at least two known victims before murdering Lori Leonard back in 2005. One of the survivors, CeCe Opanowski, has broken her decades-long silence, and she is telling her story publicly for the first time to 48 Hours. Anne-Marie, thanks so much for talking with us today. It's interesting to be on this other side of the microphone right now. You're in the hot seat today. I just want to remind you, to all of our listeners, if you haven't listened to the 48 Hours episode yet, you can find the full audio just below this episode in your podcast feed. Go take a listen, then come back and join us for our conversation. So, Anne-Marie, this story is a little bit unusual in that we start with a survivor's story instead of a murder. Can you tell us a little bit about that decision of starting with CeCe Opanowski's story and how she survived that frightening attack by Doyle back in 1996 when she was just 18 years old? Natalie, I don't know about you, but one of the questions that I always have when I watch True Crime, is, you know, I always want to know, well, how did we get here? How did this person end up like this? So here we had an opportunity to start from the very beginning. And a huge part of the story has to do with Sean Doyle's history of domestic violence. And we were lucky enough to have CeCe be willing to talk to us. She was his high school girlfriend. And we're able to paint this picture of how his pattern of violence got worse and worse and worse over the years. The challenge, I think, a little bit is that normally we have, you know, one victim and the people who are impacted by them. In this case, we had three different victims with two victims who survived with different approaches to the trauma. And for CeCe, it took decades for her to feel strong enough to talk publicly about what happened to her. And having her come forward, I think, was part of the story. And I think that's a big part of the story. I think that's a big part of the story. It was part of the reason why we thought we need to start with her. It seemed like the best way to tell this story was from the very beginning, which was with CeCe. Speaking of, you know, how that attack took place, let's talk about her friend, Shannon, who was so instrumental. I mean, truly, perhaps saved her life. So Shannon was calling CeCe over and over again. And when CeCe wasn't picking up, the alarm bells were going off with her. Something wasn't right. And so then she finally gets through. CeCe answers the phone and she hears CeCe, you know, putting away the dishes and the dishwasher. But they're having this somewhat stilted conversation, it sounds like. And then she got to the point where she said, you know, is Sean there with you now? And CeCe, you know, was able to tell her, yes, he is here now. I just wanted to know about their relationship now. I mean, I think that's a big part of the story. I think that's a big part of how, I mean, are CeCe and Shannon still friends? Are they in touch? They are in touch again now. You've probably seen this before with some of the hours that you've worked on, that sometimes actually getting involved with the 48-hour story brings people back together. But they hadn't been talking for a while. I found Shannon so fascinating. And I could not understand how a teenager was so intuitive. Because when she, tells the story of that phone call, I mean, the cues are so subtle. I couldn't understand if she could pick this up. But I asked her over and over again, but how did you know? How did you know? How did you know something was going wrong? And then finally she said, well, I've seen this sort of thing within a family member. And I was like, there you go. That's why it makes sense. If anyone else had been hanging out with CeCe that day, they might not have picked up on it. She was clued in on it because she knew the story. And she was like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. She knew the signs to look for. So in the hour, CeCe talked about when the police did arrive at her house, she thought that she would then be protected from Doyle. Instead, she said she didn't feel safe because she said they put her in the backseat of that same squad car with Doyle. And then later, she said they questioned them together in the same room. I mean, how unusual was that back in 1996? I mean, I don't know how unusual it was back then. It seems stunning that, you know, law enforcement would do that from this vantage point. And certainly our producer spoke to the current police chief of the Hudson Falls Police Department. And he said, it sounds terrible. We would never do anything like that now. You know, we are trained. We know how to handle victims. And he was really, you know, sympathetic to what CeCe went through. And she just sort of felt like, you know, the officers then, they kind of treated it like a lover's quarrel. They weren't taking it seriously. She couldn't understand because she said, you know, she had bruises, her hair was cut. It was obvious that this wasn't a little sort of teenage spat. It was something much more serious. You know, decades ago, the way domestic violence was viewed was at times very different. Things have changed, thankfully. And everybody has learned to treat domestic violence very seriously because we know how much these things can escalate as it did in this case with CeCe. Now, CeCe didn't want to relive the trauma by testifying against Doyle. But he struck a deal and he received a sentence of three years probation. But then in 2000, Doyle violently attacked then 23-year-old Sarah Vollmer. And it was it was bad, Natalie. Like, you know, we have this archival footage. We can see the interview that she did with the local news station in Albany. And she's kind of relaying these facts. Her experience in a really matter-of-fact way, it sounded terrifying. She's in the bedroom. He ties her up. He uses duct tape. It is stunning that she survived. And this happens. And her mother walks in the room. And that's what ends this horrible, violent assault. Thank goodness her mom walked in at that time. Absolutely. Absolutely saved her life. I'm curious, then, why Doyle was able to get yet another three years probation for that second attack instead of facing a more serious sentence? So in terms of Doyle's charge, he was only charged with two misdemeanor assault and imprisonment charges. And basically, and I'm going to just kind of refer to my notes because I don't want to get it wrong. The punishment guidelines are much, much less for these two charges. So in 