Jane Doe No More

The man took off in his van.  Ray Harrington, who was on his cell talking to police, ran after the van—he says it wasn’t moving fast.  In fact, Ray wondered if Lindsay’s attacker was going to Plan B.

Ray Harrington: I just kinda “go out slowly so nobody will notice me.  i didn’t do anything wrong. and they’ll start to doubt themselves. and you know—i’ll get away with this.”

If that was the thinking, Lindsey’s assailant reckoned without her coach, Art Kranik. He was in his car when it all happened and he followed the van into the streets, relaying his position by cell.    

Art stayed on the van’s tail, at one point getting into a shouting match with the driver. 

Art Kranik, Lindsay's coach: He pulled over to the side and quickly got out of his van and yelled “What do you want?” And my reply was “What do you mean what do I want? You just attacked a girl in the high school parking lot.”  And his reply was “you’re crazy”. 

The man got back into his van and drove away. Then, without warning, he stopped again. And got out again. The police were on the scene immediately.  Jim Murphy, the Saratoga County district attorney says the suspect was hostile.

Jim Murphy, Saratoga County attorney: He was combative and angry. “How dare you question me about what I was doing?”

The suspect told police that he was in the high school parking lot making calls—nothing more.

Murphy: He claimed as he sat in the back of his van, motor running, no one in the driver’s seat, that he was making cell calls. and trying to get directions to somewhere. 

And he said, he startled the girl—nothing more.

Lindsay Ferguson: That just made me really mad to try to make an excuse like that when he actually grabbed me.  There’s no way you that you can just startle someone like that.

Lindsey’s mom and dad were alerted by another parent about the incident. But it was only when they got to the police station that they realized something very serious had happened.

The first clues came when police searched the suspect’s van.

Murphy: We found a tarp. We found a rope that had been pre-tied with slip knots in it. we found a saw photography equipment, a pitchfork, a rake. We found a syringe with antihistamine in a separate container.

The suspect’s attorney later called the whole thing “a misunderstanding.” The suspect was in Saratoga Springs to fix up a couple of houses, the attorney explained and the items in the van were merely the tools of his trade. But how to explain those pre-tied knots? The unused syringe?

Sara James, Dateline correspondent: When you look at what he had in the back of the van, what is your conclusion?

Murphy: My conclusion was that he was gonna tie her up in that van in an instant because he had those pre-tied slip knots. He was gonna inject her with that antihistamine to knock her out, take to her to this house that he was working on, he had the shades pulled and the curtains drawn.

Once the police got the suspect’s name and plugged it into the system, they quickly learned he was out on bail, awaiting trial in Connecticut on charges of kidnapping and unlawful restraint. 

His name was John Regan.

The police also discovered more photos in the van, pictures of young women unaware they were being photographed. Among them were photos of Regan’s co-worker, the young woman he’d been charged with assaulting whom he’d been ordered to stay away from.

Det. O’Leary:  He was stalking her… even after he was arrested.

Regan was charged with attempted kidnapping in Saratoga County and jailed, this time without bail. In his cell he tried, unsuccessfully, to commit suicide.

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