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Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities
Gangster Capitalism S3: Jerry Falwell Jr. and Liberty University | Bonus 2: Shannon
01:41:43
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- [00:01]
Andrew Jenks
PayPal lets you pay all your pals.
- [00:03]
Jessica
Like your dinner dates.
- [00:04]
Shannon
How are we splitting the bill?
- [00:05]
Jessica
Um, evenly.
- [00:07]
Andrew Jenks
Well, I only got soup.
- [00:09]
Shannon
Let's Split it on PayPal based on what people ate. Get started in the PayPal app. A PayPal account is required to send and receive money.
- [00:20]
Zach Levitt
C13 originals.
- [00:24]
Andrew Jenks
A warning before we begin, this episode contains graphic stories of sexual violence. Please use discretion when listening.
- [00:36]
Shannon
Okay, so you want me to just start?
- [00:38]
P.K. Morris
Yeah.
- [00:39]
Shannon
Okay.
- [00:40]
P.K. Morris
Are you. Are you okay?
- [00:42]
Shannon
Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just trying to get my thoughts together, so take as much time as you need. I don't even know what to say. I'm sorry.
- [01:05]
Andrew Jenks
Earlier this season, our executive producer, Zach Levitt, spoke with three women who told him their stories of rape and sexual harassment on Liberty University's campus and the ways in which the school tried to make them go away.
- [01:21]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
It was reported right away. From then on, nothing happened.
- [01:29]
Shannon
No one followed up with me.
- [01:31]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
And when I say nothing, I mean nothing.
- [01:33]
Shannon
Your school isn't taking care of you. You know, the people that work there aren't. The system isn't there to take care of you.
- [01:40]
Andrew Jenks
Had Liberty dealt with its own things, internally and correctly, so many things may have not happened. Zach connected those three women and more who came forward after hearing the podcast with an attorney, and as a result, a lawsuit, Jane Does 1 through 12, was filed. That number has now ballooned to 22 Jane does, all with the common thread of mistreatment or neglect by Liberty University. In addition to gangster capitalism, there has been significant reporting on these stories by outlets like ProPublica detailing more coverups by the school. The campus has become energized by supporters of these survivors, protesting, holding rallies, and even wearing teal ribbons on their wrists in a show of support.
- [02:37]
Shannon
I just think it's really important that we listen to these women and what they're saying.
- [02:42]
Andrew Jenks
Three United States senators, including the two from Virginia, have called for the US Department of Education to investigate Liberty's handling of the sexual violence claims. Jane Doe Number 15 has never told her story publicly and hasn't spoken about it in almost 20 years.
- [03:09]
Shannon
My story completely encompassed everything to do with Liberty University, trying to cover up, trying to dismiss, trying to degrade, humiliate, embarrass, shred, every single word that you can possibly put in there. That is what they have done. They did it to me, and they've done it to every single woman in this lawsuit, and they've done it to probably hundreds who haven't even come forward. And the thing about it is, I got Raped by five men. But then I felt like I got raped by Liberty University. And then I felt like I got raped by the city of Lynchburg. And the trauma from what Liberty put me through and what the city of Lynchburg put me through is sometimes just as bad as the trauma that I went through being raped.
- [04:17]
Andrew Jenks
I'm Andrew Jenks and this is our second bonus episode of Gangster Capitalism Season 3. Jerry Falwell Jr. And Liberty University.
- [04:31]
Shannon
I went to Liberty Christian Academy from the age of 11 all the way through. Back then it was called Lynchburg Christian Academy. And going to Lynchburg Christian Academy, if you kept your grades up, they would give you an academic scholarship to Liberty University. So I had other opportunities. But you know, in that whole organization, it's kind of just what you do, you go to liberty.
- [05:03]
Andrew Jenks
Jane Doe 15, who we'll call Shannon, became a freshman at Liberty University in the fall of 2001.
- [05:13]
Shannon
I was a commuter student, so I lived off campus with my parents, but they had lots of different events and stuff for commuter students to come and connect and try to meet people on campus. Even though we didn't live there, I loved being on campus. It felt kind of like just my home, like very inviting, very exciting. I felt safe.
- [05:42]
Andrew Jenks
In October of 2001, Shannon had gotten together with some friends in Lynchburg. Again, please listen with caution.
- [05:52]
Shannon
So I had gone to. It wasn't like a. It wasn't really a party, it was just kind of like a get together. There wasn't any drinking or anything like that. But a friend had brought me back to my car at the mall. It was located in the bottom part of what was then the Value City parking lot, which is now the theater at the mall. And my friend had dropped me off and took off and I ended up having this car kind of pull up behind my car. I was getting in my car and this man that was from my church had gotten out of the car. And it was very kind of non threatening. Up to this point I just knew him as a man from the church. But him and four other men that were in the car proceeded to attack me. And, and I believe that this was all planned, that it was such a bizarre kind of story that no one would believe it to begin with. One of the guys had a gun and he came up and made it seem like he was forcing the man to rape me. So he made it seem like he was not wanting to, but the guy was forcing him. Well, at some point I, they. I just remember they were all on top of me. At least three of Them were, you know, raped me and they threw my head back on to the asphalt. And I just remember it, like ringing. It was almost like I was having, like an out of body experience where I'm like, this can't possibly be happening. I was confused. I was in shock. I thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to die because at one point he had put a gun up inside of me and cocked it. And I just thought at any moment, like a gun was just going to shoot up inside of me. A bullet was just going to go up inside of me. And there was somebody videoing the whole thing. I just remember fighting and fighting and trying to get them off of me. And at some point I just stopped fighting. And I just laid there and just prayed that it would just end. And I prayed that it would just be over. But at some point I was just on the ground by myself. They were gone.
- [09:36]
Andrew Jenks
Shannon recognized the man who looked like he was being forced to rape her as someone she knew from church. He was white. She didn't recognize the others except to say that they weren't white. They were either black or Hispanic. That crucial detail will come up toward the end of this episode. Shannon didn't tell her parents at first. She didn't go to the hospital and she didn't report it to the police. She was a virgin and she was too scared, she says, too ashamed of what people might think. But then a few months later, she began to feel sick.
- [10:14]
Shannon
I actually took the pregnancy test to Liberty into the bathroom and took it, and it said that I was pregnant. I sat in the floor of the bathroom and just bawled my eyes out, crying. I felt like my life was over. I felt like I was alone. And nobody at this point had even known what happened to me. So I just literally was completely alone. And it made it so much worse just because I knew that if I had the baby, that it was going to be just me. I was going to be just a single mom. I actually even toyed with the thought of having an abortion, because if I had an abortion, at least no one would know. At least I wouldn't have to explain myself. At least I wouldn't have to be kicked out of school. I knew that Liberty University would kick me out if they found out I was pregnant and that they would not show that support because the Liberty Way is the set of rules to live by. The Liberty Way is the Liberty Bible. So it was just a very terrifying time for me.
