Walk Softly Children

On July 11, 1989, Rozanne Pelloni called the Wallingford Police Department to report that she’d been told Mark Vincent had “offed” his daughter Doreen. In a conversation lasting more than two hours, Rozanne struggled to get through to Sergeant Steve Davis. Despite her disturbing allegations about Mark and her obvious fear for her own safety, Sergeant Davis responded like a product of his time – a stereotypical 80s cop who placed little stock in anything she had to say. Providing historic and recent case studies of violence against women Tracey Thurman, Jennifer Magnano, Jennifer Dulos, and Karizmah Johnson, Jessica examines the struggles and lessons learned when it comes to Connecticut’s role in combating violence against women. And she wonders: if law enforcement had cared more about what the many women in Doreen’s story had to say, would we be any closer to finding her?

Jess & Joe discuss clips from the WPD’s January 2022 trip to Teen Challenge Vermont, about a month before Mark Vincent fled back to Connecticut and was arrested in the parking lot of Milford Christian Church.  Listen as the detectives, Mark, and his son Paul discuss the status of the revived investigation, what the police were hoping to get out of father and son, and their thoughts on the podcast as well as Jess & Joe themselves.

In the months after Doreen disappeared, Mark Vincent told everyone he spent every waking moment looking for her.  Instead he was perfecting the art of the hobosexual – pursuing relationships with women like Rozanne Pelloni just to have a place to live.  When these relationships eventually imploded, secrets about what Mark had really been up to would spill out.  So what would the Wallingford Police do with this new information, and would it get them any closer to an answer? 

Since we first heard Doreen Vincent’s name six and a half years ago working on Sarah Dimeo’s Faded Out,the Wallingford Police Department have been holding back reams of documents as well as hours ofaudio and video footage. But now, thanks to FOIA, we have it all. And month afternmonth, scores of sources have continued to call me – to speak about Doreen, her fatherMark, and Mark’s latest sanctuary, Pastor James Loomer’s Milford Christian Church,formerly known as Berean.Come along on a deep dive of this story as you thought you knew it, illuminated now bycountless new details from police reports, investigator Richard Novia’s notes, interviewswith Doreen’s friends as well as Donna, Sharon, and Mark, and writings by Doreenherself. Episode One, Free Bird, is a sharper look into Mark’s past sins, and the lengths he wouldgo to to hide them.

At long last, welcome to Season Four of Walk Softly Children. Since we first heardDoreen Vincent’s name six and a half years ago working on Sarah Dimeo’s Faded Out, the Wallingford police have been holding back reams of documents as well as hours of audio and video footage. But now, thanks to FOIA, we have it all. And month after month, scores of sources have continued to call me – to speak about Doreen, her fatherMark, and Mark’s latest sanctuary, Pastor James Loomer’s Milford Christian Church, formerly known as Berean.Come along on a deep dive of this story as you thought you knew it, illuminated now by countless new details from police reports, investigator Richard Novia’s notes, interviewswith Doreen’s friends as well as Donna, Sharon, and Mark, and writings by Doreen herself. Episode One, dropping June 15th, is a sharper look into Mark’s past sins, and the lengths he wouldgo to to hide them.

Thirty-six years after Doreen Vincent went missing, Jessica Fritz Aguiar is back with new and shocking information on both her disappearance and the investigation into it. Pages and pages of new information from the Wallingford Police Department inform a fresh, renewed look at what happened to Doreen and what’s happening with the main suspect - her father, Mark. 

Jessica Fritz Aguiar was a guest on WICC 600am Radio in Bridgeport/Milford CT. The host of the show is also the producer of Walk Softly Children, Joe Aguiar. Jess gives a synopsis of the case of Doreen Vincent, and an update on the status of her father, and the prime suspect in her disappearance 34 years ago, who was just released from a halfway house on a gun charge. 

Host Jessica Fritz Aguiar was invited onto the Vinnie Penn Project to discuss the Doreen Vincent case as part of National Missing Children Week. Vinnie had not heard of the case and questions how an obvious crime could have gone so cold. 

Executive producer Joe Aguiar joins host Jessica Fritz Aguiar to update you on the case of Doreen Vincent. Her father, Mark Vincent, has been released to a halfway house in Bridgeport, CT. Mark will be greeted each day with a billboard about Doreen's case just outside of his window. We are doing a GoFundMe to produce the $8700 dollars needed for two billboards in CT. Jess and Joe also discuss the status of their FOIA request, and the illegal way the Wallingford PD responded to it. Is another hearing coming soon? 

BONUS EPISODE: Listen to Jess and Joe discuss Mark Vincent’s parole hearing on April 26, 2023, and hear Jess’s plans for new episodes and new moves to find justice for Doreen and the alums of Milford Christian Academy, including new material being uploaded to Patreon.   

