Next week’s ABC Sunday Night Movie will parallel the story of Denise Sam-Cali, the Allentown business woman who was raped by serial murderer Harvey Robinson and who helped police set a trap to catch him.
Names and location are changed in “No One Could Protect Her,” but the story closely resembles Sam-Cali’s nightmarish experiences in 1993 when Allentown police searched for the killer of a newspaper carrier, a nurse’s aide and a grandmother.
Joanna Kerns, perhaps best known for her role as the mother in the television show “Growing Pains,” stars as Jessica Rayner in the made-for-television movie. It will air next Sunday on ABC at 9 p.m.
“It’s quite a heroic story,” said Anne Marie Riccitelli, media relations director for the ABC Television Network.
She said the movie was inspired by actual events, but she would not say whether those events had taken place in Allentown or whether they had involved Sam-Cali, an owner of J&J; Limousine Service in Allentown.
However, Sam-Cali said the movie grew out of her story. She said she and her husband, John Cali, had met with scriptwriter Bruce Miller at their home in Allentown last summer. Miller had spent several days in the area.
But Sam-Cali said she has not read the script or viewed the movie, so she does not know how accurately it portrays what happened to her or the people involved. She said she was told the names and location were changed for legal reasons.
“I don’t know how close to the truth it is,” she said. “I may watch it and say it’s a piece of trash and it has nothing to do with me. They may have glamorized me. I don’t know … It’s not a biography.”
Sam-Cali was raped, choked and beaten on the front lawn of her East Allentown home after being stirred from her sleep on the early morning of June 29, 1993. She had bitten her assailant hard on the inside of his right arm. She isn’t sure whether her assailant thought he had left her for dead or whether he had been scared off when a neighbor’s light went on.
Three weeks later in the early morning hours, someone again broke into her house while she and her husband, John Cali, lay in bed. The intruder set off the newly-installed alarm, but managed to escape. There were other break-ins.
Sam-Cali and family members began to suspect a link between the rape and break-ins and the earlier murder of 15-year-old newspaper carrier Charlotte Schmoyer. They also suspected a link with the rape of a 5-year-old East Allentown girl.
Allentown police eventually put officer Brian Lewis on stakeout in Sam-Cali’s home. As the officer sat in wait for the 12th consecutive day, an intruder climbed into the house through a window. There was an exchange of gunfire, and the intruder escaped.
Harvey Robinson was arrested a short time later outside Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown.
In March 1994, Robinson pleaded guilty to raping Sam-Cali and trying to kill Lewis. He was sentenced to 40 to 80 years in prison.
In November 1994, Robinson was convicted of raping and killing Schmoyer, nurses’ aide Joan Mary Burghardt and grandmother Jessica Jean Fortney. He was sentenced to death in the three cases, but he is appealing.
In April 1995, Robinson was convicted of raping the 5-year-old East Allentown girl. He received an additional 57-year prison term.
Sam-Cali’s story was told in The Morning Call, the Ladies Home Journal and Reader’s Digest. She said the scriptwriter may have learned of the story through the Ladies Home Journal article and contacted her.
“No One Could Protect Her” is set in a fictional suburban town in Illinois, said Riccitelli. It was shot in Toronto, Canada, in August and September. Sam-Cali said she was told Kerns had wanted to meet with her before the filming, but for budgetary reasons, that had not been arranged.
Kern’s character, like Sam-Cali, helps the police set a trap to capture a serial murderer and rapist who prowls the streets and homes of an otherwise peaceful, small-town neighborhood.
And like Sam-Cali, Kern’s character can identify the man who raped her because she had seen him clearly. The character also is tormented when the attacker returns to her home again and again and continually escapes.
Sam-Cali said she feels “rather numb” about the movie.
“Obviously, I’m going to watch it,” she said, although she has so far turned down offers to be interviewed on camera after its airing.
But, she said, “It’s anti-climatic. The worst thing in the world happens to you, and I’ve been living with that for two years now …”
In the movie, Anthony John Denison plays Kern’s husband, Dan Rayner. Dan Lauria of “The Wonder Years” is Detective Greg Corning. Christina Cox is Detective Elizabeth Jordan. Dan Lett plays the rapist and killer. Peter MacNeill plays family friend Frank Trappe, and Lori Haller plays Kern’s sister, Carol Pizzerelli.
Lehigh County District Attorney Robert Steinberg said the Sam-Cali case was true-life drama.
“I give Denise a lot of credit for one, surviving, and I know she has had difficult times dealing with the fact that she survived while three others did not survive,” said Steinberg. “I give her a lot of credit for cooperating with us.”
Sam-Cali said she is aware of some changes in the script from the events. She said, for example, she and her husband did not buy a Rolls Royce, but a friend had given them the car as a gift. Also, she said, it was her brother, George Sam, not a family friend, who played an integral role in lending her support during the ordeal.
Sam-Cali said she hopes the movie carries some messages: that women have the courage to protect themselves, that people continue to have the right to bear arms, and that law-enforcement authorities develop a centralized system for tracking serial killers.
The movie was directed by Larry Shaw. Freyda Rothstein is the executive producer and Beth Grossbard is the supervising producer. The movie was produced by Freyda Rothstein Productions in association with Hearst Entertainment.