- [11:56]
Andrew Jenks
In early 2002, Shannon's attacker, the one she'd recognized from her church, began stalking her, making calls to her and making threats to dissuade her from reporting. And then he came to Liberty's campus.
- [12:15]
Shannon
I ended up coming out of the music hall, going to the commuter parking lot to leave campus, and he came at me, screaming at me, started chasing me with a knife, and I ran to my car. I got in my car. I took off.
- [12:36]
Andrew Jenks
Shannon's friend's boyfriend, who we'll call Jed, didn't see the stalking attack, but he did happen to see her crying in her car afterwards, and he agreed to accompany her to the Liberty University Police Department to file a report. Jed still remembers how Shannon was received at lupd.
- [13:00]
Zach Levitt
I do remember the constant, are you sure this happened? Are you sure that's what happened? Are you sure? You know, constantly asking her that over and over again about everything that she had said or, I mean, almost trying to persuade you to think a certain way, just asking, you know, over and over, were you sure? Are you sure that this is what happened? I remember them asking her that.
- [13:24]
Andrew Jenks
Soon, Shannon's childhood friend Jed's girlfriend, who we'll call Jessica, joined them as well. And Jessica also clearly remembers how LUPD treated Shannon.
- [13:39]
Jessica
This young guy was talking with her and literally was, like, rolling his eyes like. Like right in her face, making her feel like. Making her feel like she was lying, and she was just shaking uncontrollably. She couldn't, like, get words out very clearly.
- [13:57]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
I remember that.
- [13:58]
Jessica
But they did not believe her at all. I mean, from the get. From the get go, they did not believe her at all.
- [14:05]
Shannon
So they were painting me to be a liar right from the beginning. I proceeded to write a report about the man that had came up and chased me with a knife. My dad ended up coming up there, and he said it's time to tell them everything had happened. By this point, I had told my parents what happened and that I was pregnant. And he told me I needed to go ahead and tell them. So I ended up writing a second report about the rape by the five men that occurred at the mall in the parking lot. And they told me that it happened off campus. So they needed me to go down to Lynchburg and write a report down there.
- [14:58]
Andrew Jenks
Here's Jessica again.
- [15:00]
Jessica
They totally dismissed her and said, this is really not an issue for us. You should probably take this, too, to Lynchburg Police Department. And so me, her, and her dad drove to the Lynchburg police station, and the same thing happened. They did not believe her either. That was two times I physically saw her trying to make a report, and both of them just totally dismissing her. The police officer at Lynchburg told me I was a liar. It was crazy. I just could not believe how they treated her.
- [15:38]
Andrew Jenks
Here's Shannon's father, who was present at both LUPD and Lynchburg pd.
- [15:45]
Zach Levitt
I don't feel like he even wanted to deal with him. Seemed like they was trying to coerce him to saying it never happened. This was, you know, a horrific thing in life at the time. If you go to authorities and people that are supposed to be taking care of things and they kind of like stop everything right there, you know, that's basically what happened. You know, we did everything we could, and they not going to address it. What else is it left to do? I was frustrated, real frustrated, you know, and it did bother me greatly, but you just feel helpless and powerless, you know?
- [16:35]
Andrew Jenks
Shannon says shortly after filing both a stalking report and a rape report at LUPD, as well as a rape report at Lynchburg pd, she was pulled out of one of her classes by a Liberty police officer.
- [16:51]
Shannon
So I went back to the Liberty Police station, and they started asking me a bunch of questions about the knife that he was chasing me with. You know, did it open? Was it a kitchen knife? I said, you know, I don't know. I know it was a knife. I didn't stop to ask the kind of knife he was chasing me. And they asked me to rewrite a report because I did not know the type of knife. How could I even know it was a knife? Maybe it was another object. And they told me that I needed to rewrite the report to either not include anything at all or to say it was an unidentified object. So I did what they asked, and I asked for the first report I wrote. I asked for a copy, and I asked for a copy of the rape report that I wrote. And they informed me that I would have to be coming back up there anyways, so they would give me copies of all of that when I came back.
- [18:10]
Andrew Jenks
Shannon never received any of her LUPD reports.
- [18:14]
Shannon
As for Lynchburg pd, Lynchburg Police Department ended up assigning an investigator to my case. P.K. morris. Investigator P.K. morris. I went down to the station. I had gotten there about 40 minutes early, and there was this long bench right outside the area where they would take you back. And I was sitting on that bench, and the original Liberty University police officer that took my reports came out of the door. And it was one of those situations where I was kind of like, oh, hi. But I remember our eyes locking. And it Literally felt as if I had been punched in the stomach. In that moment, I knew that things were off. Something was off, something was wrong. And he left out of the building. And I sat there, it seemed like forever, but the investigator finally came out. And so I went back into the hallway with him. And he said, so another Liberty girl. I didn't understand. I was confused. I walked back to the room, and there was the woman police officer that originally took my statement at the Lynchburg Police Department. She was in plain clothes. And I went in and sat down in the chair. She was to my left by the door. And he was across the table, sitting on the other side. And he had, like, a recording device. He went to hit it, had me state my name and started asking questions. The questions very quickly started escalating to him just completely screaming at me, calling me names, cussing at me. He got up and leaned over the table, almost nose to nose to me, telling me to get off my effing a and tell the effing truth, Calling me a whore, calling me a slut, asking me how many men I had slept with in my lifetime. And the lady police officer asked me a question, and she said, when your baby is old enough to know that they don't have a father, are you actually going to be able to tell them which man is their father? So I was being painted as this girl that just sleeps around when I had never had sex with a man prior to this. And it was over three hours of being screamed at and yelled at and cussed at. I was pregnant at the time. I was in shock. I didn't even cry. I did nothing. All I did was sit there and stare in disbelief and confusion. And he said, stand up and turn around. And he pulled out his handcuffs and said he was arresting me. I had never been in trouble in my life. I had never been interrogated. I didn't know my rights. I thought he was getting ready to put me in jail. And so I said, fine, I lied. And so he reached over to the recorder and he said, oops. So it hadn't recorded anything that just happened. And he hit the recorder and said, state your name and say that you lied. So I did, and he let me go.
- [22:56]
Andrew Jenks
With her traumatic experience with L.U.P.D. and Lynchburg Police seemingly over, Shannon still had to deal with the realities of being an unmarried pregnant woman at Liberty University.
- [23:09]
Shannon
I ended up getting called to the Dean of Women's office because I was pregnant out of wedlock. She asked me about the case. She asked me about what was happening Lynchburg ended up pressing charges against me for writing a false police report.
