Audrie & Daisy Page #6

who was actually excited about this case

and willing to put forth a real effort.

[Fall] Twenty years ago,

we built a thousand-acre lake

that has become

an area of recreational draw

and a championship golf course

and one of the 100 best fishing places

in the country and...

Does anybody come and report that? No.

But this comes up,

and here it unloads on you.

[Jean Peters Baker] Whenever you get

a call and someone says

that judge so-and-so is calling,

you hang up on that phone call

you're on

and you take the judge's call.

And the judge tells me his name

and then he tells me

he's from Nodaway County. And I just...

[sighs and chuckles]

My heart sunk a little bit,

because I thought... [sighs]

"Oh, I bet I know why you're calling."

When the case is built

on the testimony of the victim,

those can be very, very hard.

And so, I tried to collect

additional evidence.

There was nothing about the rape kit

I had available to me that really gave us

another "a-ha" moment.

We tried to go back and find the phone.

You know, "Did it exist?

Did it exist at one time?

Could we still get it?"

We were unsuccessful in that regard.

[interviewer] What was the state

of the case when it was handed to you?

In your professional opinion?

[sighs heavily]

I just don't think, um,

I want to answer that question.

So, at the end of that investigation,

I believed that we got as far

as the evidence would take us.

Sometimes,

that doesn't tell a full story.

But in this case,

I believed the charge that I was able

to go forward on...

I knew that I had the evidence to try.

Mr. Barnett pled guilty

to endangering the welfare of a child

in the second degree.

In this case,

there was insufficient evidence

to go forward on a sexual assault.

These are very hard cases.

The facts are hard, often.

The legal requirements can be very hard.

And very hard to meet.

[Melinda] When... Jean Baker

came out with the verdict,

it just was really stressful.

We were waiting to see

what was gonna happen,

what they were gonna find

in the investigation,

and if anything was gonna be done.

So, when it finally came out

that it was just gonna be probation,

it was hard to deal with.

[White] As near as I can tell, the boys

are the only ones that have decided

that they wanna put this behind them,

and try to move on with their lives,

and try to make something

of themselves. They...

I think that all of them,

with the exception of the juvenile,

who's still in high school,

and I think that he's doing fine,

but I think all of the boys are,

um, going to college,

and working, and trying to do better.

And this is one of the real fatal flaws

of our society.

Is that it's always... it's always

the boys. It's not always the boys.

The girls...

Girls have as much culpability

in this world as boys do.

So, you know,

everybody has to take their part of it.

And everybody has to do better.

[interviewer] I absolutely agree.

In this particular case, though,

the crimes were committed by boys.

Were they? [laughs]

[Daisy] After the charges were dropped,

it was just really one thing

after another.

Like, all the drama with the social media,

and then I was getting in fights.

I hated going to school,

I hated going out in public.

I couldn't handle any more.

I wanted to fight back with everyone,

and I wanted to, you know,

I wanted them to believe me.

You already have this wound

just ripped clean open

and you're vulnerable and you're going

through a really hard time,

and to have all these people

attacking you on top of it,

it almost makes the bullying

seem more extreme.

You begin to believe that these

bad things they're saying about you

are actually true.

So, your image of yourself

completely changes

and you kind of become

a shell of yourself.

You almost see that, you know,

doing away with yourself

is the only way to fix things,

which isn't the truth at all,

but it's all you can truly see

when you're sitting in a dark corner

and you're not looking

around at the light.

[Melinda] Afterwards,

with the backlash,

we started having issues

with vandalism of the house.

We had issues with people threatening

to beat up the kids.

I lost my job because of the case.

Then we had our house burned down

in Maryville.

It was just...

really, really hard to believe.

We moved back to Albany.

Because we still had the house here,

and I thought, at least,

the kids would be safe.

Daisy was strong in the beginning,

but then it just starts to wear you down,

and she just got really into a dark place.

She started to really feel

like it was her fault

and feel like she should have done

something different, and...

she just internalized

all the negativity.

She dyed her hair black.

She shaved part of her head.

[voice breaking]

She burned herself.

And every door in the house upstairs

is broken, because...

we've had to kick it in to save her

when she's tried to overdose.

[chimes]

WASHINGTON, DC

-[girl] Hi.

-[chuckles]

Um, so where exactly?

[girl] Are they healing?

Make sure...

[tattoo needle whirring]

[Delaney chuckles]

[girl] This thing is bumming me out.

[Delaney] Finally, meeting Daisy,

I learned...

that, you know...

It was a reassurance that I'm not alone.

Oh, that feels fantastic.

Holy crap!

[girl laughing]

[Delaney] Uh, this is a semicolon

Daisy tattooed on me

and it basically is a reminder to myself

that my story's never over.

You know, it's not over yet,

and that just like a sentence...

like when you're writing

or typing a sentence,

a semicolon means, like,

that's not the end.

Can I give you a hug? I'm Angela.

-Hi.

-Hi.

Thank you so much for coming.

[Angela Rose]

This is unprecedented,

to bring these women together,

and their moms...

that collectively have made

such a difference.

I know that this is scary,

but that's why we need to get

our stories and our experiences

out there for other moms

and other high school survivors,

so they know that they're not alone

and that this happens a lot.

Whoever wants to share first.

[Delaney] Okay. Um, I guess I'll go.

Okay, well, basically, when I was 16,

uh, my parents went out of town

and I had two girlfriends that were

supposedly spending the night.

And I did not know,

but they invited three boys over,

two of which I had never met before.

And, um...

we were all smoking weed

and I had never done that before.

After a while, I remember everything

just got really, like, uneven.

So, I got up and I went to my room

and the two boys followed me in

and they had locked the door.

I was really confused

and didn't really know what was going on

and they sexually assaulted me.

Um, then...

[voice breaking] Then I found out

that the same guy had...

sexually assaulted another girl

eight months later.

[sighs] That part's really hard.

And of course I felt guilty,

because if I had reported it...

it wouldn't have happened

to the other girl.

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