A trusting little girl followed the man into his house and was led upstairs where Timmendequas rendered her unconscious by wrapping a belt around her neck, raped her, and then suffocated Megan with a plastic bag.
Her body was stowed in a toolbox and Timmendequas dumped Megan in some bushes near a soccer field.
Neighbors were aware that a convicted sex offender lived across the street from the Kankas. What they didn't know was that there were three living there: the one they knew about, Timmendequas, and another the men met while in prison.
Timmendequas had been convicted before of an attempted sexual assault on a 5-year-old girl (1979) and choking a 7-year-old until she was unconscious (1981). After serving his full sentence of six years (including time off for good behavior) at a NJ state prison for compulsive sex offenders, Timmendequas was released free and clear. No parole officers, no follow-ups.
New Jersey citizens were outraged, and by October the same year, Governor Christine Todd Whitman and the state Legislature passed an 11-bill package that would let people know if a convicted sex offender is living among them. That series of laws is known collectively as "Megan's Law." President Clinton signed a national version in 1996 requiring all sex offenders to register with police upon release from jail.
Unfortunately, the law has taken some beatings. Sex offenders claimed violations to their rights to privacy. Lawmakers worry about vigilantism. The ACLU argues that sex offenders are being singled out, discriminated against. Spokesman Phil Gutis asked, "Why notification only about sex offenders - why not murderers and robbers?" Indeed.
Massachusetts had to shut down its sex offender notification system for awhile because of lack of funding. Other accused molesters, as in the case of bus driver Cesar Gonzalez-Rubio, plea out to lesser offenses to keep their names off the lists while prosecutors take the deals because of the increased chances for a conviction.
New Jersey, Michigan, and Virginia have the most difficult-to-access registries. New Jersey's covers only about one in three of the state's paroled offenders and only cops can access information about those considered "low risk" - about 65%. (New York classifies 71% of its paroled sex offenders as "moderate" or "high risk," which allows for public warning.)
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