- [23:35]
Andrew Jenks
Shannon learned that Lynchburg PD had charged her with filing a false police report, a Class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia, which carries a punishment of up to one year in jail. Back to her conversation with Lu's Dean of women.
- [23:57]
Shannon
She asked me how many men were involved in the attack. And I told her 5. And so she told me that I was looking at violations for having premarital sex with up to five men, being pregnant out of wedlock, and lying to police and filing a false police report. She told me that I could be fined. And that hit me really hard because it's like you're looking at me because I sinned, quote, unquote sinned. You're looking at me because I supposedly slept with men that I wasn't married to and you want me to pay you for my sin. You want to profit off of my supposed purported sin. And the other thing that really hit me was she said that I was probably going to be expelled and lose my full scholarship pending the outcome of of the false report case. So if I was found to have made a false report, then I was lying and I was a sinner. But she told me I had options. And she told me that if I went through the Liberty godparent home and gave my baby up, that I would receive a four year scholarship to Liberty. And I looked at her and I said, so let me get this straight. I'm a sinner and can't attend your precious school because I'm pregnant out of wedlock, so you're going to strip me of my scholarship and ban me from the university, but if I go through the godparent home and allow you to sell my baby to another family, you're going to award me with a scholarship to Liberty University. I left out of there completely shredded. I felt isolated. I felt like I had no support, and I felt like I was being punished for simply wanting someone to listen to something horrible that happened to me and to help me get the justice I felt I deserved.
- [26:53]
Andrew Jenks
We contacted Lu's former Dean of women, Michelle Martila, who is still a current Liberty employee. She said she had no memory of meeting with Shannon, and for cases like this, her office always tried to help. As for Shannon, there was still, of course, the legal matter of her criminal charge to deal with. She had to go to court.
- [27:20]
Shannon
I ended up getting assigned a lawyer through the courts. We had worked on the case together. I told them the treatment that I received from the investigator. I told them I did say that I lied because I thought I was getting ready to be arrested. And the day of the court trial had come, and this woman came up and said, are you? And I said, yes. And she said, can you come here? She said, your lawyer is not coming today. You have five minutes. Tell me what's going on. So now I'm in court with a representative. I don't even know her name, and she doesn't know anything about my case.
- [28:15]
Andrew Jenks
Shannon says she later found out that her original attorney didn't show up because he had a connection to liberty. Once in court, Shannon admitted to the judge that she told Lynchburg PD investigator P.K. morris that she lied about the rape, but only because he'd been screaming at her and threatening to arrest her. She says that Morris testified in court that none of that ever happened. Shannon said that she was told in court that there were no reports of the stalking she complained about either with L.U.P.D. or Lynchburg Police.
- [28:57]
Shannon
I just was completely railroaded. They tried to give me a plea bargain. They said that I would get a suspended jail sentence and I would have to only serve one month in jail. And the lady that was representing me was trying to get me to take it, telling me that if they found me guilty, that I would end up having my baby in jail. The judge asked if I was accepting the plea deal and asked me if I was guilty or not guilty. And I just looked at him and said, not guilty. And he ended up dismissing the case. So I got no jail time. I got no conviction against me.
- [29:48]
Andrew Jenks
Jessica, Shannon's friend, was in the court that day, and she remembers what the judge said.
- [29:55]
Jessica
She was like, you're young and stupid, and you didn't know any better and learn your lesson from this. And I remember walking with her to the registers, death or whatever, and she paid her court fine. And I just remember her wanting to kill herself because no one would listen to her. No one.
- [30:18]
Shannon
I had my baby over the summer and came back that next fall financially. I, you know, of course, had my scholarship still, and I really just didn't feel like I had another option. I desperately wanted to finish. I wanted to be able to make a better life for myself and now my baby. And it was very hard to continue, but I was just determined to be able to get my degree and move on with my life.
- [30:56]
Andrew Jenks
As far as any police reports or documentation, despite repeated requests at the time, Shannon was never given any by either L.U.P.D. or Lynchburg Police. But if you thought this is where Shannon's story ended, well, you probably haven't been listening this season. A tip was passed along to us that evidence of Shannon's ordeal does exist at lupd. So we filed a Freedom of Information act, or FOIA request with LUPD for any documents related to Shannon. We received one piece of paper, a heavily redacted cover sheet from a report dated March 27, 2002. The LUPD officer's type notes at the bottom begin with the. I spoke with Redacted about a report filed on March 20, 2002. The report was in regards to a stalking incident that Redacted allegedly witnessed. So Shannon said that she was told in court that There were no L.U.P.D. reports. This cover sheet is proof there was a stalking report made. A source confirmed to us that the redacted name on this sheet is Jedds Shannon's friend's boyfriend. It continues. I spoke to P.K. morris, an investigator for the Lynchburg Police Department, on March 25, 2002. Morris told me that the alleged stalking incident could have been made up. I asked Redacted if he made the story up and he said yes, end quote. It then says that Redacted, who again is Jed, told the officer that he lied because he was, quote, scared and nervous. It continues on by saying that Jed stated that Shannon came up to him in the parking lot and hugged him on the morning of March 20. It says that the victim told Jed about the stalking and to tell the police that he saw the suspect in the parking lot stalking the victim. Finally, it ends with the following sentence, quote. A copy of the police statement form that Redacted filed is attached to this report. When we received the foia, no police statement form accompanied the COVID sheet and there was no accompanying report, despite being referenced twice in the narrative. L.U.P.D. says that the first sentence quote may be a reference to a Lynchburg Police Department report, unquote. But that is likely untrue because Shannon never filed a stalking report at Lynchburg pd. And about the last sentence, they offer simply this quote, police statement form referenced in the last sentence was not found.
- [34:22]
Jed
Foreign.
- [34:27]
Andrew Jenks
Are you ever minding your own business and start to wonder, is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch real? How do the Northern Lights happen? Why is weed not legal yet? I'm Jonathan Van Ness and every week on Getting Curious, I sit down for a gorgeous conversation with a brilliant expert to learn all about something that makes me curious. Join me every Wednesday as we set off on a stunning journey of curiosity on a new subject and dive into the archive of more than 370 episodes. Listen to Getting Curious Wherever you get your podcasts. Given what we know and what we have reported about the Jane does and the lengths that Liberty University has gone to cover up their stories, we were dubious about the LUPD report we received in the FOIA request. So let's dive in a little deeper. First of all, why would the LUPD officer who wrote this report be consulting with PK Morris, a Lynchburg PD investigator, about a stalking that happened on LU's campus? Remember, Shannon didn't report her stalking to Lynchburg PD, only to LU PD. Shannon and her friend Jed have both said all along that Jed never witnessed the stalking, only Shannon crying afterward, and that he went to LUPD to tell them that and to support Shannon. So why would the report say he lied to the police about seeing the stalker and that he told them he did so because he was scared and nervous and because Shannon told him to lie. Zach Levitt, our showrunner, asked Jed directly if Shannon ever asked him to lie.
