The Murder of Donna Zinetti
I watched an episode of Deadline Crime with Tamron Hall for my research on this case. It’s season 2 episode 9, titled ‘Fit to Kill.’ This is a case about a young woman who was killed simply because she fought her attacker, but couldn’t fit to save her life. It’s also about a wrongful imprisonment, and how one man’s life was destroyed.
Background
Donna Zinetti was 36 years old when she was killed. She had gone out for dinner with some friends on October 3, 1999 and then went home and was going to go out on her daily run. Donna was an avid runner and aerobics instructor. She was also described as beautiful and fun, and even Keith described that she was so beautiful that he got jealous sometimes when she got attention from others.
Donna
Donna was also married at the time to a man named Keith Longtin, who became the prime suspect in her murder. Keith was also very into fitness, and was a bodybuilder. Throughout this episode, Donna’s friends claimed that Keith and Donna had a very volatile relationship, and I think many of them believed Keith could have hurt Donna, even though he ended up not being her killer.
Murder
Donna went out for her run in the early evening of October 3, 1999. Keith and several of Donna’s friends had tried to get in contact with her and she wasn’t answering. They assumed she had just left her phone behind to run.
The next day, a woman was out walking her dog at the Del Woods Apartment Complex, and they found the body of a young woman. Donna was immediately identified because she also lived at the apartments. Donna was found in her running clothes, her pants and underwear where down by her ankles, and she had 13 stab and slash wounds to her face and throat. Donna had also been sexually assaulted.
“Investigation”
The police went to Donna’s apartment and realized her door was unlocked. They entered, and also found no evidence of a struggle and they didn't find blood in the apartment. They also found her laundry folded neatly on her bed, and her bed was not slept in that night.
Her estranged husband, Keith, also showed up at the crime scene that day because he heard from a friend that the police found a body of a young woman at Donna’s apartment. The police wouldn’t tell Keith any information and had him come down the station with them. Keith was reportedly very angry and agitated with them.
For the next 38 hours, Keith would be interviewed. Keith said over and over again that he did not kill Donna. Keith was interviewed in this episode and he said that they also brought in pictures and showed him pictures of Donna in the morgue. Keith broke down in this moment, and said he’ll never get those pictures out of his head.
Keith also said that the police tried several tactics to get him to confess. The first was one using hypothetical questions and feeding him answers to how he could have done it. The second was reading scriptures about confessing. Keith also said the police officers said they would beat him until he confessed. The police’s theory was that Keith caught Donna having an affair and killed her.
Despite Keith claiming he was innocent for 38 hours, he was arrested. The police wrote that Keith did not kill Donna in their notes and still arrested him.
In November 1999, Keith was indicted and his trial was set for September 2000.
Keith Longtin in the episode of Deadline Crime
Serial Rapist
In the meantime, an officer from the Sex Crimes unit named Captain Meredith Bagley, was investigating multiple rapes in the Laurel, Maryland area. The same area where Donna lived.
Her first report of a rape was Halloween of 1999. A woman was raped in Riverdale, Maryland. The woman was unloading her groceries and the man made small talk, and helped her with them. As soon as he was inside the house, he held her at knife point and raped her. The woman survived and was able to described the man. She said he was a black male, early 20’s, around 5’10,” well dressed and he wore a pinky ring.
The next rape was on November 15, 1999. The woman was with her son, and the man approached them. The man tried raping the woman and also threatened her son.
Captain Bagley actually saw on the news of an arrest in Washington D.C. of a man matching the rapist’s description, and his M.O. (modus operandi) was exactly the same. The woman said she was bringing in groceries, when the man approached her and said his name was Kevin. He ended up raping her at knife point.
The same woman was out one day shopping with her husband. They were shopping for new jackets for him, and she ran out of the store and told her husband that employee was her rapist, and that he even had the pinky ring.
The man who was arrested was named Antonio Oesby. A number of woman were able to pick out Antonio’s picture from a police photo lineup.
Captain Bagley also took Antonio’s DNA into the lab to test it against the semen found on Donna’s body and in June 2000, it came back as a match.
In June 2001, Antonio was arrested and was charged with the murder and rape of Donna. He was sentenced to two life terms in prison.
Keith Longtin’s Released
Keith was released after being in prison for 8 months. He said he lost everything including his home, cars and job. He also said that no one actually believed he was innocent.
He also filed a Civil Suit against the Prince George County police department for violating his state constitutional rights. He won and was paid $7.5 million.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This case was a SHIT SHOW. The police ruined a man’s life and people still don’t believe he’s innocent. Keith admitted in this episode that his relationship with Donna was not perfect, but that he would never hurt her. It’s been proven that his DNA didn’t match and that another man’s did. A rapist who was able to walk the streets and attack woman again and again. This innocent woman lost her life because she fought against her attacker and he wouldn’t let that happen. Keith lost a part of his life because he will never get those 8 months he spent in prison back.
I hope the other woman who were attacked are okay, and able to live a peaceful life today knowing they will never be attacked again, or that the monster who did this will never see the light of day again.
Sources
http://justicedenied.org/wordpress/archives/1348
