MY STORY

I turned 16 years old on August 3, 1990. It was now the following Friday afternoon and I just arrived home from work. I remember being eager to get to the bank before it closed because I needed the money to go out later that night with friends. It was a beautiful day so I decided to walk. I never made it to the bank. I was brutally attacked and raped by a complete stranger in broad daylight on August 10, 1990. This was exactly one week to the day from my sweet 16 birthday.

I was walking through the Mt. Vernon Cemetery in Abington, Massachusetts. This cemetery borders my parent's home, my school and the Abington Police station. Many neighbors walked, jogged and biked through this cemetery - like an extension of my own backyard. I was enjoying the beautiful summer day thinking of the special birthday I just celebrated when all of a sudden I felt arms around my neck. A man ran up behind me, grabbed me around my neck and began to choke me. He immediately tells me if I screamed he would snap my neck and he knew how to do it. Here I was just enjoying a walk essentially in my backyard thinking about the special birthday I just enjoyed and in a split second I was being dragged into the woods fearing for my life. I will spare the details of my encounter with this rapist, but what that man did to me in the woods was unconscionable. When he was done terrorizing me, he allowed me to get dressed and began to walk me out of the woods. He followed me towards home threatening to come back and kill me and my family if I went to the police. He was also asking me to understand that he wasn't a bad guy he just had a tough life.

This happened the summer I was entering into my junior year of high school. I spent the following 24 hours after this incident throwing up. The day after that I was back at work. I had decided I was going to forget this ever happened, get through the next two years in Abington and then go off to college and never look back. I would leave the town and everything that happened there...there.

I spent the following four years at Providence College where I received my Bachelor of Sciences degree in Marketing. While in college I was a full-time student, full-time division one scholarship soccer player and also worked part-time reporting directly to the school's Athletic Director. I was busy moving on with my life.

After graduation I was excited about beginning my career. I spent the next eleven years climbing the corporate ladder at one of the largest investment firms in the country. During this time, I also got married, purchased a home and had three beautiful children. I have been home with my kids for the last three years, which has given me time to reflect upon myself and my life. I truly believe a victim has the right to face this when their own life calls for it, not when the legislation says we should.

Over this past year, the rape has taken a front seat in my life. My parents read an article in the local newspaper in early 2008 regarding a local man who was just arrested for molesting his niece. They brought this article to my attention because the age and location of the suspect fit. Seeing how I am from an incredibly small town, our logic was there couldn’t have been too many rapists prowling around undetected. Especially ones that knew so much about the landscape, where to find children and be so brazen in their acts (broad daylight, close proximity to the Abington Police Station & the foot traffic in the cemetery on a summer day) yet feel confident they weren’t going to get caught.

As a result of the newspaper article, I called the Plymouth District Attorney's office and here is where my journey begins all over again. Danielle Smith from the Plymouth County DA’s office was a great help to me. I discovered that the accused worked in the cemetery in which I was raped. His age and description fit my case so it was worth pursuing it, especially since I had the DNA taken. I later found out that the accused used to bring his niece to the cemetery to rape her, which was just too close for comfort.

I never filed an official police statement back in 1990. This man threatened to come back and kill me and my family if I went to the police. Since he followed me home after he was done raping me, I wasn’t taking any chances. I learned on that day that I wanted to live. My mother had the strength and presence of mind to convince me to go to the hospital, where a rape kit was done and my underwear was collected for evidence. She did this for me because I did not have the ability to think clearly nor could I see around corners like an adult can. She knew me and knew that I would one day want to catch this man, but understood it had to be on MY TIME. No matter what she tried she could not convince me to go to the police, she had to bargain with me to even get me to the hospital.