- [36:23]
Zach Levitt
No, sir, not at all. I don't remember anything like that, sir. About her telling me to lie or anything like that. That's not in my character. I wouldn't do that. So I don't remember that situation as far as her telling people to say certain things.
- [36:39]
Andrew Jenks
So Jed says he was never asked to lie to the police by Shannon and that he never would. But what about the interaction described in the report about hugging Shannon in the parking lot and her asking him to say he witnessed the stalking?
- [36:55]
Jed
Not sure where all that came from.
- [36:57]
Zach Levitt
I mean, that's never been an interaction she or I have ever had.
- [37:05]
Andrew Jenks
The name of the LUPD officer who wrote the notes at the bottom of the stalking report's cover sheet is Jason JJ Jones. Jones is now with the Bedford County Sheriff's Office, and we were able to make contact with him. We asked him if he remembered Shannon or writing in his report that Jed admitted to lying about the stalking because Shannon asked him to. He said he didn't remember the case at all, but he did offer this.
- [37:37]
Zach Levitt
I do remember a girl. There was. I do vaguely remember a girl that was about a sexual assault that may have occurred with several gentlemen at one time. And that did ring a bell. I wish I had more information, but I don't. I have no idea. I have not worked there for 18 years.
- [37:58]
Andrew Jenks
And then we asked Jones if he remembered The Lynchburg investigator, P.K. morris.
- [38:05]
Zach Levitt
Sounds familiar. I can't place him who he is.
- [38:14]
Andrew Jenks
We tried repeatedly to get in touch with P.K. morris, the Lynchburg PD investigator, who, according to Officer Jones report, told Jones that the stalking incident may have been made up, and who, according to Shannon, used his handcuffs to threaten her with arrest, had her charged with filing a false report, and then testified against her in court. And then finally, Zach was able to speak with Morris. He asked him what he remembered about Shannon's rape case and her stalking report at LUPD. Here's P.K. morris.
- [38:56]
Jed
I just don't remember anything like this. That doesn't mean she's not telling you the truth. I just don't remember anything like this. What's a gang rape? I mean, what's. What she. What she say? I know what a gang rape in my imagination is. Is it 1, 2 guys, 5 guys, 10 guys? Because I. I know I didn't have anything like that when I retired. I retired. I don't. I don't. You know, it's not like you remember your. Your cases, only certain ones you remember vaguely. I can't say whether. Whether I was involved. And obviously somebody wrote a report saying I was. But I have no recollection of talking to an LU person. But that doesn't mean it didn't happen. I was in investigations in one field or another from 91 till 2004. That's 13 years. I charged a lot of people. I assume a false report. I just don't remember who I've charged. I don't know why. Why you think that one case would be in my mind when I worked numerous cases?
- [40:04]
Andrew Jenks
Zach tells Morris that he's surprised that he wouldn't remember such a terrible story. A gang rape involving five men.
- [40:13]
Jed
No. I'm kind of like, no, I have no recollection anything like that. Five guys raped her in Value City at what time of night? Lynchburg doesn't have a whole lot of people. And that's the only mall in Lynchburg. And Value City was somewhere people would go to. I found it interesting that somebody would pick a location where there's a lot of people, but who knows? I don't know. Don't know the case. Hey, look, I love talking to you, but I gotta go and get out.
- [40:51]
Andrew Jenks
PK Morris, like Officer Jones from lupd, says he remembers nothing of the case, despite Jones's LUPD report saying that Morris told him Shannon's stalking story, quote, could have been made up. And what of Shannon's other missing report containing the statement she says she gave to P.K. morris at the Lynchburg Police Department about her rape? At this point, we didn't think we'd get any answers from PK Morris. But then Zach received multiple phone Calls from a blocked number. After the fifth one, Zach answered the phone.
- [41:35]
Jed
I asked a question. Did she report to you that five guys raped her? Is that what she reported? That five guys raped her?
- [41:44]
P.K. Morris
That it was a gang rape?
- [41:46]
Jed
Why do you ask what's a gang rape to you? Because the gang rape to me is more than one person. So you're saying that the information you have is more than one person?
- [41:57]
P.K. Morris
Correct.
- [41:58]
Jed
Now you've got incorrect information. That's not what you reported. And that's why I didn't remember it.
- [42:06]
P.K. Morris
What do you remember?
- [42:08]
Jed
She reported that one. That what you talk about. The five guy. Four guys get out of the cab, and allegedly one has a pistol. And that one with the pistol hasn't. Makes her have sex with another guy in the group. Just one. In the course of the reporting, she reported to a uniform officer. Then she said the same thing to me with the uniform officer there, too. And she ends up telling us that she's making a false report.
- [42:42]
P.K. Morris
I didn't tell you any of this, so. So you just remembered this?
- [42:46]
Jed
No, no, no. I had my memory refreshed by reports.
- [42:51]
P.K. Morris
What reports?
- [42:53]
Jed
That I made.
- [42:55]
P.K. Morris
Oh. Can you send me those reports?
- [42:58]
Jed
No, I don't have them.
- [42:59]
P.K. Morris
Oh. So how was your memory refreshed?
- [43:02]
Jed
They read it to me.
- [43:04]
P.K. Morris
Who read it to you?
- [43:05]
Jed
And I remember the reports.
- [43:07]
P.K. Morris
Who read them to you?
- [43:08]
Jed
From the police department. I knew somebody, and she pulled up the records and refreshed my memory. I don't know that she was raped at gunpoint. I don't know that part. All I know is everything she said she told me she recanted and said it was false. She made a false report?
- [43:29]
P.K. Morris
Yeah. So this is the part that's a little hard to understand because you're saying she recanted. She said.
- [43:38]
Jed
I'm saying she said it was a false report. That she made a false report.
- [43:42]
Shannon
Right.
- [43:42]
P.K. Morris
Well, you just used the word recanted, so.
- [43:44]
Jed
Yes, I. I know I used it. That's me. In fact, recanted probably has a different meaning for everybody. All I can tell you is that she said that the report she was making was false. It never occurred. So there was never five guys. There was never a cab. This is nothing I made up. This is what she made up and said. I'm only telling you what she told me. Okay? She told me that she made a. That she's making a false report.
- [44:18]
Andrew Jenks
PK Morris says he's referring to reports that he made. We'd already made a FOIA request for any and all reports about Shannon's case to Lynchburg pd, But up until this call with Morris, we weren't sure that any reports even existed.
- [44:37]
P.K. Morris
According to, she was pressured to say that she was lying and that you said, I'm going to arrest you. And that's when she said I lied. And then she was charged with filing a false police report.
- [44:50]
Jed
Now that this happened, that's her lying to you.
