Prayers and Justice for Daisy Coleman

I'm sure by now most people have heard this story, as it has become international overnight. A young girl named Daisy Coleman and her friend Paige were raped by a couple of football players in Maryville, MO. Here's the story from the Kansas City Star that details the case and the bullshit surrounding it, so if you haven't read this yet, I urge you all to do so. 

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/10/12/4549775/nightmare-in-maryville-teens-sexual.html

I don't normally post stuff like this, but this particular story hits me hard because I know this family personally. They are from my hometown of Albany, MO. They are members of our church family. Daisy's father, Michael, was a doctor in Albany. He was the on call ER doctor when my grandmother was taken to the hospital for what would ultimately be the last time. He helped my family and I make an incredibly difficult decision and supported us through the most difficult time in our lives. Their mother, Melinda, was the vet who helped us put down our beloved Basset Hound Cleo. She did everything in her power to make the process as easy for us as possible, even took care of burying her. As for Daisy, I used to take her and her younger brother to the nursery at our church during services to hang out while the "grown ups" proceeded with the rest of services. Three years ago, Daisy and her brother Logan were riding with their father to see their brother compete in a wrestling tournament when their truck hit a patch of black ice and wrecked. Daisy and Logan (9 and 10 at the time) were able to escape through the back window and walked miles down the highway in the snow to find help for their father, who ultimately didn't survive. After this, the family moved to Maryville to try to get a fresh start. Last year, Daisy was raped by a football player at Maryville high school, who happens to be the grandson of MO State Representative Rex Barnett. Despite overwhelming amounts of evidence, including a video of the rape taken by a friend of the rapist, the case was ultimately dropped (all the details of what happened are in the article I posted). The family has been harassed, threatened, tormented, and forced to leave town. Their home in Maryville, which they were trying to sell, was then burned to the ground, and the Fire Department in Maryville can't seem to find a cause. I'm posting this here because I want to help get the story out and hopefully help these people find peace and justice. I also want the world to know what I know about this family, and what wonderful, kind, generous, good people they are. We can start a discussion about it. If you can share this story on Facebook, or do whatever you can to get the word out about it, any little bit can help. These are good people and what happened to them is horrifying. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and hopefully the more we spread the word about this, the closer they might be to justice. 

This is absolutely sickening. Why call it a justice system when "justice" favors the powerful and the rich. I've never seen such a horrid community either. Generally speaking, I don't really believe in karma, but in this case, I hope that karma gets to everyone who thought this disgusting behavior was okay.

It's absolutely sickening. That's why we all want to get the word out in as many ways as possible. Anonymous has taken this on now, so hopefully some truths might be unearthed. These people deserve peace and justice. The evidence of these boys' guilt is overwhelming, so I hope that someone can bring it all to light.

Quote: Originally Posted by JamieO /img/forum/go_quote.gif

It's absolutely sickening. That's why we all want to get the word out in as many ways as possible. Anonymous has taken this on now, so hopefully some truths might be unearthed. These people deserve peace and justice. The evidence of these boys' guilt is overwhelming, so I hope that someone can bring it all to light.
as a law student i have to constantly tell myself "innocent until proven guilty" when i start to go off the rail.

with that said, i HATE the way american culture just sweeps aside rape and sexual violence. i'm sick of seeing news stories in american media that portray the girl as an evil temptress and the boys as victims who are going to have their lives ruined forever. or just shrugging and saying "boys will be boys," especially if they are athletes and/or from influential families. crap like this has to stop, i don't care who you are or how good you can toss a ball, that doesn't give you the right to violate anyone.

this story is heartbreaking, i hope this national attention (especially on the internet, where the whole world can ridicule) will finally lead to some justice for this poor young lady. i read your post earlier today and every time i glance at it, just knowing someone is going through this right now, is bothering me to no end.

This is so heart breaking, I pray for justice for  Daisy and her family.

