Rosemary Diskin will never forget the night she was attacked in her own kitchen 15 years ago.
“It definitely damaged me forever. I’m afraid to go places by myself and I’m basically always afraid of things,” she told 7NEWS.
She was in her Hamilton home when her husband’s friend, John Carey, showed up unexpectedly. She let him in and he tried to kill her.
“I just knew that something was around my neck and he pulled and pulled and he knocked me to the ground and he just kept pulling,” Rosemary said. “And I got my hand underneath and just kept pulling and pulling.”
Carey tried to strangle her with a tie, with police photos later showing the aftermath and marks on Rosemary’s neck. Amazingly, she said having new furniture helped save her life.
“I had just bought this kitchen set at Macy’s and these chairs weighed a ton and when they went over, it made a huge noise,” Diskin explained. “Luckily, I bought the kitchen set or else (Jason) wouldn’t have heard me.”
The loud bang brought her 12-year-old son into the kitchen.
“John Carey was on top of her, attacking her,” Jason Diskin said. “I knew I had to do something because it was obvious violence – I knew something was happening, so I just reacted the best I could at the time.”
Jason charged at Carey and his mother was able to get free.
“It was a lot of stress – hopefully, I’m stronger because of it, but I don’t know – it was very stressful many years (ago) and I think it still is,” Jason said.
Dubbed the “Hamilton Strangler,” Carey is now serving 20 years for attempted murder and home invasion. But for Diskin, some questions lingered.
“My mom always said you’re probably not the first case because for him to just come to my house and do that to me – he’s probably done that before,” Rosemary said.
Now, investigators allege Carey has done that before. Police say he killed Claire Gravel 20 years before attacking Rosemary, strangling the 21-year-old Salem State student in Beverly in 1986.
Over the summer, investigators used new technology to match DNA on Claire’s shirt to Carey’s DNA, taken when he was arrested for strangling Rosemary.
Rosemary told 7NEWS she has connected with the Gravels since the Essex County District Attorney’s Office announced Carey’s indictment, as the family continues to find closure.
“For the family, I mean, finally they know what happened to their daughter,” Diskin said. “I mean, that was my big thing – ‘why me, why me?’ and now, they know.”
As for John Carey, he denies the new charges against him.
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