- [44:55]
P.K. Morris
Do you remember testifying in court?
- [44:57]
Jed
Nope, because I didn't charge her. I checked the Virginia records. There's no record of her ever being charged with false report. I checked the Virginia court records. Go on the Internet. Okay.
- [45:14]
Andrew Jenks
Morris says there's no record that exists of her ever being charged with a false report. Morris didn't find anything online because the court records are wiped after 10 years. Zach then asked Morris if he knew Shannon's attacker, the man from her church who'd stalked her on Liberty's campus. We're censoring his name because Shannon is concerned for the safety of she and her daughter.
- [45:46]
P.K. Morris
Did you know?
- [45:48]
Jed
No.
- [45:50]
P.K. Morris
You didn't know him?
- [45:51]
Jed
I don't even know who he is.
- [45:55]
Andrew Jenks
Morris is then asked if he ever used his handcuffs to threaten Shannon with arrest.
- [46:02]
Jed
Oh, that's just a no. Oh, my God. No, no, no, no. I'm thinking of the stereotype of the Deep South. Yeah. Where they do things that are against the way things should be done. And I'm talking Deep South. I thought about further states southerner than Virginia. I don't consider Virginia Deep south, but no. No, I would. No, I would not do that. To get a confession out of somebody. That's ridiculous. Come on. That's horrible.
- [46:40]
Andrew Jenks
You're quiet.
- [46:41]
Jed
You don't agree with me.
- [46:42]
P.K. Morris
I was just letting you finish your thought.
- [46:44]
Jed
Oh, no, no. I'm just thinking how horrible that is. That's against. That's just. That's not the way things are done. But I wonder why she thought that. Unless she was actually. I don't know. I have a feeling that you think that I'm not telling you the truth. This bothers me.
- [47:08]
Andrew Jenks
Next, Morris is asked if Shannon offered up that she was lying on her own or if he asked her to admit that she was lying.
- [47:18]
Jed
Well, I'm sure, yes, that her story was a little hard to put together and all this. And I could tell her that if it turns out that what she tells me is not the truth, then she could be charged with giving a false report. And she didn't want to go to jail. You know, if she gave false. Possibly go to jail, don't you? You can't use go to jail because you don't know what a judge will do. But she. Well, except Supreme Court says you can lie to people, but anyhow, I didn't like to lie that. But they should possibly go to jail. And she really didn't want to go to jail. And she ended up at the end of the. Well, when she finished the interview and she ended it by. And when I say finished interview, the interview was over. When she said it was not true, she didn't have to say it wasn't true. I was investigated, I have no problem. But she says it didn't happen, so I'm not going to go investigate something that she says didn't occur.
- [48:26]
Andrew Jenks
So Morris says he never investigated Shannon's case at all. Take special note of that. Next he's told that we filled out a Freedom of Information act, or FOIA request for his report.
- [48:44]
Jed
I don't know how FOIA works with you. I never got into that. Although I'm a strong believer in FOIA reports, I think they're great. I love watching these YouTube videos with the First Amendment or Second Amendment auditors. Have you seen those?
- [49:00]
P.K. Morris
I don't think so.
- [49:04]
Andrew Jenks
Morris continues on about these YouTube videos, and then Zach asks him a second time if he knows the man that Shannon implicated in her reports as her rapist and stalker.
- [49:19]
P.K. Morris
You don't remember?
- [49:21]
Jed
No, I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have talked. I wouldn't have done anything after she said it's thought it didn't happen.
- [49:27]
P.K. Morris
So you have no idea who he is or was.
- [49:30]
Jed
You know, you're asking me. I. I don't at this time, but, you know, you. You're bringing me more information. I did not. I mean, you've got my. You've picked my curiosity that I probably need to go down and see what I can find out. If there is another supplement. If she didn't read me everything. You know.
- [49:53]
Andrew Jenks
Shannon told us that she'd gotten the sense that Morris knew her attacker because she says he'd referred to him by a nickname.
- [50:03]
Jed
No, no, no, no, no, no. Personal friend of mine. No. No reason to. No. Oh, if that's why you're asking me, I. I thought you were asking me because that I talked to him and then didn't want to do anything. And that wouldn't have been true either, but. No, no, no, no, no. Well, what gets confusing is she has her perception of what occurred. I had my perception of what was told me. Okay. Because, you know, that's what it is. And if she believes that it happened then I guess in her mind, it happened just as I believe what happened in my refreshing with. With reports and stuff. If I had a case that took me weeks and weeks and whatever, you know, a lot of effort is the wrong word to use, but a lot of effort to do, and it turns out to be false, then I present it to the commonwealth attorney. The commonwealth attorney wanted to go with a false report. Then I charged false report.
- [51:05]
Andrew Jenks
But then Morris says that's exactly what he did. He did present Shannon's case to the commonwealth attorney for filing a false police report. He tells Zach that his report even says so.
- [51:19]
Jed
I do remember that it did say I presented it to the commonwealth attorney, as I remember the girl reading that to me. Long ago in my career, I decided that all I can do is get the evidence and present it. What a judge decides when he hears the case is up to the judge. And personally, now that I quit, I look back on people that are charged with, you know, dui, stuff like that, and I think, man, I just. I know they made the choice to drive drunk, but I screwed up. I screwed up the life. And it's wrong with me to think of it that way. You know, I didn't do anything wrong. I never felt I did anything wrong or falsely charged people. I just. I didn't do that. But I look back and some of the things that they were good cases and they were convicted, and I'm thinking, this is just stupid, you know, I wish I had become a plumber.
- [52:16]
P.K. Morris
Is there a part of you that feels like maybe you could have handled things a different way with. Or like, is that why you're calling me back?
- [52:27]
Jed
No, I was calling you back because you got me thinking about why you made the comment. Why can't you remember five guys raping a girl? Because I usually remember odd cases. And the reason I'm telling you and calling you back is it wasn't reported as five guys raping a girl. So I'm like, I gotta call him back and let him know I'm not a complete idiot. But the reason I feel I didn't remember the case and it didn't stand out because you made comment you would think it would stand out is because it was a false report, it didn't happen.
- [53:08]
Andrew Jenks
And then after denying that he knew of Shannon's attacker multiple times, Morris brings up the name himself and asks a question that only can be described as strange.
- [53:23]
Jed
Okay, no, I do not know. I do not know him. Oh, are you thinking he's a snitch? And I was protecting the snitch.
- [53:32]
P.K. Morris
I didn't say that.
- [53:34]
Jed
No, I. I said it. Never. No, I didn't have any snitches. I did drug work from 91 to 95. 96. That was very bad at developing. Or informants. Let me change the word informants. No, he wasn't an informant. I Absolutely. You won't find that in any. If you fo your course, I don't think you're going to find it. No, he is not an informant.
