SYNOPSIS

In 1973, seven-year-old Joan D’Alessandro asked her mother Rosemarie if she could deliver a box of Girl Scout cookies to the neighbor on the corner and that was the last time Rosemarie saw Joan alive. Twenty years later, under the threat of the murderer’s impending release, with the help of her community, Rosemarie fought to keep him in prison.

In her fight, Rosemarie D’Alessandro began a movement, bringing awareness to the impact parole hearings had on the well-being of families that have lost children to violent crime. As she fought for other families, her’s began to break apart. Rosemarie became a symbol of hope for her community and a rallying point for victims' parents nationwide. She found strength in her memories of Joan and the belief that something good should come from what happened to her.

In Daughter of Mine, Rosemarie D’Alessandro recounts the story of Joan’s brutal murder and the nearly 50-year battle to keep her daughter's killer in prison. Filmmaker Vanessa Martino examines the crime that left an enduring mark on her quiet suburban hometown, and how the community rallied behind the strength of a mother to make landmark changes to the justice system.