Daisy Coleman Speaks Out About Maryville Rape Case, #justice4daisy Campaign: ‘I Can't Ever Go Back To The Person I Once Was’

Daisy Coleman, the Maryville teenager who is at the center of an explosive sexual assault case, wrote a heartbreaking first-person account of the night she was allegedly raped, saying that the ugliness she experienced “will live with me forever.”

All felony charges against the alleged perpetrators, who were 17 at the time of the assault, were dropped earlier this year.

In the post for XO Jane, titled “I’m Daisy Coleman, the teenager at the center of the Maryville rape media storm, and this is what really happened,” Coleman recounts largely the same details she has already shared in newspaper interviews and with countless media outlets since the Kansas City Star broke the story last week.

Coleman, whose entire family was exposed to intense backlash after she claimed that she had been raped by a football star at her high school, said that her life since the night of the alleged assault “has been a long, reckless winter.” She writes that her life unraveled after the assault, as she watched her brother get bullied by classmates, her mother lose her job and her house get mysteriously burned down even after the family decided to move back to Albany.

“Life, overall, was great,” she writes of her initial experience after relocating to Maryville, Mo., from Albany. “I was on the varsity cheer squad, a competitive dance team and had a lot of friends.”

After the assault, Coleman said, “I couldn't go out in public, let alone school.”

She writes that being ostracized and blamed for the attack led her to self-harm and attempt suicide.

“I burned and carved the ugly I saw into my arms, wrists, legs and anywhere I could find room,” she writes. “On Twitter and Facebook, I was called a skank and a liar and people encouraged me to kill myself. Twice, I did try to take my own life.”

But Coleman also alleges that life has gotten dramatically better for her since the nebulous hacktivist Anonymous got involved in the case, launching the social media campaign #justice4daisy.

"Since Anonymous has gotten involved, everything has changed," she said. "#justice4Daisy has trended on the Internet, and pressure has come down hard on the authorities who thought they could hide what really happened."

In a message uploaded on Pastebin earlier this week, Anonymous announced that they were organizing a peaceful protest aimed at urging Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to reopen the case, and investigate the lack of charges against the accused rapists. According to a Facebook page created for the event, the protest will take place at the town’s Nodaway County Courthouse on Tuesday, Oct. 22, beginning at 10 a.m. Central Time.

Courtney Cole, one of the organizers of the event, told IB Times that she was expecting a turnout of roughly 300 people. Cole said she hoped that a large turnout of people outside of the Nodaway County Courthouse would send a message to the Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice to “do the right thing.”

Coleman closed the post by saying that this week’s news that a special prosecutor would be assigned to reopen the case was “a victory, not just for me but for every girl.”

“I just hope more men will take a lesson from my brothers,” she said. “They look out for women. They don't prey on them.”