- [54:00]
Andrew Jenks
A quick note. Shannon's attacker has a long list of offenses outside of Virginia, ranging from drug charges to a string of felonies.
- [54:12]
Jed
Well, I can't understand why I would protect. We go out and drink beer all the time, but that wouldn't be it. But no, I don't know him to protect him.
- [54:25]
Andrew Jenks
But Shannon told Zach a strange detail that she remembered that PK Morris actually set up a phone call between she and her attacker.
- [54:38]
Shannon
There was one time Morris gave him my phone number and had him call me and was trying, I guess, to get me to say stuff. I don't really know what that was about, but I mean, think about that one. Like I'm telling you the man raped me and you're having him call me on the telephone.
- [55:00]
Andrew Jenks
Here. Zach asks Morris about that phone call.
- [55:05]
P.K. Morris
Do you remember ever having him call, giving him her phone number?
- [55:13]
Jed
Hmm, that sounds like something I would do. But that would have been in the report.
- [55:20]
Andrew Jenks
Morris says that's not in his report. He's then asked how an 18 year old girl can walk into the police department and in the span of one statement go from claiming she was gang raped to saying that she lied.
- [55:36]
Jed
I don't know if she, you know, I don't know. I mean, maybe she wasn't the type of 18 year old that says, hell no, you stupid ass cop, this really happened. You know, go for it. But I would want to give her the benefit of. If this is something that you made up because you're pregnant and you get in trouble at lu, then let me explain to you. You know, that's nothing compared to what would happen to you if you. Yeah. If you cause a big investor not calls, if you want to go with a false report and you know, put a lot of people's time and effort into something that is not true. Okay. So it would. I would feel that it would be wrong of me not to advise people what could happen to them if they did. It's. I mean, you have to admit it's.
- [56:32]
P.K. Morris
An odd case, but you didn't investigate it to the extent.
- [56:36]
Jed
Well, she said it was false before I could investigate it. I don't want you thinking that I'm an asshole cop that tells people this so I don't have to investigate a report. I don't mind investigating. That's what I get paid for. Okay. I'm sure that, you know, people will get their own opinions as to a, she was pressured, you know, by the investigator, or B, she made it was false reporting.
- [57:06]
Andrew Jenks
Dr. Sandra Hodgin, the CEO of the title IX Consulting Group, has appeared several times this season on Gangster Capitalism, speaking about Liberty's practices as they relate to the Jane does. Here, Dr. Hodgin adds insight to the questions surrounding the idea of Shannon reporting her gang rape months after it happened, only to turn around in one sitting, as P.K. morris says, and say that she lied.
- [57:38]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
Overall, it's difficult for individuals to come forward and talk about sex as a society. Especially within conservative structures, individuals have not been taught to freely talk about sexuality. So imagine the stress to talk about a sexual assault that violates the person to their inner core. It's no surprise that Jane Doe 15 would not immediately report a violent, multi person gang rape. But when you're looking at the numbers in the year 2000, nationally representative studies at the time of Jane Doe 15's case, which was in the year 2001, had shown that 90% or more of student victims did not report sexual victimization, meaning less than 10% actually came forward and reported any kind of sexual assault victimization to a specific campus. Today, when we look at rape statistics, it shows that less than 20% of rapes are reported across the board. And so what we've seen here is that over time there's been such a low number of reported crimes, especially in regards to sexual assault, that it's really not seen that when you find a victim that comes forward to say, oh, this person is giving a false allegation, it's just such a small number of individuals that will even have the courage to come forward because it's so re victimizing and it's just extremely traumatizing for that victim to come forward. And we have to break it down further in that case. For example, most recently, the nonprofit organization Rainn found in the year 2020 that only 4.6% of sexual assault reports lead to an arrest. What's even more interesting is in 2020, the Journal of Interpersonal Violence released a study that found one in five cases reported to the police are deemed baseless. And this usually stems from no investigation taking place. And in these instances, police dismiss cases solely based on their opinion and not from an investigation. This, in turn, creates secondary victimization, distrust in the legal institution, trauma, and then a bunch of adverse health problems. In this specific study, they also talked about how many times police will interrogate these alleged victims and just remove their voice from them and tell them, stop lying. Stop lying. You know you're lying. And it will just completely traumatize this individual who is helpless to begin with, reaching out for help, trusting that there's a justice system that they can actually turn to for support. And they're the ones that are being badgered. And so that's where we start to find these kinds of statistics and research that has been developed over time that is showing that victims are really not hurt a lot of the Times.
- [60:40]
Andrew Jenks
Back to P.K. morris.
- [60:43]
Jed
I can't tell you what she was thinking. I can only tell you that, heck, she said, no, this is not a false report. Continue. I would have continued. I like these type of cases where you get to do stuff like that. You know where you get where you have to find them. Because you call the cab company. You find out. Because cat company has to keep records. So you gotta find out what cab company that you know might have done it, whether there was a call to value sitting, you know, you interview the. You know, the cab drivers.
- [61:17]
Andrew Jenks
Morris has now made several references to a taxi cab. Unsure where he got this detail from, Zach asks him about it.
- [61:27]
P.K. Morris
Which cab are you talking about?
- [61:29]
Jed
I don't know. You say four guys pulled up in the cab.
- [61:33]
P.K. Morris
I never said cab.
- [61:36]
Jed
Oh, just in a car, then. I thought you said cab. Friday?
- [61:40]
P.K. Morris
Negative.
- [61:41]
Jed
Okay, well, then that's. That's my mistake. I know nothing about a cab.
- [61:45]
P.K. Morris
Did it say cab in the report?
- [61:47]
Jed
I don't know.
- [61:51]
Andrew Jenks
Morris says that although the report was read to him, he doesn't know if the word cab was in the report or not. But either way, he says he never looked into that detail. Here's a detail Shannon remembers distinctly.
- [62:09]
Shannon
At one point, Morris had said that they had cameras. And I asked him if he could get the footage. And I don't know if that was just a scare tactic trying to get me to recant my story.
- [62:25]
Andrew Jenks
Zach asks Morris why he didn't pull the security footage after Shannon asked him to.
- [62:33]
Jed
There's no security. There's no security.
- [62:38]
P.K. Morris
How do you know that?
- [62:40]
Jed
Because there's no cameras outside at the time value.
- [62:44]
P.K. Morris
So why would you allegedly have said to her.
- [62:49]
Jed
To make sure she's selling the truth. I'm sure. And there's an example of if it had. There's an example of me making sure. Trying to get her to think, oh my God, there's footage didn't really occur. They're going to pull it and find out it didn't happen. What was her answer? Pull the damn thing.
- [63:07]
P.K. Morris
So wouldn't that tell you that maybe there is some truth to this?