2005, a local reporter by the name of Don Lehman, you saw him in The Hour, he asked the district attorney at the time, his name is Robert Wynn, you know, why these charges? He said that the allegations did not fit the criteria for more serious charges like felony assault or felony unlawful imprisonment. And without a felony charge, there wasn't much of a possibility for a lengthy prison term. I can see you shaking your head, Natalie, because I know, I know. To me, it's like, you know, if the pattern of behavior is there, he's done this before, it's escalated and had. Had her mom not walked in when she did, Sarah Vollmer might not be here today. Thankfully, that's not the case. Absolutely. And when you see what he did with Sarah, you see that he was well on his way because he used some of the same techniques that he used with Lori. Do authorities suspect, though, I mean, given that pattern that Doyle perhaps had more victims than Lori, CeCe and Sarah? Do authorities suspect? Do. Do they have anyone who's willing to come forward? They don't. As we learn in the hour, Sean Doyle's assaults tragically would lead to murder. Yeah. And when we get back, we're going to dig into Lori Leonard's case and the lasting impact her death has had on both her family and CeCe. Stay tuned. So let's talk about Lori Leonard's case. On May 5th, 2005, Lori's sister, Jennifer, reported to police that Lori was missing after she failed to answer her phone all day. And she never returned home after saying that she was going to pick up Yankees tickets in Albany. Now, Lori never ended up making it to Albany to pick up those tickets. Her body was discovered three months later in that tool box. Floating in an upstate New York canal. Police were able to link Doyle to the crime from a key that was found in his car that matched that toolbox lock, as well as materials that were found in his home, including duct tape and the bandanas, like the ones that were used to bind and gag Lori. Just horrific. Jennifer immediately suspected that Sean Doyle was involved. And that Dorothy, was absolutely convinced of his innocence. Why do you think? she believed him. Look, I don't have a psychology degree or anything like that, but I think that it gives you a little hint as to sort of the charm that Sean Doyle could have when he needed to turn it on. There's obviously another side to Sean Doyle. Dorothy, and I really should pronounce her name Dorothy with a sort of a sound because that's how she pronounced it. It's the upstate New York. Yeah, 100 percent. Her ex-husband now was friends with Sean Doyle. And so he would come around and they would, you know, hang out together. And then she took him under her wing like kind of a maternal figure. You know, he would come in and ask her for advice on his love life, his home life, his family. She liked him. So, you know, she believed Sean Doyle until she didn't. And then when police reached out to her after Lori's body was found, she said, you know, I don't know. I mean, this is a woman that just pays attention to detail. So she just gave them all the information she could remember. She feels absolutely terrible about the things that she yelled at Lori's family when they were in kind of the middle of town trying to get answers, trying to find her. She absolutely believed that Sean Doyle had nothing to do with it. And they were kind of besmirching his name. And she has lived with that guilt ever since. The defense did not have. a lot to work with in this trial, but they did go after Dorothy. She says that she's got, you know, some intuition. She's got a gift. I don't know if we'd call her psychic, but there's something there. And they went after her about that. You know, the defense attorney said, so you're, you know, a self-proclaimed psychic. And she said, well, I don't know if I would proclaim. And they said, what about these books about witchcraft that you have in your house? She said, I have a lot of books. But they tried to kind of, you know, characterize her as this wacky woman who just loves the spotlight. And that's why you're a part of this. But man, she stood firm. Key witness for the prosecution. Let's talk about, you know, some of the most poignant interviews that you did with Lori's family, including her two sons. Just broke my heart watching those. They're now grown up, but of course, they still feel her loss. Very deeply. And Anne-Marie, it's clear. I mean, it's almost 20 years later, but everyone you talked with in the hour, everybody still feels the pain of losing Lori. So these two young men, they are little kids when Lori is taken away from them. Austin's nine, Zachary's five. You can imagine the psychological burden that these kids are under. And, you know, they start to fight with each other. They're little kids. You know, Zachary will say, you know, I remember when mom did this. And Austin would be like, how can you remember? You were only five. You don't know mom. You don't know what she's like. And they have now, as adults, worked their way back to each other. And they're very grateful that they've rebuilt and continue to rebuild their relationship. This is a single mom. So the loss of the central figure to those boys in their life at that young, young age and to grow up with those memories, it's just horrific to think about. I know how hard it is. And I know it was hard for you to report on this as well. It was emotional for you, right? When we talk about how emotional this was, this is the only story that I've ever worked on where everyone cried. Not just the victims. I mean, the police officers, the former district attorney. I mean, everyone teared up. And myself, too. And it was unexpected because, you know, all of these stories are heartbreaking, right? But I think that I was just thinking exactly as you kind of just mentioned about these boys and how they miss their mom at this tender age. And we're both parents. So, you know, like you go, you think about your own kid and then it's just it's waterworks. Oh, I know. And I have two boys. So seeing those two, it just crushed me. You know, when they came to do the interview, of course, they brought, tons of pictures. And then they brought something that their grandmother had made for them. She took all of Lori's clothes and made two quilts for them. Oh, beautiful. Yes. Including the, you know, the Yankees shirt or I don't know if it's a shirt or a jersey, but, you know, she was going to get those Yankees tickets. She was a huge Yankees fan. So including that and gave each of the kids a quilt