Five years ago today, the Napa Valley awoke after Halloween fun to find a heinous crime had ended the lives of two bright young women who had spent the holiday passing out candy to trick-or-treaters in west Napa.

The murders of Adriane Insogna, a Calistoga favorite daughter living in Napa, and Leslie Mazzara shocked and scared the community, and forever changed the lives of Arlene Allen and Cathy Harrington, the mothers of the murdered women.

After an 11-month investigation the Napa Police Department arrested and elicited a confession from Eric Matthew Copple, now 30, who today is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad for the murders.

The crimes placed the spotlight on Napa. Regional and national news media outlets flocked to the women’s Dorset Street home, recreated the crime scene and interviewed law enforcement officers and others.

The TV news vans have long been gone, but Allen and Harrington live with the memory of the tragedy every day.

Allen, Insogna’s mother, said she still feels the pain of her daughter’s loss. But with the support of friends, acquaintances and caring individuals in the valley, she said she has been able to gain some peace of mind.

“In the last couple of years, I have kind of rejoined the human race,” Allen said. “It’s never going to be the same but now I am living life and experiencing joy and having fun. The way I’m living now is the new normal.

“I’ve been really well,” said Allen. “I really do feel that time helps so much in a situation like this ... except for when it doesn’t.”

The same could be said about Harrington, a minister at the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Congregation from Ludington, Mich.

“I think that I am certainly better, but there are reasons for that,” Harrington said, citing her spiritual work and advocacy for abolishing the death penalty.

The murders

Around 2 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2004, Copple, then 25, entered the Dorset Street home of Adriane Insogna, Leslie Mazzara and Lauren Meanza. He brutally stabbed Insogna and Mazzara, both 26, in their upstairs bedrooms.

Meanza, whose room was downstairs, was stirred awake by the violence and called 911 after escaping.

The killings prompted a massive response from local law enforcement, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Many months of interviewing witnesses and gathering and processing evidence went by as the Napa Police Department worked to discover the identity of the murderer.

A break in the case came about 11 months after the killings.

Police disclosed to the media that cigarettes — then a new brand, dubbed Camel Turkish Gold — collected outside of the home had DNA on them that matched DNA left at the scene of the murders.

Five days later, Copple turned himself in to police and was charged with the murders.

Copple was engaged to a close friend of Insogna’s, and that would appear to be linked to his motive for the crime. Yet investigators have never revealed what Copple said his motive was or if he ever addressed the issue.

Copple pled guilty to the crimes in exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole, waiving all rights to an appeal. Although the murders could have merited the death penalty, Napa County prosecutors, with the support of the victims’ families, drafted a plea agreement that spared him the possibility of execution.

Moving forward

Finding closure has proven difficult for Allen even though Copple brought to justice and is paying for his crimes.

“I don’t really know what that (closure) means,” she said. “This is ongoing. I miss her. I miss Adriane. I miss her ever day. It’s going to be like that until I die. It’s just a matter of learning to live with it.”

Throughout her ordeal, Allen said she leaned on friends and family to help her get through it.

Allen has also became good friends with other mothers who have lost their children to violence including Kathy Gee, whose son Anthony Gee was killed while he attended a sweet 16 party in American Canyon in January 2007, and Judith Lefler, whose son and Vintage High School graduate Jonathan Lefler-Panela was killed at a San Diego bar in January 2006.

Allen said she met Gee and Lefler through a witness-victim program in the fall of 2007.

The group lasted about 10 weeks, but the three kept in contact and formed strong bonds with one another.

“We can be ourselves with each other, there is no judgment of ‘Just get over it’ (or) ‘Why can’t they let that go?’” Allen said.

Harrington’s method of dealing with the pain has been through her work as a minister, victim’s advocate and outspoken opponent of the death penalty, she said.

“I still have moments; I still miss (Leslie) a lot,” Harrington said. “What I am doing now is doing my best to try and honor her memory and working to abolish the death penalty ... try to transform the system so that victims’ families won’t be so powerless.”

Harrington said her faith as well as her congregation in Michigan played major roles in helping her overcome her grief.

“At first it was very difficult because I just felt dead,” she said. “I just didn’t have any faith at all. I had to really go searching for it. But what I discovered is that there is so much grace everywhere. It came to me in the form of people offering friendship, love and care and support.”

Prior to Mazzara’s death, Harrington said she was philosophically opposed to the death penalty but didn’t act against it. Her daughter’s death spurred her into action, she said.

After Copple was arrested, Harrington reached out to Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation — a victims’ rights group that is dedicated to abolishing the death penalty — and was connected with Tammy Krause, who is a victim outreach specialist.

With the help of Krause, Harrington helped negotiate a plea agreement sparing herself, Allen and others from participating and witnessing a death penalty trial, and Copple from the possibility of execution.

Today, Harrington is a board member for Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation and has written an essay, “A Mother’s Story,” which appears in Robert Priseman’s book, “No Human Way to Kill.” Harrington has traveled to London, Paris and elsewhere to talk about her ordeal and her views.

Forgiveness

Today, Copple is housed in a sensitive-needs yard, which according to prison officials is a form of protective custody.

Prison officials declined to comment on how Copple has adjusted to prison life.

Harrington said that in a sense, three mothers — herself, Allen and Copple’s mother — lost their children back in 2004.

“I think about (Copple’s mom) a lot,” Harrington said. “I got to meet her after the sentencing hearing and it was a powerful moment for all of us. We recognized our pain. I don’t have to worry 24 hours a day about Leslie’s safety anymore. Eric’s mom has to think about what he is going through.”

Allen said she tries not to think about how Copple is spending his days.

“I hardly ever think about him,” Allen said. “In some way, I think that thinking about him ties me to him. I just want to deal with what this is, the loss of my child. It’s not that I hate him. Hate is an interesting word: I really feel like this whole journey that I am on has been about forgiveness.”

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