- [63:12]
Jed
Yes, it's a possibility. But wouldn't it also tell you that if it was true, she would have at the end, never said I made it up.
- [63:24]
Andrew Jenks
So Morris, after talking on the phone for one hour and 48 minutes, ends the call where he began saying that he didn't investigate because Shannon told him she lied. He said she may have felt pressured to say so, but that's what she told him. Shortly after speaking to Morris, we finally got a response from the Lynchburg Police Department regarding the Freedom of Information act request we made for the reports Morris continually referenced during the phone call. Our request was denied. According to the specifics of Virginia state law, the Lynchburg PD are not required to provide documents to gangster capitalism because, amongst other reasons, we aren't residents of Virginia. But Shannon is. So we helped her file a FOIA on her own behalf. And while we were waiting to hear back, P.K. morris called again.
- [64:31]
Jed
I now have a clear recollection.
- [64:44]
Shannon
This episode is brought to you by Universal Pictures. From Universal Pictures and Blumhouse, come a storm of terror. From the director of the Shallows. The Woman in the Yard. Don't let her in. Where does she come from?
- [65:02]
Andrew Jenks
What does she want?
- [65:03]
Shannon
When will she leave? Today's the day. The Woman in the Yard only in theaters March 28th.
- [65:12]
Jed
Meghan Trainor, laundry retrainer. Meghan Trainor.
- [65:17]
Shannon
You're tossing out my gunky laundry detergent bottle.
- [65:21]
Jed
It's got that booty, that juicy boom boom that don't bite.
- [65:26]
Shannon
Alright. Arm and Hammer Power sheets. Toss like this.
- [65:31]
Jed
Cause I toss like this. A wash like this, it's a no mess. Laundry bliss. Arm and Hammer power sheets. More power to you.
- [65:43]
Shannon
If fashion is your thing, ebay is it. Ebay's where I find all my favorites. From handbags to iconic streetwear. All authenticated for real this time. A little supreme, some Gucci. I even have that vintage Prada on my watch list. That's why ebay's my go to for all my go tos.
- [66:03]
Jed
Yeah, ebay.
- [66:04]
Shannon
The place for new pre loved vintage and rare fashion. EBay.
- [66:08]
Jed
Things people love. I now have a clear recollection because I found another woman down there who read me My report, evidently the first lady only read me sections of it. March 20, 2001, 2002, she files a report with Karen.
- [66:35]
Andrew Jenks
Karen Morris tells us is Karen Wilson, a former Lynchburg police officer who is now, According to her LinkedIn profile, a lieutenant with the Campbell County Sheriff's Office. We tried multiple times to get in touch with her and were even told by a deputy at the Campbell county station that, quote, the message has been given. But as of the publishing of this episode, we haven't heard back.
- [67:06]
Jed
So what happens is when somebody files a report, gets sent over to investigations, or a supervisor decides whether to assign it or not, and that's due to the fact of the. There was no evidence to collect and stuff like that, I'm sure. So sometime after she takes the report, I'm Assuming it's the 21st, she it gets assigned to me. According to the report, I do interview. I asked him about an incident that occurred to Value City, and he says, oh, you're talking about the rape. And he proceeds to say that he had central sex in his trailer and that he is the father of the child. He says that she came up with this rape story. About the story you were told over on, you know, you said that, you know, she came up. This was a story we'll tell the police. Then ends up telling me that the reason she made the story up was because she did not want her father to know she had. That she was pregnant from consensual sex. I can only tell you what's on the report.
- [68:29]
Andrew Jenks
You'll remember from earlier in this episode that Shannon had told her parents she'd gotten pregnant from her rape prior to filing her first stalking report at Liberty in March of 2002. In fact, her father was the one who at the station told her to tell them about the rape, at which point they sent her to Lynchburg PD So Morris and her attacker saying she wanted to hide her pregnancy, which resulted from having consensual sex, doesn't seem to add up. It's also unclear why this man would have claimed he was the father of the child, as Shannon herself didn't know who the father was. In fact, she didn't know the race of her baby until it was born white. Shannon believes he may have done this in order to convince Morris that it was consensual, which he certainly seems to have done. Next, he mentions one other interview he did.
- [69:37]
Jed
Then somehow I got another girl's name, and I interview her, and she tells me that, yes, she was raped in October, but not to report it to the police. Don't you tell the police.
- [69:54]
Andrew Jenks
Zach asks Morris if the woman he interviewed was Shannon's friend. The woman we've given the name Jessica.
- [70:02]
P.K. Morris
Was her name.
- [70:04]
Jed
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So she. She. She tells me about, you know, that she's making up this story, said that she told to tell the police he was forced to have sex with her in the parking lot of Value City.
- [70:22]
P.K. Morris
So being one of the witnesses saying she was lying, that would be pretty obvious that the alleged rapist would say she was lying, right?
- [70:33]
Jed
Well, I would think so, yeah.
- [70:35]
P.K. Morris
So that would discredit him.
- [70:37]
Jed
I don't see where it discredits him. If you got a gun to you and you're forced to have sex with somebody, would you consider that. That you're raping? I would consider the guy with the gun. And then I go and interview the girl, and the girl tells me that she was told to tell a story about the same way, but that was a story that had made up.
- [71:01]
Andrew Jenks
Morris says that the false report charge hinged on his two interviews, one with Shannon's attacker, who told Morris that Shannon told him to lie, and who it appears, Morris took at his word. The other interview was with Jessica, who he claims was also told by Shannon to lie. Here's Jessica.
- [71:28]
Jessica
He came to my job. I worked at a daycare, and he came to my job, and my boss said, hey, you've got somebody in the office wanting to speak to you. He came into the office where? The place that I worked, and told me, you know, your friend's a liar. You know you're lying.
- [71:45]
Jed
And if we get. If we.
- [71:47]
Jessica
If you're caught, then you're going to jail along with already going to jail. He literally scared me to death. I was like freaking 18. I. I mean, I didn't know. He got in my face and was like, your friend is lying. She's already admitted to lying. He told me that. And he was like, you know, you're lying and you're going to jail, so take back your statement. I did not initially come out and say, okay, yeah, she's lying.
- [72:18]
Jed
No, I.
- [72:19]
Jessica
We sat there for the longest time, and he was like, you just need to come out with the truth because you're going to jail. I was like, almost in tears. I was like, I'm not going to jail. I'm like, okay, she.
- [72:30]
Jed
She lied.
- [72:31]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
Am I good?
- [72:31]
Jessica
Can I go? He's like, yep, you can go. And then he left.
- [72:38]
Jed
I told. I had to.
- [72:40]
Jessica
She understood.
- [72:41]
Jed
She.
- [72:42]
Jessica
She knew he did the same thing to her.
- [72:46]
P.K. Morris
And you're sure it was him?
