Crash Into Me
A Survivor's Search for Justice
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
In September 2005, Liz Seccuro's world turned upside down when she
received an apology letter from the man who had raped her twenty-two
years earlier. The rape, which occurred when she was a
seventeen-year-old freshman at the University of Virginia, was reported
to the campus police, but their inquiry led nowhere. The man accused of
raping her left the university soon after, and Seccuro tried to put the
incident behind her, starting a business and a family, but like all
survivors of trauma, the memory was never far from the surface.
The letter brought it all back. Seccuro bravely began an e-mail
correspondence with her rapist to try to understand what happened, and
why. As the correspondence continued, Seccuro found the courage to do
what should have been done all those years earlier-prosecute him. She
began appearing on national television and radio to talk about the case.
Several crime dramas and a John Grisham novel, The Associate,
were based on her experience. She had found a way to end a terrible
story, but once judicial proceedings began, she found that what she
thought occurred at that UV A frat party was only the tip of the
iceberg. The investigation revealed at least two other assailants,
numerous onlookers, and a wall of silence among the fraternity members
that persisted two decades later.
Liz Seccuro's inspiring, unflinching memoir is about experiencing terrible trauma-and the power of justice to heal.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The rape by William Beebe of University of Virginia freshman Seccuro at a 1984 fraternity party was only the beginning of a terrible ordeal. First, the local hospital didn't process rape kits and told her to drive to D.C. for help. Then, university officials insisted campus, rather than Richmond, police handle the crime and dismissed her with condescension. Twenty-one years later, Seccuro receives a letter from her rapist asking for forgiveness. Even though it brings on panic attacks, she writes back and presses charges. The legal battle and media attention only give Seccuro more resolve that her actions, however belated, are right, for herself and the victims of countless rapes that are never prosecuted, thus never giving them a chance for justice. The book includes a transcript of the preliminary hearing, with its shocking revelation of what Seccuro endured that night. This brave account reveals an alarming array of mishandling, poor judgment, and obfuscation or outright lies from university officials and from students at the party, and shines light on a systemic lack of concern and care given to rape victims.
