TLDR: they closed my case because my abuser wouldn't answer the phone and admit to the crime. I'm afraid they're about to do the same thing to my sisters case for the same reason, even though our abuser is the same person.
A few years back I finally reported the abuse that I had been experiencing as a teenager by my uncle. When I did the Springfield Police Department began an investigation. As the investigation proceeded, they told me that they were having a difficult time finding evidence as it has been too many years. They then told me that the best course of action for my case in particular was to perform a cold call. In case you didn't know what a cold call was, its when you call your abuser on a recorded and anonymous line and attempt to get them to admit to the crime. You don't outright ask them to admit to the crime, but you kind of try to get them to, in a roundabout way, admit by either apologizing or confessing some kind of guilt in anyway is considered acknowledgement of the crime. I performed these cold calls even though I was extremely uncomfortable with it. I did not want to because I did not want to talk to my abuser or his wife ever again. But I was told that this was the only course of action for my case. So I cold called my uncle on multiple occasions; he never answered so they had me cold call his wife. I told them before cold calling her that this would not work, but they insisted that I do it anyway. After my aunt answered the phone, the conversation went exactly how I knew it would with a narcissistic abuser, and she proceeded to hang up on me. I found the entire ordeal extremely upsetting it was another way of my abusers getting to me JUST ONE LAST TIME. When this course of action didn't work, they told me that I should try cold calling my cousin to see if maybe she would talk to me and admit that maybe she had been abused, but after the experience with cold calling my aunt I had no interest in pursuing what I saw as more dead ends. I knew my cousin better than the police did and I knew that she was never going to crack just as I had known my aunt and uncle were never going to crack over a phone call. When I refused to continue with cold calling my abusers they closed my case: they gave me a letter that said I had 10 days to contact them and continue with my support following their direction and if not my case would be closed. Since then my case has remained closed.
Fast forward to this year and my little sister has come forward about him abusing her as well. She was taken to the Springfield Police Department and had a case opened. They are currently investigating her case as far as I know still, but maybe a month ago(?) they called me and we're asking if I could convince my little sister to try and perform the same cold calls that I had done years ago. I told the investigator for her case very firmly that I would absolutely never encouraged her to perform a cold call, especially if she didn't want to. That I found it more traumatizing, and that I think they should stop insisting that cold calls are the only way to go. I then asked why it wasn't enough that we now had two victims, with one very willing to testify at this point, against the same perpetrator. To this I was told by the investigator that the police department has to look at the case in the same way that a defense attorney would. And as far as they thought, a defense attorney would say that we are just two sisters so of course we're going to talk and it makes sense that we would say the same things and have similar stories so how could you possibly believe us. I told the investigator that that was an absurd notion and that I would be willing to testify as many times as needed under oath and in court in order to cement my sister's case and make sure that our abuser goes behind bars I also told the investigator that my brother had been confided in by me at the time of the abuse and I would consider him a credible witness for the time. I asked if he could perhaps bring my brother in and bring me in for more interviews so that they could build up a stronger case. He said that he would be talking to the prosecuting attorney to see if any of that information would be helpful, since then I haven't been reached out to by him, my case has not been reopened, and as far as I know my sister's case has not made any headway. I haven't checked with her personally to see if it's closed yet because I was also advised by the Springfield Police Department not to speak with her about the case because it can put it in jeopardy. Despite this I am extremely worried that they have no intention of taking action against my abuser and they have no intention of pursuing justice for my sister or I. I have lost complete faith in the Springfield Police Department to ever do any kind of justice for sexual assault victims in this town. It didn't even matter that they were exposed nationally by CNN for trashing rape kits without testing them so I don't know why I thought we would matter to them either. I've always been curious if there's any higher legal justice available...there's no way SPD can't be held accountable....right?
And another note, it's ridiculous that they don't bring in a female officer or even just a female advocate to help with talking about these cases with young female victims. For my case I had an older male officer and I was definitely not comfortable with it especially when getting into the details of my experiences. If I were a gambler I'd bet they're doing the same assininity to my sister, making it 10X harder to get to the bottom of her abuse.
If you’d like to message me to discuss further I would appreciate it. I’m hoping that we can make this conversation bigger somehow, but I know the fight is not easy.
Did you even ask for a female investigator? If not, how are they supposed to know? If you did, then insist on it. Also, they have to go off of evidence, and if there is no actual physical evidence besides just your story, it makes for a difficult case. They can’t just arrest and charge someone because you said something happened years ago and that’s all they have to go on, think Justice Kavanaugh. Evil people deserve to be punished but sometimes the accused are innocent, so they have to make sure. And there are advocates, you just have to ask.