for them to kind of like cuddle up and remember their mother by, which I thought was such a great, great gift. So sweet. Yes. And then the other thing I wanted to tell you about was Bruce Hamilton, who was the original detective on this case. He died in 2014, so we could not talk to him. But he was so committed to solving this. And he was so committed to those boys. He had pictures of the boys in his office. He would call the family on a regular basis. And his commitment was almost infectious. And he was so committed to solving this. And he was so committed to solving it. And I think that's what made him so ambitious. So let's talk about Lori's nephew, Dustin. He was the one who helped her move into that house to start her life over again. I want to share a clip of Dustin who really talks about how Lori's murder impacted his life. How do you think the murder of your aunt impacted you? Did it change you? I'm sure it did. You hear stories, you know that things like that are possible. But now you have to know it's real and you have to look it in the eye. And, you know, just it made it harder to kind of put trust into anybody. It made it hard to really love anybody because you know that they could be gone. So, you know, Natalie, I think that we're both parents and you kind of hope that they'll be an adult in your kid's life. That is like parent adjacent. Right. So that's the kind of relationship that he had with his aunt. Like Lori was his kind of other parent. You know, he adored her. And so, you know, losing her was devastating. He heard him say it made him hard to trust once again in his own life. And I think Cece was deeply affected by that as well. Right. That level of trust disappeared for her. Let's talk about what how important it was to hear her at the trial, because the prosecution fought to have both Cece and Sarah Balmer testify at Doyle's trial to show that he had a history of abusing women. Now, the judge allowed for that in this case. There were so many similarities in the attacks that it was really kind of showing this is a pattern. So I think that was a big win for the prosecution to certainly have that opportunity. And yeah, the prosecutor, you know, you heard him in the story. He said, we said, the best for last. And Cece was kind of the final witness. The first witness was Lori's mom, who has since passed away. But Cece brought it home. I mean, if you're a jury and they show you, you know, your early girlfriend and that was your behavior back then when she broke up with you, that's kind of the lingering message that the prosecutor wanted the jury to to sit with. And did Cece tell you what it was like to be in that courtroom to look at Doyle back? You know, seeing him sit across from her, look at him in the eye. You know, she had been scared before and she was not scared. Cece said she really wanted to look at him. He looked completely different. You know, no more like tough guy, bald head bandana. I think it was Lori's sister described him as choir boy. Right. I thought that was so that was such a perfect description because he had the collared shirt and the blue sweater. Yeah, totally. And so, yeah, it was very empowering to sit in front of him. And, and sit in front of him fearlessly. On January 26, 2006, the jury found Doyle guilty of second degree murder. He received the maximum sentence of 25 years to life with the possibility of parole. So I'm curious, why wasn't he found guilty of first degree murder? I mean, you know, they go for second degree instead of first degree. Yeah, it's very interesting. So here's what I have learned about the state of New York when it comes to first degree murder. And you're right. First degree murder typically, considers premeditation. The prosecution must prove that the defendant committed the murder with at least one of these factors. Yes, I'm reading this. And a few examples of what an aggravating factor might be. The victim was a police officer. The murder was committed while the defendant was serving a life sentence already imprisoned. The murder was committed for hire. The murder is committed in the course of another felony, like maybe robbing a bank. So it didn't quite fit the first degree murder charge, which, of course, was upsetting to Lori's family. You know, they said they wanted to see a harsher penalty. They didn't want the possibility of parole. You know, the parole process begins in 2030, which is like really not that far away. Not that far away. I know these are the stories. They're so hard to tell, but they're so important because, you know, if telling CeCe's story can save one person's life, then it's going to save one life from potentially a domestic violence attack. I'm sure she will feel good that she was able to come forward and tell her story. I want to play a clip from the show where CeCe talks about why she's speaking out now and what she hopes our audience will take away from hearing her story. Be vigilant. Look at what's happening in front of you and make sure someone knows. Don't keep it quiet. Pay attention. And when you have that feeling, that one that doesn't go away, you know, the one that you try to push down, that's the one you should listen to the most. And she's spot on. It pains me so much that she felt guilty for so long because she was just a kid. How could she know? It totally changed the trajectory of her life. She left the college she was going to. She moved as far away as possible from New York. She eventually ended up in California. You know, she went to law school because somebody suggested maybe she might like to go to college. She went to college because she wanted to. She wanted to go to college. And then she just went and she was good at it. And she's a successful entrepreneur now. But you can see the impact of this trauma today. And I know it took so much courage for her to come forward. So we have to thank her for telling her story and telling it to us. And we should remind our listeners and our viewers, if you or if someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline. That number is 1-800. That's 1-800-799-7233. Anne-Marie, wonderful reporting. Great to connect with you on this story. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. Thank you. And if you like this series, Postmortem, please rate and review 48 Hours on Apple Podcasts and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcasts. And you can also listen ad-free with a 48 Hours plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Thank you for listening. We'll see you next time.