Ypsilanti police say 19-year-old woman wasn't the victim of a stranger rape
Ypsilanti police say a 19-year-old woman who claimed she was pulled into a vehicle last week and raped wasn't being truthful.
In an interview today, the woman said she was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance, and it didn't happen in Ypsilanti, according to a news release.
Officers were called to a local hospital on Oct. 21, where the woman reported she had been raped by a stranger in the 1200 block of Cornell Street. She said she was walking to her vehicle when a man forced her into a Black Kia Soul and sexually assaulted her, reports said.
Detectives began investigating the incident, and a composite artist worked with the woman to generate a sketch of the "attacker."
Detectives interviewed the woman again today, and she admitted she hadn't been forced into a vehicle by a stranger, police said. She said she had been assaulted elsewhere by an acquaintance, reports said.
Police said the investigation will be turned over to the appropriate jurisdiction for further investigation.
No further details were immediately available.
Comments
Pika
Sat, Oct 30, 2010 : 3:06 p.m.
A2RN, until you yourself have been FALSELY accused of this crime you will not understand the anguish that a FALSE accusation causes.
mike from saline
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 : 1:36 a.m.
@KeepingItReal Why didn't you mention the Duke Lacross Team rape case. Wasn't that real enough for you?
A2RN
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 9:20 p.m.
@jimlup: This young woman WAS a victim of a sexual assualt, as far as we know. She falsely reported some of the details, but some incident did occur. Whether or not this woman should be penalized is not the immediate issue. Getting her help and bringing justice to the real attacker is. Perspective, folks. Until you've been a victim of sexual assault, keep your judgements at bay.
Pika
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 7:20 p.m.
This is the 2nd made up rape case I've heard about in the last 2 months. Women should realize that it is a very serious charge and should not be made lightly. Women who make false rape charges are usually not prosecuted but they should be.
snapshot
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 2:52 p.m.
MI expatriot, you apparently love to tell folks how they should feel rather than try to understand what the actually are feeling. How could you possibly think someone should feel like you think they should feel because you think you would feel that way? I think you should be more feeling in your feelings for others.
Atticus F.
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 12:03 p.m.
It's unfortunate, but Rape is the single most falsely reported crime. It's a slap in the face of true rape victims. And a complete waste of police time and resources. Not to mention worrying everybody in the community that there is a rapist running loose.
traum61
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 11:33 a.m.
@EyeHeartA2: Two posts before snapshot's, Chuck wrote "As a man...", and several posters have usernames that strongly suggest specific genders (although, of course, these may not necessarily be true). It looks like the "big strong" part was a rhetorical device. To respond to MI-expatriate, unfortunately, shame is a very common reaction among rape victims. The fact that the crime is sexual makes it humiliating and degrading to describe to strangers, even police officers. And as the majority of rapes are inflicted by someone the assaulted person knows, they may feel conflict over whether or not to expose this person to the penalty of law - paradoxical as it may seem. There's a fuller explanation here: http://www.911rape.org/impact-of-rape/self-blame-and-shame Personally, while describing a fictional stranger is harmful, I believe that issue should be dealt with after the rest of the case is addressed. It should certainly not be the first priority here. Had she accused a specific other person, that would be a different story. Also, I find it laughable to suggest that she could say she "didn't remember" who it was. As a side note, the title is a bit misleading. It implies that she was not a rape victim, rather than that it wasn't a stranger. I hope the woman gets what she needs to deal with this horrendous assault.
KeepingItReal
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 8:22 a.m.
As the father of daughters, I am and always have been concerned about their safety. As for those of you who offer sympathy for the young women for lying about this matter, I ask you to consider one thing. How many men have been falsely accused of such a crime and have been murdered, hanged or otherwise brutalized for it? What if it was you or a love one who fit the description of the person she falsely acussed and were bought in for questioning or arrested? Once a person has been accussed, it is very difficult for them to recover thier reputation or to return to a safe place mentally. Think of the Boston case where Charles Stuart falsely claimed that a black man murderd his pregnant wife only to find out that he actually shot her. In the meantime, the black community of Boston, especially black men were terrorized. What about the case of Susan in South Carolin who drove her two children into a pond and claim that a black man kidnapped them only to discover that she committed the act her self. While I can understand those of you who sympathize with this young women, the reality is she committed a crime. If this crime goes unpunished, it only sends a signal to others who find themselves in similar situation that its ok to lie and have someone else be falsely accused. It will be interesting to see how this plays out legally.
Basic Bob
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 8:08 a.m.
My heart breaks for the young lady, and I know sometimes it takes awhile for the truth to come out. Regardless of who did it and where it happened, she is the victim and it is not her fault. Unfortunately the original annarbor.com story, which focused on the conditions of the alleged crime scene, has now become irrelevant.
Thomas
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 8:04 a.m.
I agree with some posters. This young lady went through an unfortunate incident. However, no matter how traumatizing it was, it does not give her the right to purposely send any law enforcement department on a wild goose chase for a made up assailant. She needs help. But she also needs to be held accountable for her own actions after the fact. If she was too scared to tell them who really did it, she could have just said she didn't remember. Instead she came up with a description of not only a false person, but a vehicle as well. She put some thought into it.
ThaKillaBee
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 7:37 a.m.
@MI-expatriate - Unfortunately not all rape victims are as strong as you. Rational or not, some will indeed feel "ashamed" and afraid to come forward, that's just the way it is.
Awakened
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 6:46 a.m.