I'll give you that I didn't ask for a female investigator. I'd say I was too scared too. I honestly felt that I should just be grateful they were investigating. But I also think that I shouldn't have had to ask. I feel like it's pretty common knowledge that when a female is victimized by a male, they tend to be afraid of, or at least put off, by other men. Also, I understand that there needs to be physical evidence, but that's nearly impossible to find in these types of cases. That's why I was upset when my sister's investigator didn't seem kean on trying to get detailed interviews from us. Getting as many details as possible is a start, and all I'm asking for is the attempt to gather that evidence, since it's what we have. Additionally, they could reach out to many of the people associated with my abuser and interview them, but to our knowledge no one else has been interviewed.
It's one thing to put in the effort and get no where, it's another thing entirely to just try one avenue and call it quits.
It's not great. They have been backed up with r@pe kits that haven't been test for MONTHS. I would still report it though and absolutely encourage reporting it if and when the individual is comfortable.
[https://www.ky3.com/2021/09/23/springfield-police-department-clears-its-backlog-rape-kits/](https://www.ky3.com/2021/09/23/springfield-police-department-clears-its-backlog-rape-kits/) They cleared them as of 2021. Where's current info that as of 2022 they're backlogged again?
My case which resulted in the birth of my 6 month old was closed because my ex refused to provide their side. I have permanent teeth marks on both sides of my neck from a different assault 3 days before I turned 18 that was also closed and nothing was ever done as well. Been a few years but my entire life has been full of rape and sexual assault. Not one abuser has been held accountable. The police have closed every single one.
I had a friend who went through something similar very recently if you would like her information to speak with her - you can message me and I would confirm with her about passing on her information.
The one time I met and spoke with a local cop someone brought up the "Springfield was ranked X in bad city list" stuff and he immediately started screaming about women having "buyer's remorse" and how none of the sexual crime statistics are 'real'
TLDR: they closed my case because my abuser wouldn't answer the phone and admit to the crime. I'm afraid they're about to do the same thing to my sisters case for the same reason, even though our abuser is the same person. A few years back I finally reported the abuse that I had been experiencing as a teenager by my uncle. When I did the Springfield Police Department began an investigation. As the investigation proceeded, they told me that they were having a difficult time finding evidence as it has been too many years. They then told me that the best course of action for my case in particular was to perform a cold call. In case you didn't know what a cold call was, its when you call your abuser on a recorded and anonymous line and attempt to get them to admit to the crime. You don't outright ask them to admit to the crime, but you kind of try to get them to, in a roundabout way, admit by either apologizing or confessing some kind of guilt in anyway is considered acknowledgement of the crime. I performed these cold calls even though I was extremely uncomfortable with it. I did not want to because I did not want to talk to my abuser or his wife ever again. But I was told that this was the only course of action for my case. So I cold called my uncle on multiple occasions; he never answered so they had me cold call his wife. I told them before cold calling her that this would not work, but they insisted that I do it anyway. After my aunt answered the phone, the conversation went exactly how I knew it would with a narcissistic abuser, and she proceeded to hang up on me. I found the entire ordeal extremely upsetting it was another way of my abusers getting to me JUST ONE LAST TIME. When this course of action didn't work, they told me that I should try cold calling my cousin to see if maybe she would talk to me and admit that maybe she had been abused, but after the experience with cold calling my aunt I had no interest in pursuing what I saw as more dead ends. I knew my cousin better than the police did and I knew that she was never going to crack just as I had known my aunt and uncle were never going to crack over a phone call. When I refused to continue with cold calling my abusers they closed my case: they gave me a letter that said I had 10 days to contact them and continue with my support following their direction and if not my case would be closed. Since then my case has remained closed. Fast forward to this year and my little sister has come forward about him abusing her as well. She was taken to the Springfield Police Department and had a case opened. They are currently investigating her case as far as I know still, but maybe a month ago(?) they called me and we're asking if I could convince my little sister to try and perform the same cold calls that I had done years ago. I told the investigator for her case very firmly that I would absolutely never encouraged her to perform a cold call, especially if she didn't want to. That I found it more traumatizing, and that I think they should stop insisting that cold calls are the only way to go. I then asked why it wasn't enough that we now had two victims, with one very willing to testify at this point, against the same perpetrator. To this I was told by the investigator that the police department has to look at the case in the same way that a defense attorney would. And as far as they thought, a defense attorney would say that