Learning the Human Side of Crime: Inside AIC’s Victimology Class

A Classroom Unlike Any Other

Penna introduced her daughter to the students through a video, showing Amanda as a free-spirited child running and laughing, followed by images of her as a young woman with tattoos and a bright smile. 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. She described the painful decisions families must face in the aftermath of tragedy, including choosing the clothes their loved one will be buried in.

“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 tell him the news and 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. Police later discovered that his DNA matched samples collected from beneath her fingernails, and his palm print was found at the scene. Also linking Rosa-Roman to the scene was forensic analysis of a bloody footprint from a Nike Air Max shoe found in Plasse’s apartment that matched his shoe size.

Rosa-Roman was charged with first-degree murder.

He was convicted by a jury in 2016 after five hours of deliberation and sentenced to life in prison without 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. This means he could be released from prison as early as 2028. Penna and her family are gearing up to fight against that. They’ll be allowed to submit written victim impact statements to the parole board before Rosa-Roman’s hearing and may also attend in person to testify.

Gibbons told students the possibility of parole has been difficult for everyone involved in 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 to fight for her daughter. After Amanda’s death, the Chicopee Police Department itself became the subject of a misconduct investigation. It was discovered that two officers at the crime scene had taken unauthorized photographs of Amanda’s body and shared them with colleagues and others, including an officer who, Penna says, 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 and 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. Those involved were disciplined, 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 case was settled 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 Boston to testify before lawmakers, Penna helped change that. In 2022, the Massachusetts Legislature passed what is now known as Amanda’s Law, making 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 crime victims and guest lecturers speak with my students gives them a bird’s-eye view into these tragedies.”

He added experiences like this cannot be replicated in a traditional lesson.

“The murder of Amanda Plasse had many elements of the crime of murder and showed how her family, especially her mother, 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.”

For AIC students preparing for careers in law enforcement, counseling, and the justice system, the lesson was a reminder that behind every case like this is a family whose lives have been changed forever.

Angel Davis, a psychology and criminal justice dual major, told Sergeant Gibbons she was struck by the care he showed for Penna throughout the investigation.

“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.”

Another student, 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.”

Sergeant Gibbons closed the class 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].”