Audrie & Daisy Page #5

And you can piece stuff back together

on a hard drive.

When they say delete,

they mean delete.

All the people saying

that there's a video out there,

all the people that are saying

that they saw a video,

there's no nice way to say it,

they're liars.

You know, unfortunately,

you have a lot of people involved in this

that are running around,

telling a lot of stories.

Um... [clicks tongue]

You know, and without pointing fingers...

it serves to benefit people's causes

by making a lot of things up that really

didn't happen and really doesn't exist.

But don't underestimate

the need for attention.

Especially young girls.

There's a lot of pressure

on young girls in our society

to be pretty, to be liked, to...

to be the popular one.

All of those things. And it's not fair,

but it is how our society works.

[line ringing]

[White on phone] This is Darren.

[Melinda on phone] Hi, Darren.

This is Melinda Coleman.

-[White] How are you?

-[Melinda] All right. How are you?

[White] Oh, I'm all right.

[Melinda] Um, I... I guess

I haven't heard anything at all.

I don't know what's going on

at all with any of the case

and I just kind of wanted to stay

in the loop, if that was all right.

[White] Well, it's in the court system.

Of course, they've been arraigned.

So now...

there'll be hearings and more hearings

and more hearings.

So, court things could drag out and...

[Melinda] Mmm-hmm.

[White] They...

it can take literally months.

[Melinda] All right.

And as far as the...

the cell phone,

the video's not retrievable.

You guys couldn't get

anything out of that?

[White] No. Nothing at all.

[Melinda] Okay.

[White] I'm sure that

you'll have more questions.

Feel free to call. Okay?

-[Melinda] All right. Thanks.

-All right.

-[White] You bet. Bye.

-Bye.

[phone beeps]

[Melinda] I called the sheriff

and the prosecutor

and they told me everything was great.

They had everything, not to worry,

it would be in court

for several more months.

Came home from work,

stopped at the grocery store,

and Robin, the mother of the other girl

that was assaulted, called me and said,

"Melinda, they dropped

all the charges today."

[reporter] Charges are dropped

against two Maryville teens

accused in a sexual assault case.

The Nodaway County prosecutor dismissed

a felony sexual assault charge

against Matthew Barnett

and a felony exploitation of a minor

charge against Jordan Zech.

Rice says he did not believe

he could prove the allegations

against the teens

beyond a reasonable doubt.

We did have all the medical

and all the information

where we could make a decision

based on the evidence,

and I am absolutely convinced

that was the right call to do.

And it was the right decision

to dismiss it.

[Melinda] You know what?

They're just lying.

Initially, I thought it was only the boys.

But I think it goes deeper than that.

I think it's political.

[Robin] You know, the Barnetts

are well-known in northwest Missouri.

The grandpa is

a former state representative,

former state highway patrolman.

And I hate to say that

that had anything to do with it,

but I really think it did.

In a small town, in a small area,

everybody is related,

everybody is somehow connected,

and I think when you're, you know,

in law enforcement,

it's harder, sometimes,

to separate yourselves.

[crowd cheering]

It became more important

to shield the boys

than it did to find justice for the girls.

The one that is the banner

for your community,

you don't wanna see them in trouble.

You don't wanna think

those things about 'em.

They're the heroes of small towns.

I guess the wrong, if I wanna say "wrong,"

boy raped her.

[White] One of the parts

that people have blown out of proportion

in this entire case

is that everybody wants to

throw the word "rape" out there.

It's very popular.

The rape, the Maryville rape,

the Coleman rape.

Nothing that occurred

that night ever, ever,

rose to the level of the

elements of the crime of rape.

Whether... whether we agree

with this or not,

the people of that age,

in the state of Missouri,

can have consensual sex.

Forcible compulsion

is the primary component

of the crime of rape.

[stammers] You know, it's just not there.

[interviewer] So forcible compulsion

doesn't apply if you have sex

with somebody

who is unconscious or semi-conscious?

Well, see, now, that's a whole...

another...

element for lawyers and legislators

and people like that to figure out.

[Kevin Collison] Other media,

some of them significant,

had already written about it,

but when we reported it

and it was picked up

in the world of social media,

that's when this erupted into a firestorm

and all this pressure suddenly developed.

[distorted voice] Two girls

have been raped

in the town of Maryville, Missouri.

Another high school football star,

the grandson of a Missouri state official,

has walked free.

How do the residents of Maryville

sleep at night?

Online activist group Anonymous

has called for an investigation

on how the case was handled.

Demonstrators will gather

at the county courthouse next week.

Tonight, Missouri's lieutenant governor

is urging the state's attorney general

and a county prosecutor

to convene a grand jury to revisit

a controversial case

that was dismissed last year.

You know, I don't know if the whole nation

needed to be involved in it.

I would've just liked to get

the attention of a few people

so that way something

could have been done with it.

I talked to people here in town

and at the school,

and in both locations,

people were very leery

about talking to me on camera

about this case.

[Fall] It's frightening when you had

a square down here

on the corner, full of people,

lecturing about what a hellhole this is,

you know.

They didn't know.

We know who we are and what we are,

and we're comfortable with that.

The picture that was painted of us,

I don't think that's what we are.

[reporter] All you have to do

is google "Maryville,"

and you're gonna find hundreds of posts.

Many around here with whom I spoke say

they're not happy

with what they're reading.

In fact, they feel attacked

and even threatened.

But what did she expect to happen

at 1:
00 in the morning,

after sneaking out?

There are telltale signs

of this girl actually lying.

[Paige] It made the whole town

split up into sides.

It was the people

that believed Daisy against...

the Barnetts and their group

of people that were very, very vicious.

[woman] "When an injustice happens

to one in the community,

an injustice happens to the community.

Daisy and Paige,

we are here for you today."

[reporter] New developments

in a teenage rape investigation

in Maryville, Missouri,

that has grabbed headlines nationwide.

The Jackson County prosecutor's office

has been put in charge

of taking a second look at the case.

[Daisy] I was excited.

I felt like I was going to be

able to work with someone

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