Psychologically, there are few events more traumatizing than rape. If someone were driving a car and was involved in a crash killing someone close to them; the trauma wouldn't be greater. Yet we would understand that the driver, even if not at fault, might have trouble facing the facts because of guilt and loss. No two rape victims react the same. Sometimes the victim blames themself and cannot face telling the story. Sadly, this is one of the reasons rape is under-reported. Some experts say only one in twelve rapes is reported. This young woman has now faced the truth and reported it to investigators. I hope this is the first step to her recovery. As a fellow member of the EMU community I wish her well.
MI-expatriate
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 : 2:09 a.m.
"too ashamed"??? At what point in a rape scenario does a woman hold the power? This woman, assuming her story is now correct, was overcome by someone she knew and was violently assaulted by him. She should feel no shame. The man who did this should feel the shame. The only remorse she should feel is in possibly protecting her assaulter, for whatever reason seemed simplest at the time, including some mentioned above that included confusion if it is an acquaintance who raped her. It's a crime if both parties don't consent. Period.
ACLABT
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 11:38 p.m.
Sadly, it's not unusual to falsely accuse a "stranger" when a person is raped by an acquaintance. There are several theories of why a victim does this and one of them is because they cannot face the attacker, even with an accusation of the crime. Also, a stranger-rape victim often gets less doubt and less blame. "She was asking for it" is always in the back of the victim's mind and they even wonder if they somehow brought it on themselves. Falsely accusing a stranger when it is indeed an acquaintance is not overly unusual and is a defense mechanism. This story is just now unraveling, and I am not about to pass judgment or blame on the young lady. There is often more to the story.
snapshot
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 10:40 p.m.
Nice of all you big strong men kicking a 19 year old child when she's down. I'm sure you'd appreciate the same response if it involved your child.
Mike H.
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 10:18 p.m.
We can speculate all we want, but there is no certainty any crime was committed here yet (with the exception of the lying on the police report). This is all alleged, the only details we have are either untrue, made up, or extremely vague... not enough to go on here. Hopefully someone somewhere knows what really happened (or didn't happen) and justice prevails.
Chuck
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 9:13 p.m.
As a man, I want laws AGAINST this stuff with TEETH!
A2RN
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 8:58 p.m.
Only 2-3% of reported rapes are false reports... which is about the same for other types of crimes. At least she came clean now before the police invested anymore resources in the investigation. Now justice can come to the real assailant.
Davidian
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 8:33 p.m.
Seems to me that in most "stranger rapes" where the woman is snatched off the street, the woman doesn't live to tell about it. With all the ways that a prosecutor can nail someone with physical evidence, taking the leap from rape to silencing the victim is easy for the criminal. Maybe she was raped by an acquaintance, and was horrified/humiliated and not thinking straight. Unfortunately for her, and for other victims by proxy, credibility is lowered significantly. Crappy situation for everyone--except the possible rapist, who will certainly get away with it if indeed a crime occured.
Matt Cooper
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 7:38 p.m.
@bruceae: Yes!!! That's the ticket! She hasn't suffered enough. I say punish her even more. I'm with you buddy! Send her to jail for a rather lengthy term. And then bill her for thousands upon thousands of dollars and run her little lying butt into total bankruptcy. Right....? C'mon man. Use some common sense. You don't know what happend, nor what was going on in her mind, nor what fears she was having. You don't know the first thing about what actually happened to her and already you're ready to throw the victim of a serious crime under the proverbial bus. I sure as heck wouldn't want you as my defense attorney. I pray this young lady can get herself straightened out and somehow get past this horrible event in her life. Get some therapy, heal yourself and move on.
Mike H.
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 7:07 p.m.
I knew there was something fishy about this original story when I read it. False reporting is a crime, and it will undermine her credibility in court if she changes her story now.
Mark
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 6:30 p.m.
This is why so many rapes go unreported. And this is why I worry for my daughters.
City Confidential
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 6:27 p.m.
Stevak: I seem to remember an incident or two where people made up stories about being robbed or having their house broken into - do you now assume that all robbery victims have made up the story? Also, from my experience working with sexual assault survivors, I know that they can feel some pressure to tell police who the assailant is, regardless of whether they want to or not. They get the feeling that they will not receive treatment or have a rape kit administered unless they explain what happened. If the woman knows the person who raped her, she may be scared of him, of his friends or family, or how this will impact her life if he were to seek revenge on her socially, in class, at work or wherever it is that she sees him. Remember guys, this is a 19 year old young woman who was assaulted badly enough to go to a hospital. She shouldn't have made up a story, but we weren't there with her, so who knows what made her think that this was the best plan. The person that we should be focused on arresting is the person who raped her.
ThaKillaBee
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 5:47 p.m.
It sounds like something DID happen, though. Maybe she was too ashamed to come forward with the true story so she thought making something up would be easier? I would still reserve judgment in this case--the girl may really need some kind of help.
bruceae
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 5:36 p.m.
The problem is the cops just walk away and turn this over to someone else. She should be charged with filing a false police report and be billed for all the hours spent on this case.
M.
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 5:33 p.m.
Agreed Stevek. I thought the description sounded suspicious. At least in this case, I can see the thought process that would lead her to first blame a stranger (the attacker being an acquaintance complicates a lot of things). I can see why it would have taken a few days to calm down a little and see what the right thing to do would be.
stevek
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 : 5:24 p.m.
It is extremely unfortunate that everytime I read a news story involving rape, I immediately blame the victim of making up a story--just like this one. It just seems like this has become the norm. Very unfortunate for the true rape victim.