Quote: Originally Posted by JC327 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  This is so heart breaking, I pray for justice for  Daisy and her family.
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Quote: Originally Posted by kawaiimeows /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  as a law student i have to constantly tell myself "innocent until proven guilty" when i start to go off the rail.

with that said, i HATE the way american culture just sweeps aside rape and sexual violence. i'm sick of seeing news stories in american media that portray the girl as an evil temptress and the boys as victims who are going to have their lives ruined forever. or just shrugging and saying "boys will be boys," especially if they are athletes and/or from influential families. crap like this has to stop, i don't care who you are or how good you can toss a ball, that doesn't give you the right to violate anyone.

this story is heartbreaking, i hope this national attention (especially on the internet, where the whole world can ridicule) will finally lead to some justice for this poor young lady. i read your post earlier today and every time i glance at it, just knowing someone is going through this right now, is bothering me to no end.
I completely agree. I have been sick to my stomach for the last couple of days, I just can't stop thinking about it. I remember when it happened, my mother had and continues to be in contact with Melinda. I know how distraught she was then, and how much fighting she was doing for her, and I can't even imagine what she's feeling at this point. This same story happens all the time, all over the country, and I agree that I can only hope that all this exposure and the subsequent support from literally thousands of people has given this family at least a sense of peace of mind. There are SO MANY people out there going through this same thing, too afraid to say anything, or maybe they have and nothing has been done. Hopefully Daisy's strength and courage (and also her friend Paige Parkhurst, who was the friend who was with her and just made herself public with the story yesterday) will inspire others to speak out as well. 

I just read this story for the first time yesterday, and it made me absolutely sick. Being from a small town myself, it doesn't surprise me at all that someone could do such a horrid act and be let to with no repercussions just because of who their family is. Absolutely disgusting. 

I just read this story for the first time yesterday, and it made me absolutely sick. Being from a small town myself, it doesn't surprise me at all that someone could do such a horrid act and be let to with no repercussions just because of who their family is. Absolutely disgusting. 

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I totally agree. Living in a small town can be a blessing and a curse. My town had the "We take care of our own" mentality, which is good at times, but can also mean that crimes get overlooked or defended because they want to protect each other, good or bad. This creates a problem because in an effort to protect loved ones, people are letting people get away with everything, and this in turn means that you have the same people getting In trouble over and over and somehow managing to get out of it. And it bothers me that because of this, people have one more reason to think MO is a terrible place. These things happen everywhere! This is just such a terrible situation. Really quickly, I just want to take the time to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this post. Please share your thoughts! It's good to have a healthy discussion about this. I have seen an AMAZING outpouring of love and support for Daisy and Paige, from people all over the world! These families both mean a great deal to me personally, and if I can help in any little way I can to bring awareness to this, I'll do it. I really feel at this point that the positives will overwhelmingly outnumber the negatives, and I feel that we are making steps in bringing about justice, and in the bigger picture, change.

As someone who has worked as an advocate for survivors of sexual assault for over 8 years, this is disgusting. I had to stop reading that article half way through. The worst is that I see this shit happen in person. I'm currently on a brief break from my advocacy role b/c I was getting burnt out.

As someone who has worked as an advocate for survivors of sexual assault for over 8 years, this is disgusting. I had to stop reading that article half way through. The worst is that I see this shit happen in person. I'm currently on a brief break from my advocacy role b/c I was getting burnt out.

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I can imagine that would be absolutely emotionally exhausting, and I can totally understand needing a break! You deserve many thanks for doing that job, though! I don't know if anyone is keeping up with this story or not, but here's an update. The Nodaway County PA held a (what I must say was SO bogus, and Mr. Rice now looks like an even bigger jackass) press conference, and among a bunch of stupid things that he said, he DID announce that he is appointing a special PA to come in and takeover the case so that it is able to be reopened and investigated again!! That's a huge deal, a major victory for Daisy and Paige and their families! If anyone gets a chance to see the press conference footage, it's quite special, check it out.

http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/daisy-coleman-maryville-rape

She just wrote a powerful piece on xojane. This story just sickens me to my core. Not only the sexual assault, but then leaving here there to die, girls bullying her *the part about Matt-1 Daisy-0 tshirt made me tear up*, losing her father years before. This poor girl. I hope justice can be brought to her and her family, as well as for Paige.  