I met with Sgt. Kevin O’Neil of the Abington Police in early 2008 to give my official statement. The first step was to find the DNA evidence and compare the sample from my rape kit to that of Anthony Stimpson. Unlike Becky’s case, I had the DNA evidence, which was the only viable loop-hole in the statute of limitations for my case. Sgt. O’Neil ran into problems finding the DNA evidence through the normal police channels. They were able to find other kits from the exact day, but none of them were mine. While Sgt. O’Neil continued to look on his end, I decided to go through the Brockton Hospital for my personal medical records in an effort to follow the chain of evidence. This took many phone calls and weeks of waiting, but the hospital was finally successful in locating my records on microfiche. Sgt. O’Neil was able to follow the chain of evidence and he discovered that my information was picked up by a Brockton Police officer named William Robin on April 22, 1991. This officer has since passed on, which led us to the evidence room at the Brockton Police Department (BPD).

Sgt. O’Neil and I both spoke to Detective Donahue, the police officer in charge of the evidence at the BPD. He stated the BPD had no record of me or my evidence. How can that possibly be when I have an official signed document stating that an officer, William Robin, of the Brockton Police Department signed for and picked up my rape kit on April 22, 1991? Detective Donahue asked me to understand that we’re going back many years and a lot of things have changed in that time. He explained that he couldn’t find it at the BPD, but it could have been passed on to the state crime lab. I then asked for the contact information for the crime lab. Detective Donahue gave me the number of Gwen Pino, the law enforcement liaison at the state crime lab. She personally checked all of the lab’s records from 1990-1994 and found nothing. Not only did they not have possession of my kit, but the lab never even received it to begin with.

The Brockton Hospital broke their own policy in releasing my evidence to the incorrect police department.
The Brockton Hospital also released my kit under my nickname, not my legal name. As a result, the Brockton Police had no way of knowing who I was.
The Brockton Police picked up a rape kit that didn't belong to them because they were asked to do so by the hospital.
The Brockton Hospital offers no reasoning behind their actions.
My evidence was destroyed by the BPD in February of 1994 due to lack of storage space in their facility. The State Crime Lab was aware of this issue and never did a thing.
The MA State Crime Lab - which is run by our own MA State Police Dept - apparently would rather have our local police departments destroy evidence of sexual predators than spend the money to collect, process and house the DNA evidence of child sexual predators!

The public should have been made aware of the burden placed on the police departments and the State Crime Lab. After all, it is our tax money that you are spending. We should have a say when it comes to our safety and the safety of our children.

The article my parents read in the newspaper back in March of 2008 was a result of Becky coming forward and finally telling her story.

My mother gave me a clipping of the newspaper article and I did nothing with it for a couple of weeks. I was telling myself the usual - the man is probably dead, it's not worth going back drudging all of this up now. One day I decided to call the District Attorney to inquire about the case against Anthony Stimpson. I was interested in finding out about the girl behind the newspaper article. She was from Abington and chances were pretty good I would know her. I asked Danielle Smith, the DA advocate on the Stimpson case, to pass along my information to the victim and to let her know I was interested in speaking with her.

Less than a half hour later my phone rang and it was Becky - the girl behind the newspaper article. She was molested by her uncle, Anthony Stimpson, from the age of 4 through the age of 9, when she and her family moved out of the area. She never told a single soul what happened to her. She decided to come forward this past year because she feels the same way I do - something needs to be changed for our children’s sake!

Once Becky came forward it was like a bomb went off in her family. She wasn't the only one in her family to come forward accusing Anthony Stimpson of molestation.

The statute of limitations for Becky's case has long since expired. She can't pursue any legal avenue at this point in either criminal or civil proceedings. Simply because this senseless statute still exists for reporting the crime of rape. This was her own father’s brother that committed these heinous acts on an innocent and trusting child.

This particular coward remains a free man today living in Rockland, MA, a short distance from my own home. The existence of the statute of limitations on the crime of rape is the only reason Anthony Stimpson remains free. Our laws have told that four year old little girl she only had a limited amount of time to come forward and face the most painful experiences of her life. I believe the statute of limitations does not serve to promote justice, it merely keeps good people out of the system who deserve a fair trial.