After a teenager in Maryville, Missouri told authorities she and her friend were victims of rape and sexual assault, her family fled the town following incidents of harassment and a dropped investigation by police, the Kansas City Star reported.
But now the victim's mother, Melinda Coleman, is seeking to reinstate charges against the 17-year-old Maryville football player after she claims they were dropped in 2012 due to his relation to a powerful political figure in the town.
The national attention the story has received encouraged a petition on Change.org, asking people nationwide to help bring justice to the victims and their alleged attackers.
"17 year old Matthew Barnett was charged with sexual assault against a 14 year old girl, and 17 year old Jordan Zech was charged with felony sexual exploitation of a minor for allegedly filming the assault of the 14 year old, as well as another assault that occurred at the same time where a 15 year old assaulted a 13 year old girl, the filming occurred with a cell phone," the petition said.
Daisy Coleman was only 13 when her mother found her on the lawn outside their home following the alleged rape and assault incident, with a blood alcohol content of .13 measured the next day.
After the girl's mother discovered signs of sexual assault, prosecutors suggested she not pursue a case in court due to insufficient evidence. However, Coleman's mother claims it was the local political connections of the boy that encouraged prosecutors to shy away from the case.
Daisy eventually became the target of vicious attacks on social media sites, leading her mother to pull all Daisy and her siblings out of the local school system, moving them east to Albany.
"When we moved to Maryville it felt like I got a second chance at my childhood," Daisy said, following the death of her father. "And it just got blown away because of that."
The case has also received the support of Anonymous -- a group active in protesting the eerily similar Steubenville rape case -- who released a statement today, warning for Marvyile to "expect" them.
"We have heard Daisy's story far too often. We heard it from Steubenville, Halifax and Uttar Pradesh. In some cases, it was too late. Both Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons, girls not much older than Daisy, took their own lives after the adults, the police and the school system, failed to protect them. If Maryville won't defend these young girls, if the police are too cowardly or corrupt to do their jobs, if justice system has abandoned them, then we will have to stand for them. Mayor Jim Fall, your hands are dirty. Maryville, expect us," the Anonymous statement read.