Quote: Originally Posted by rachelshine /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/daisy-coleman-maryville-rape

She just wrote a powerful piece on xojane. This story just sickens me to my core. Not only the sexual assault, but then leaving here there to die, girls bullying her *the part about Matt-1 Daisy-0 tshirt made me tear up*, losing her father years before. This poor girl. I hope justice can be brought to her and her family, as well as for Paige.  
i've seen this shared a bunch on my facebook news feed this week. honestly it's probably one of the most powerful things i've read lately. she definitely wins "bravest woman of the year" award in my book.

I do like how the college that the boy goes to got kind of attacked (can't recall the exact details) with calls to expel him, and their response was something along the lines of "unfortunately, we can't legally expel him because he wasn't convicted, but, hey, here's exactly what he was accused of -- and exactly what he confessed to doing. We can legally say all of this with no fear of privacy violations, slander, or libel because it's part of the public record. React as needed!" The subtext I got from that little summary was that the college was *just fine* with the students making *his* life a living hell. Anonymous is involved here, and they're *really* good at that. And on top of the rape charges, there really needs to be an attempted murder charge as well. Her hair was *frozen*.

Quote: Originally Posted by kawaiimeows /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  i've seen this shared a bunch on my facebook news feed this week. honestly it's probably one of the most powerful things i've read lately. she definitely wins "bravest woman of the year" award in my book.
Daisy in one of the bravest, strongest girls I have ever known. She's so smart and sweet and polite and just such an amazing little girl (woman really, but in my mind she's still the little 8 year old girl that I used to color pictures for me during church services). She has faced some tough stuff in her 16 years, yet in those instances she always shows incredible bravery, strength, and resilience. That girl will do great things in her life, more than she already has. She really is an inspiration. 

If anyone is interested, both Paige and Daisy are doing really well! They are both exhausted from traveling the country doing interviews (Paige says after this is all over, she's going to remain completely silent for 24 hours, haha). Both girls are pretty tired of talking to people at this point, but they keep plugging away because they know how important it is to tell their stories. They are such inspiring, amazing girls. 

Quote: Originally Posted by JamieO /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  Daisy in one of the bravest, strongest girls I have ever known. She's so smart and sweet and polite and just such an amazing little girl (woman really, but in my mind she's still the little 8 year old girl that I used to color pictures for me during church services). She has faced some tough stuff in her 16 years, yet in those instances she always shows incredible bravery, strength, and resilience. That girl will do great things in her life, more than she already has. She really is an inspiration. 

If anyone is interested, both Paige and Daisy are doing really well! They are both exhausted from traveling the country doing interviews (Paige says after this is all over, she's going to remain completely silent for 24 hours, haha). Both girls are pretty tired of talking to people at this point, but they keep plugging away because they know how important it is to tell their stories. They are such inspiring, amazing girls. 

Thank you for the update! 

The Justice for Daisy rally is being held in Maryville tonight at 6pm CST. In case anyone wants to see it, here's the link to where it will be live streaming:

http://themissouritorch.com/live/

Wow, unbelievable! I hope the outside PA can help these girls. I live not far from Steubenville, where the football players raped a girl and filmed it. That was huge in this area and this has a lot of similarities. Anonymous got involved in that case and helped so much...I'm sure it will now get the attention it deserves and hopefully next year several people will be on trial.

Having come from a small rural town, having moved to the big city I always look back at small towns as safety zones, they just seem to be somewhere you can be safe and then....something like this happens only to prove, no where is truly safe.  My thoughts and prayers go out to Daisy, Paige, and their families.  It really upsets and infuriates me when things like this happen.  I can only hope karma exists and in the end they get what is coming to them, one way or another.