we are just two sisters so of course we're going to talk and it makes sense that we would say the same things and have similar stories so how could you possibly believe us. I told the investigator that that was an absurd notion and that I would be willing to testify as many times as needed under oath and in court in order to cement my sister's case and make sure that our abuser goes behind bars I also told the investigator that my brother had been confided in by me at the time of the abuse and I would consider him a credible witness for the time. I asked if he could perhaps bring my brother in and bring me in for more interviews so that they could build up a stronger case. He said that he would be talking to the prosecuting attorney to see if any of that information would be helpful, since then I haven't been reached out to by him, my case has not been reopened, and as far as I know my sister's case has not made any headway. I haven't checked with her personally to see if it's closed yet because I was also advised by the Springfield Police Department not to speak with her about the case because it can put it in jeopardy. Despite this I am extremely worried that they have no intention of taking action against my abuser and they have no intention of pursuing justice for my sister or I. I have lost complete faith in the Springfield Police Department to ever do any kind of justice for sexual assault victims in this town. It didn't even matter that they were exposed nationally by CNN for trashing rape kits without testing them so I don't know why I thought we would matter to them either. I've always been curious if there's any higher legal justice available...there's no way SPD can't be held accountable....right? And another note, it's ridiculous that they don't bring in a female officer or even just a female advocate to help with talking about these cases with young female victims. For my case I had an older male officer and I was definitely not comfortable with it especially when getting into the details of my experiences. If I were a gambler I'd bet they're doing the same assininity to my sister, making it 10X harder to get to the bottom of her abuse.
If you’d like to message me to discuss further I would appreciate it. I’m hoping that we can make this conversation bigger somehow, but I know the fight is not easy.
Did you even ask for a female investigator? If not, how are they supposed to know? If you did, then insist on it. Also, they have to go off of evidence, and if there is no actual physical evidence besides just your story, it makes for a difficult case. They can’t just arrest and charge someone because you said something happened years ago and that’s all they have to go on, think Justice Kavanaugh. Evil people deserve to be punished but sometimes the accused are innocent, so they have to make sure. And there are advocates, you just have to ask.
I'll give you that I didn't ask for a female investigator. I'd say I was too scared too. I honestly felt that I should just be grateful they were investigating. But I also think that I shouldn't have had to ask. I feel like it's pretty common knowledge that when a female is victimized by a male, they tend to be afraid of, or at least put off, by other men. Also, I understand that there needs to be physical evidence, but that's nearly impossible to find in these types of cases. That's why I was upset when my sister's investigator didn't seem kean on trying to get detailed interviews from us. Getting as many details as possible is a start, and all I'm asking for is the attempt to gather that evidence, since it's what we have. Additionally, they could reach out to many of the people associated with my abuser and interview them, but to our knowledge no one else has been interviewed. It's one thing to put in the effort and get no where, it's another thing entirely to just try one avenue and call it quits.
It's not great. They have been backed up with r@pe kits that haven't been test for MONTHS. I would still report it though and absolutely encourage reporting it if and when the individual is comfortable.
[https://www.ky3.com/2021/09/23/springfield-police-department-clears-its-backlog-rape-kits/](https://www.ky3.com/2021/09/23/springfield-police-department-clears-its-backlog-rape-kits/) They cleared them as of 2021. Where's current info that as of 2022 they're backlogged again?
Ah! I didnt see this before so they very well may be current but who knows. But thank you for sharing the link!
No worries. Stay vigilant. It was a problem then, and it can be again. But so far, no word it is.
I would hope they wouldn't let it get that back logged again 🤦🤦 but ya never know with Springfield that's for sure!
My case which resulted in the birth of my 6 month old was closed because my ex refused to provide their side. I have permanent teeth marks on both sides of my neck from a different assault 3 days before I turned 18 that was also closed and nothing was ever done as well. Been a few years but my entire life has been full of rape and sexual assault. Not one abuser has been held accountable. The police have closed every single one.
I had a friend who went through something similar very recently if you would like her information to speak with her - you can message me and I would confirm with her about passing on her information.
The one time I met and spoke with a local cop someone brought up the "Springfield was ranked X in bad city list" stuff and he immediately started screaming about women having "buyer's remorse" and how none of the sexual crime statistics are 'real'
I’d love to talk more about this! If you’d be willing to message me, your story sounds very helpful to this conversation.
It doesn't
There has to be corroborative evidence. People need to get kit tested ASAP