A former Tappan Zee High School chemistry teacher who admitted to the killing of his 7-year-old neighbor in Hillsdale, New Jersey, nearly 50 years ago has died in prison. Joseph McGowan killed Joan D’Alessandro in April 1973 and dumped her body in Harriman State Park in Stony Point. The Journal News says McGowan died over the weekend. He was serving a maximum life term at South Woods State Prison in Cumberland County, New Jersey. Joan’s mother, Rosemarie D’Alessandro, has since become a crime victims’ advocate, and helped create “Joan’s Law” in New York and New Jersey, which bans parole for anyone who kills a child during a sexual assault under the age of 14. She’s been working with lawmakers and Paula Bohovesky’s mother in Pearl River to extend the age to 18 and rename the law “Paula’s Law” in New York. Paula was raped and murdered by two men in 1980. McGowan, who was 75, would have been eligible for parole in 2025.
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