The Murder of John Donaldson (Massachusetts)

It’s been more than 45 years since John Donaldson was killed while sitting in his parked car just yards away from the safety of his own home in Harvard, Massachusetts. It took years for investigators to build a case and arrest a suspect, but it would all prove to be a distraction from the truth. Now, Johnny’s siblings are taking up their little brother’s case one last time in hopes of finally uncovering the answers they deserve.

April 5 & 6, 1979

It was approaching midnight on April 5, 1979 and 20-year old John Donaldson was wrapping up another dishwashing shift at the Sheraton Boxborough Hotel in Boxborough, Massachusetts. Washing dishes wasn’t exactly his first choice of jobs. He was originally hired to work the front desk but a demotion had him in the kitchen scrubbing food from room service plates and sanitizing flatware after dinner service each night.

John, who was better known as Johnny to his family and friends, had found himself back in his hometown of Harvard, Massachusetts after struggling to keep up with his coursework in college. He flunked out and left school in December of 1977, but he was told he could reapply when he was ready and that seemed to be his plan. But until then, it was washing dishes and living at home with his parents, paying $15 a week rent at the same house he grew up in on Lovers Lane in Harvard.

Most of the friends Johnny had grown up with were away at college by then, but he made new friends among the kitchen staff at the hotel, many of whom were younger high school kids. After their shifts, he and a few co-workers would usually find a place to hang out and throw a couple beers back. That was their plan on the night of April 5 and early morning hours of April 6, 1979.

Around 12:45 or 1 o’clock in the morning, another dishwasher, 17-year old Robert Kurt Allen, who went by Kurt, hitched a ride from Johnny in his 1974 orange Ford Pinto and the pair met up with their other co-workers, a 16-year old we’ll call Thomas Brown and his 18-year old brother Greg Brown. I’ll be using fake names for privacy reasons.

According to research by Johnny’s siblings Susan Donaldson and Jim Donaldson, who has personally reviewed much of the case file for the investigation, the Brown brothers and Kurt all lived on Hillcrest Drive in Harvard, but the Brown’s house was their usual hang after work. That night like many others, they sat in Thomas and Greg’s secluded driveway listening to music, smoking cigarettes, drinking a few beers, and possibly smoking some pot and snorting cocaine. By about 2 a.m. Thomas and Greg decided to call it a night, but Kurt and Johnny lingered a bit longer in the driveway. Around 3:15 a.m. and a few more beers and cigarettes later, Johnny drove Kurt a few houses down to his place before making his own way back home to Lovers Lane.

It wasn’t unusual for Johnny to sit in his parked car once he got back to his parent’s house every night. Just a few yards from the house where his parents slept, Johnny would listen to a few more tracks on the car radio and have another cigarette since his mother wouldn’t tolerate smoking in the house. It was a quiet ritual, a little time to himself before he finally found his way up the driveway to bed.

Around 3:50 a.m. on April 6, Johnny’s quiet ritual there in the privacy of his own car and driveway was interrupted by a visit from a police officer. A patrolman named Ronald Robbins was driving down Still River Road parallel to Lovers Lane and spotted Johnny’s headlights through the trees. Officer Robbins decided to pull down the quiet side street and talk to Johnny.

It was reportedly a short, benign conversation. Robbins asked John what he was still doing up and Johnny said he usually got out of work late but would go inside soon. Robbins either offered Johnny a cigarette, or Johnny asked him for one, and then Robbins told him to go inside when he was finished. Johnny said he would and then Robbins got back in his cruiser and left. It was the last time anyone saw John Donaldson alive.

The siblings of John Donaldson share their brother’s story on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.