A Classroom Unlike Any Other
Photographs of Amanda Plasse filled the screen at the front of the classroom as her mother, Michelle Penna, began to speak. Students in Adjunct Professor John Delaney’s Victimology class at American International College listened closely as Penna shared the story of her daughter, a 20-year-old from Chicopee whose life ended in a vicious act of violence.
Penna addressed the class alongside retired Massachusetts State Sergeant Ronald Gibbons, the lead investigator into Amanda’s murder in 2011. A camera crew from ABC’s 20/20 quietly set up to document the visit for a program that would air on January 30, 2026.
Professor Delaney draws on decades of law enforcement experience as a Springfield police officer to shape the course, using real cases and firsthand accounts. Today’s visit offered a rare opportunity to hear directly from both an investigator and a victim’s family member about the permanent scars of violent crime.
Penna has become a determined advocate for victims and their families since her daughter’s murder. “I’m here for you – to help you understand what we as victims and survivors go through,” Penna told the class. Then she warned them she may use the “F” word at times, but it would be OK that they left the room if it was too much.
Meeting Amanda Through Her Mother
Penna introduced her daughter to the students through a video, showing Amanda as a free-spirited child running and laughing. Images of her as a young woman with tattoos and a bright smile followed. In another clip, she strummed a guitar on the beach.
“Amanda wasn’t just a name,” Penna told the class. “She wasn’t just a label of ‘victim.’”
The images, and the sentiment reinforced for the Criminal Justice students an important lesson in compassion: behind every case is a life, a family, and a story.
The video ended with a photograph of sunflowers, a favorite of Amanda’s, left outside her apartment building in the days after the murder.
Becoming emotional, Penna paused for a breath before continuing. Families face deeply personal decisions, including selecting the clothing their loved one will wear for burial.
“The clothes she will wear forever,” she said, looking down at her folded hands.
The Investigation
Sergeant Gibbons told students that the case deeply affected not only Amanda’s family but also investigators and members of the Hampden District Attorney’s Office.
“This case was one that had to be solved,” he said. “It was two years of doing interviews, taking DNA, and investigating, but we never gave up. We eventually got our break.”
Penna’s personal tragedy began on August 26, 2011, with a call from her other daughter, Aimee Reyes, informing her that Amanda had been killed. Sergeant Gibbons arrived at Penna’s home soon afterward to confirm the devastating news.
Amanda had failed to show up for her waitressing shift at Friendly’s in Chicopee, prompting concern from those who knew her. When authorities entered her apartment, they discovered she had been brutally murdered.
Penna told the students that the first thought that came to her mind was simply “why?” She remembered thinking about Amanda’s bright smile and wondering how something like this could happen. She then thought about her son, who was serving in the military 3,000 miles away in California, and how she would get him home.
Investigators uncovered a crucial lead while reviewing photographs from the crime scene. In one, they noticed a message written on a whiteboard in Amanda’s bedroom reading “Dennis waz [sic] here 8/11/11.”
Phone records showed Amanda had communicated with Dennis Rosa-Roman a number of times in the weeks before her death. Investigators later matched Rosa-Roman’s DNA to samples collected from beneath Amanda’s fingernails and identified his palm print at the scene. They also connected him to the apartment through forensic analysis of a bloody Nike Air Max shoeprint that matched his shoe size.
Prosecutors charged Rosa-Roman with first-degree murder.
After five hours of deliberation, a jury convicted him in 2016 and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Rosa-Roman has maintained his innocence, claiming in appeals that he only tried to help Plasse after someone else stabbed her.
A Case That Is Not Yet Finished
But the story of this case does not end with the conviction. Penna faces a new legal battle after a recent court ruling that has reopened emotional wounds for Amanda’s family and investigators alike.
In 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that sentencing individuals under the age of twenty-one to life in prison without the possibility of parole is unconstitutional. Rosa-Roman was 20 years old at the time of the murder. The ruling means he could become eligible for release from prison as early as 2028. Penna and her family are gearing up to fight against that. They can submit written victim impact statements to the parole board before Rosa-Roman’s hearing and may testify in person at the proceeding.
Gibbons told students that the possibility of parole has been difficult for everyone connected to the case. “We should have been done,” he said. “A jury of his peers convicted him, and he was sentenced to life without parole. We should be done.”
From Tragedy to Advocacy
This wasn’t the first time Penna had fought for her daughter. After Amanda’s death, the Chicopee Police Department itself became the subject of a misconduct investigation. Authorities discovered that officers at the crime scene had taken unauthorized photographs of Amanda’s body and shared them with colleagues and others. Penna says one officer even showed the photos to coaches at a youth football game.
Penna recalled reacting with disbelief and anger when she learned about the invasion of privacy. She questioned how someone who had not even been on duty that night could have access to the graphic images.
“Mother f-er wasn’t even on shift that night,” she recalled. “Are you f-in kidding me?”
An internal affairs investigation later described the officers’ behavior as an affront to the professionalism of the department and the Massachusetts State Police investigators working the case. The department disciplined those involved, and Chicopee’s mayor at the time issued a public apology.
The discovery led Penna to file a $10 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the Chicopee Police Department for emotional abuse. The city settled the case in 2015 for $110,000.
“It wasn’t about the money. It was about proving the point,” Penna later told 20/20. “They were there to protect the scene and at my daughter’s most vulnerable moment. You disrespect her in the worst way ever and think that’s OK? I was mad.”
The experience set Penna on a path toward advocacy for stronger protections for victims and their families. “I was told what they did was morally wrong, ethically wrong, but not legally wrong,” she said.
After years of persistence, including many trips to testify before lawmakers in Boston, Penna helped change that. In 2022, the Massachusetts Legislature passed Amanda’s Law. The measure makes it illegal for first responders to take unauthorized photographs at crime scenes.
Lessons That Stay with Students
For Professor Delaney, bringing speakers like Penna and Gibbons into the classroom is a way to help students understand the human dimension of the criminal justice system.
“As a 38-year veteran of the Springfield Police Department, I have numerous connections to law enforcement and victims of crime,” Delaney said. “In this Victimology class, having victims and guest lecturers speak with my students gives them a bird’s-eye view into these tragedies.”
He said students simply can’t get this kind of experience through a traditional lesson.
“The murder of Amanda Plasse had many elements of the crime of murder and showed how her family was victimized many times,” he said. “This type of thoughtful, engaged learning for my students is not available in any textbook. Real-life moments stick with them and help prepare them for the work ahead.”
The experience reinforced for AIC students preparing for careers in law enforcement, counseling, and related fields that every case affects real people.
Angel Davis, a psychology and criminal justice dual major, said Gibbons’ care for Penna throughout the investigation left a lasting impression on her.
“It’s inspiring to see you’re worried about people, to be loving and kind instead of just getting the job done,” Davis said. “It was so important to make her feel seen and heard.”
Anadalay Garcia, also a psychology and criminal justice dual major, said the presentation reinforced her career goals.
“I want to be a therapist and work with victim trauma,” Garcia told Penna. “It was inspiring to see how you fought for Amanda even while dealing with your own grief.”
The Final Lesson
Sergeant Gibbons closed with a reminder to the students about the responsibility that comes with careers in criminal justice.
“I see you as the future of law enforcement,” he told them. “You don’t do this job for yourself. You do it because you care. I learned that from people like Professor John Delaney. When you have to knock on someone’s door and tell them their daughter has been murdered, you got to care about people – people like Michelle [Penna].”