Anita Defrancesco
- Global Author
- Public Speaker
- Psychotherapist
- Two-time Award Winning Journalist
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When Donna Gentile, escaped from a home for delinquent girls and made her way to San Diego she had big dreams. She worked in security for a while and even dreamed of joining the police department. But things didn’t work out as she planned. Donna, like many other innocent runaways, became a victim of the street walker life. While in survivor mode she was groomed, exploited, and coerced into prostitution, a path that took control of her life and ultimately led to her death at the age of twenty-two. Donna allowed herself to be befriended by several police officers thinking that this would afford her some protection in her dangerous life on the streets. Instead she was harassed and ultimately victimized by some of the same police to whom she had turned for help. But Donna was a fighter. Rather than taking the abuse, which included sexual harassment, she reported it to the San Diego Police Department. She testified against two officers, one of whom lost his job on account of her testimony. Her life became further complicated when the Internal Affairs Division exploited and coerced her into becoming a police corruption informant . She was murdered with gravel stuffed in her mouth and her autopsy was the first and only to be sealed in San Diego. Why? Someone wanted to silence Donna. But who?
Read the True Story Behind Donna Marie Gentile’s Murder as Told by the First Cousin, 33 Years Later.
The book is well written, emotionally devastating, with poignant details . You won’t stop reading, the flow, the passion, the moments and her personal family letters builds to an intensity of shock, truth and sorrow.
The Donna Gentile Story
Read the True Story Behind Donna Marie Gentile’s Murder as Told by the First Cousin.
When Donna Gentile, escaped from a home for delinquent girls and made her way to San Diego she had big dreams. She worked in security for a while and even dreamed of joining the police department. But things didn’t work out as she planned. Donna, like many other innocent runaways, became a victim of the street walker life. While in survivor mode she was groomed, exploited and coerced into prostitution, a path that took control of her life and ultimately led to her death at the age of twenty-two. Donna allowed herself to be befriended by several police officers thinking that this would afford her some protection in her dangerous life on the streets. Instead she was harassed and ultimately victimized by some of the same police to whom she had turned for help. But Donna was a fighter. Rather than taking the abuse, which included sexual harassment, she reported it to the San Diego Police Department. She testified against two officers, one of whom lost his job on account of her testimony. Her life became further complicated when the Internal Affairs Division exploited and coerced her into becoming a police corruption informant .
Donna was scared. She left a voice recording with her attorney beginning with the words, “In case I disappear,” and going on to state that “someone wearing a badge may turn out to be a serious criminal.”
In March 1985 while she was serving a sentence in Las Colinas jail the Philadelphia native wrote “My life is in danger when I get out.” Then three months later her brutally murdered body was found on Mt. Laguna in the rural part of San Diego county. Gravel was stuffed in her mouth, something the mob does when it wants to warn others against being a “snitch.” Donna’s autopsy was sealed – the first and only autopsy ever to be sealed in the city of San Diego.
Someone wanted to silence Donna. But who? “The Donna Gentile Story,” written by Donna’s first cousin Anita DeFrancesco, lets you decide, and it gives voice to future runaways forced to survive on the streets as sex workers. It shows how Donna Gentile was a trailblazer who carved a path for women by not remaining silent in the face of harassment and abuse. In this way she was an early pioneer of the “Me Too” movement which, at long last, is telling women that not only can they speak out, but that they can also act.
This high profile story exploded in the media and was nationally televised. Artists unveiled a billboard with the logo NHI, “No Humans Involved,” bearing Donna’s picture and facing toward the SDPD headquarters. We believe her murder was a “cover-up,” perhaps of police incompetence, or perhaps of something much more sinister.
The police try to label all sex workers as criminals. In fact many young women are victims of sex trafficking who have been coerced into prostitution, and sometimes the police are complicit in this.
Discover Donna’s Truth
“When I looked at this book, I could feel Donna’s spirit come alive knowing that her family is finally getting to tell the true story behind her murder and get the justice they deserve.”
– Coralee Zaremba, Los Angeles
“By definition, a fearless woman is strong when it comes to facing hard situations. They are confident in who they are and what they believe, and in their example of fearlessness, they encourage others to be courageous and make a difference. While many think of men first when it comes to these strong figures, there are also a number of important women in the Bible who inspire, not only because of how they lived but also because of their rock-solid faith, even in some of the toughest of circumstances, because they fought injustice and dared to lead. We can learn a great deal from their stories.”
– 22 Fearless Daughters of the Bible
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Anita DeFrancesco
Global Author and Public Speaker
The Donna Gentile Story is the author’s first publication within the genre of true crime. It is a true story, a story of tragedy, the story of a first cousin, a young woman, loving and kind, but silenced, abandoned when she speaks of her hardships at home, from there to exploitation, prostitution and death, a murder never resolved.
Anita DeFrancesco has also written her own true story. A two-time global author, public speaker, workshop leader and facilitator. She is the author of “Live Free — Re-create and Liberate Your Life,” her own journey, a return from devastation. Anita lives, writes, and speaks as a woman who has not only survived her own challenges but has also grown from it and re-created her life journey. She has used her painful and tragic experience to help other women and girls.
Her extensive service includes UCLA/The Rape Foundation, Santa Monica College, Widener University, WOAR, The Boys and Girls Club, Amity Foundation, Amistad de Los Angeles, The Clare Foundation, Share, DiDi Hirsch, and many others including Los Angeles’s “Children of the Night,” founded by Dr. Lois Lee, an organization that rescues child prostitutes from pimps and organized child sex traffickers. Early on Anita created a drug-free group for teenagers called RAP.
A two-time nationwide award-winning journalist, she has been a columnist for Century City News in Los Angeles. She produced her own cable television and radio shows. Currently living in Philadelphia, Penn., Anita is an author, teacher, actress, therapist, and world traveler. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Psychology and is an active member of SAG/AFTRA. She teaches Yoga and is the founder of Tantra Wisdom, offering regular classes on bonded relationships based on love, connection, and spirituality.
The Donna Gentile Story : San Diego’s NHI Murder Victim
www.thedonnagentilestory.com
anita@thedonnagentilestory.com
See What People Are Saying
I found The Donna Gentile Story to be an exceptional writing piece from a family member who left it all out on the table. The author’s first cousin who courageously has pushed aside her the hurt and anger of this senseless unsolved murder because she believes it is more important
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