Over Columbus day weekend, a tragic teen rape case emerged from the small town of Maryville, Mo. In the days following its exposure of the seven-month long investigation, a hacktivist organization dubbed Anonymous, responsible for the media frenzy surrounding last year’s similar rape case in Steubenville, took to the Twittersphere and burst the case open at the seams.
The the cultural presence of cases such as these is imperative to help prevent similar incidents in the future, it’s the eerie details surrounding the Maryville case that give it the legs to carry forward and embed itself in the perception of modern society.
Fourteen-year-old Daisy and her 13-year-old friend were both high school freshman in January 2012 when the incident occurred. They attended a house party with a senior star of the Maryville football team where the team handed Daisy a hefty amount of alcohol and persuaded her to drink it in front of them. Upon completion, they handed her a second cup.
The next morning, Daisy’s mom found her alone on the front lawn cold and crying. She rushed her to the bathtub to warm her up when she discovered red and irritated areas around her genitalia, Think Progress reports. Daisy’s 13-year-old friend was upstairs in Daisy’s room and was also distraught. Daisy’s mother sent them both to the hospital where doctors found small vaginal tears on Daisy’s body, indicating that she had just had sex. Her younger friend then told investigators that Daisy had been forced to have sex at the party despite her repetitive refusal.
Daisy’s friend, as well as other eye witnesses, recalled the older boys carrying a crying Daisy into a car outside of the party. Barnett, a 17-year-old defensive end on the high school football team admitted to having sex with Daisy but reiterated that it was consensual. Fellow teammate Jordan Zach said he captured some of the events on his iPhone. They were both arrested within days, upsetting the entire town.
Days before the story went public, students began attacking Daisy and her family. Daisy received online threats, her brother’s peers shunned him and their mother lost her job without much explanation. The family split town, and just in time. Just six months ago, their house mysteriously burned down.
As different players and components enter the equation, Daisy’s case will unfold in dramatic fashion. Whether or not it will dissolve into another Steubenville case or not is unclear, but at this point, justice is the only thing that matters.