At Milford Christian Church, Pastor Jim Loomer likes to portray himself as “All Things to All Men,” as putting aside his own desires, comfort, and pride so that he can bring people to Jesus as envisioned in First Corinthians.  In doing so, Jim portrays himself as an average Joe, a man of the people, a happy go lucky man of God.  But underneath that mask lies a craven soul marked by a penchant for twisting God’s words to serve his purposes, and using his church as a weapon to harm those who would expose him.  Discover Jim’s history as a young Christian new to the pulpit, and follow him as he branches out into the realms of education and politics, where his hypocrisy is on full display.  Jim’s sins were so blatant, in fact, that this episode had to be split in two, with the second half – containing a look at how Jim uses the church as not only a sword, but also as a shield to protect those who would hurt children like Doreen Vincent and Emily Martin – coming shortly.  #pastorloomer #milfordchristian #allthingstoallmen #doreenvincent #justicefordori #emilymartin #justiceforemily

The children of Milford Christian never had it easy. But after everything else – after isolation from the outside world and the insistence on conformity, after the humiliation, the beatings, the terror – the strict, draconian rules on appearance, relationships and sex took the largest toll. Learn about a different kind of abuse to which they were subjected, and the shame and scars it caused.

Surprised by what just popped up in your feed where Sticky Beak should be? Listen to a special announcement from Jessica Fritz Aguiar about a whole new phase to finding Justice for Doreen Vincent and the escapees of Milford Christian. Make sure you subscribe to my Patreon and leave a review wherever you find your podcasts! https://www.patreon.com/stickybeak

While Connecticut banned corporal punishment in public schools in 1989, it’s alive and well at Milford Christian Academy. Under Pastor Jim Loomer and headmistress Susan Martin – who has her own personalized paddle – the school sought to impose paideia, or nurture from strike or sting, on its students to keep them in line, just like when Mark Vincent paddled Doreen on the day she disappeared. Get the latest update on Mark’s gun charge and learn another secret about Susan that binds her to Doreen’s father. Content warning – this episode contains descriptions of the physical abuse of children.

Learn more about not only Susan Martin’s culture of fear and cruelty at Milford Christian Academy, but also the shocking secrets of what makes the woman herself tick. Hear how parents and teachers felt powerless to stand up in the face of Susan’s methods – especially with Pastor Jim Loomer in her corner. Learn a bit about what Mark Vincent has been up to all these years, and how Milford Christian escapees bear the scars of the church they left behind. Discover the first of many disturbing skeletons in Milford Christian’s closet. Trigger warning: this episode features graphic depictions of child abuse and references to suicide.

Dividing Milford Christian children from their parents was only the first part of Susan Martin’s plan. Next came a personality that ruled with fear, didn’t take no for an answer, was not afraid to lie to your face with a sweet smile. Come deep into the dark culture of Berean Academy and Church, a place where Jim Loomer felt free to not only allow, but foster, a man like Mark Vincent in his lair. Learn about a culture that - on top of the Wallingford Police Department, the Meriden Wallingford Record Journal, and Teen Challenge - has held up Justice for Doreen Vincent for decades.

Continue your journey into the dark heart of Susan Martin, Pastor James Loomer’s right hand woman. Learn how, as Milford Christian Academy’s headmaster and head disciplinarian, Susan used spying, emotional humiliation, and the power of Matthew 18:15 – a Bible verse meant to help Christians lead their brothers away from sin – to weaponize children against each other.

Mark Vincent isn’t the only friend of Pastor James Loomer’s who’s got a questionable past. Get to know Milford Christian Academy’s headmaster and head disciplinarian, Mrs. Susan Martin. Listen to audio from students who survived Berean on how Mrs. Martin cultivated and perpetuated her power over the children with the fear of hell.

Learn the history of Milford Christian Church, formerly known as Berean Assembly of God, its Pastor, James Loomer, and their connections to Mark Vincent. Explore the academics offered by Milford Christian Academy, or Berean Academy, as offered by Pastor Loomer and his team of teachers, including his right-hand woman Susan Martin, according to the Principle Approach. Hear the voices of former Berean students and begin to understand how their present might echo Doreen Vincent’s past, in a reflection of what Dateline’s Josh Mankiewicz calls The Ripple Effect of Murder.

Join Jessica Fritz Aguiar and Joe Aguiar for an update session on the status of Mark Vincent’s gun charge, including news from his last hearing and what we can expect from the next, information on his attorney Michael Boynton, news on how Mark’s wife Kathy feels about recent events, and some good old-fashioned letters from Brad Vincent to his brother. Plus some spoilers for upcoming new episodes, dropping soon.