- [72:48]
Jessica
Oh, it was absolutely him. PK Morris.
- [72:56]
Andrew Jenks
Then, after Morris claims he's told by Shannon's attacker and her friend Jessica that Shannon told them both to lie, he asks Shannon to come speak with him for the first time.
- [73:10]
Jed
March 22nd this month. I invite her down to the west building. I advise her she's not under arrest, she's free to leave. She doesn't have talk to me. She doesn't want to. She decides to talk to me. She tells me the Value City story. Now, I know this is what's going to lead up to me telling her about false report is got two witnesses who's already told me she's lying, okay? So if you want to know, that's why it leads up that way. So she tells the story, and eventually I get into the old, you know, God knows, you know, you. You're gonna have a baby. You don't want to. To have the baby in jail. Don't have to present this to the commonwealth attorney to see what they want to do, and you don't want to end up, you know, having your baby in jail. She then confesses that she made the story up. I say, thank you. You're free to leave. She leaves. She leaves the police department. She goes wherever the heck she wants to go. 24 March, Karen changes the report from right to the false report, which we're supposed to do, and she doesn't get a warrant for making a false report. And that's how court ends up, her going to court.
- [74:31]
Andrew Jenks
And that was that. The only person ever charged in Shannon's gang rape and stalking was Shannon. The obvious question is, what responsibility does Liberty university have? Here's Dr. Sandra Hodgin again.
- [74:51]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
What is interesting is that the Dean of Women's office talked to Jane Doe 15 about being raped, about being chased on campus with a knife, about her pregnancy that she had been concealing for about five to six months and yet provided no support, instead just talked to her about consequences and all of this. The campus being aware of the rape, of stalking, of her pregnancy because of the police department coming to them and letting them know. So the minute that the campus had the awareness and understood that there was a claim of any sort, ignoring the fact that they had a responsibility to at least support her with resources, perhaps look into and provide some sort of investigation, and also look into what kind of clarity responsibility do they have. All of that seemed to have been missed by the campus in a lot of ways. If the university would have come forward and supported her a bit more. I do believe that Jane Doe 15 situation would have been different in the outcome of her life. How she sees the world today. There's a lot of distrust there that was built because two systems went up against her.
- [76:19]
Andrew Jenks
Just a few days before the publishing of this episode, the Liberty University Police Department finally responded to our repeated requests for the rest of the documents associated with Shannon. In their response, they provided heavily redacted documents from Shannon's original stalking report on March 20, 2002, one week prior to when the COVID sheet they initially sent was filed. The one which said that Jed was told to lie about the stalking by Shannon and that P.K. morris said the stalking could have been made up. In this original report, the Same officer, Jason J.J. jones, is assigned. Jones writes that Shannon told him about the stalking in the parking lot. Attached to Jones's report are four handwritten statements by Shannon, Jessica, Jed and Shannon's father. It looks to be Shannon's second written report because there's no mention of a knife in this one. The statements say that Shannon's attacker had threatened to kill her and that Shannon has had multiple problems with this man in the past. Shannon's father writes that he had even made a complaint to the Campbell County Sheriff's Office at one time about another stalking by the same man. But the responding officer determined there wasn't enough evidence to do anything. Officer Jones writes that he called Shannon's stalker who told him she was lying and that Jones told him that he was banned from LU's campus. There is no mention of anybody else lying at all in any part of Jones stalking report on March 20. As far as the rape report that Shannon made at Liberty that same day, L.U.P.D. didn't provide us with those documents, but they do acknowledge that they exist. In a statement to gangster capitalism they wrote to us in March 2002, LUPD received a report of an alleged off campus rape that occurred at the beginning of October 2001 at the mall. So Liberty admits that Shannon filed a rape report with them too. But why did they do nothing afterwards? It seems they didn't even meet the bare minimum requirements according to Title ix. Like investigating the stalking or releasing a timely warning or providing support to Shannon. Instead, the same day, March 20th, they send Shannon, her father and Jessica to Lynchburg PD to file a rape report.
- [79:18]
Jessica
Me, her and her dad drove to the Lynchburg police station and the same thing happened. They did not believe her either.
- [79:29]
Andrew Jenks
We'd mentioned earlier that we helped Shannon file a FOIA request for her rape report from The Lynchburg Police Department. Well, the same day we received the stalking documents from lupd, Shannon received the rape report from Lynchburg pd. First off, Shannon unequivocally remembers writing her own statement. There is no statement from Shannon herself attached to this report. What is included is Officer Karen Wilson's written statement. Wilson was the first Lynchburg officer that Shannon met with. It's dated March 20, the same day as the Liberty stalking report. Wilson writes that four black men arrived in a, quote, vehicle and forced another man to have sex with Shannon at gunpoint. Again, Shannon told us she wasn't sure if they were black or Hispanic. Wilson writes that the man ejaculated inside of Shannon. But her report makes no reference to the other men raping Shannon as well, despite Shannon being positive she told her this. Wilson then writes that Shannon told her she was stalked by this same man that very day on Liberty's campus. Finally, she writes that she spoke to Shannon's friend who corroborated Shannon's story. We believe that friend to be Jessyca. And then just two days later, on March 20, 2002, PK Morris files his follow up report. He starts off by changing a detail from Officer Karen Wilson's statement. Morris says that a taxicab pulled up instead of a vehicle. Remember this?
- [81:37]
Jed
I like these type of cases where you get to do stuff like that. You know where you get where you have to find them. Because you call the cab company. You find out. Because cab company has to keep records. So you gotta find out what cab company that you know might have done it, whether there was a call to Value City. You know, you interview the. Yeah, the cab drivers.
- [82:00]
P.K. Morris
Which cab are you talking about?
- [82:02]
Jed
I don't know. You said four guys pulled up in the cab.
- [82:06]
P.K. Morris
I never said cab.
- [82:08]
Jed
Oh, just in a car then. I thought you said cab Friday.
- [82:12]
P.K. Morris
Negative.
- [82:13]
Jed
Okay, well then that's my mistake. I know nothing about a cab.
- [82:20]
Andrew Jenks
Then after multiple other new details, which Shannon says she never told him, Morris writes that he does indeed go and meet with Shannon's attacker, as he'd mentioned on the phone to Zach. In fact, he spoke to her attacker prior to even speaking with Shannon herself. According to his report, her attacker said she was lying and, quote, agreed to tape a phone call from Shannon, an attempt to get her to talk about the Value City incident being false. Remember this?
- [83:01]
P.K. Morris
Do you remember ever having him call, giving him her phone number?
- [83:09]
Jed
Hmm, that sounds like something I would do. But that would have been in the report.
- [83:17]
Andrew Jenks
He did do says so in his own report. Morris then writes that he went and spoke with Jessica at her job where according to his report, she tells him that she was also advised by Shannon to lie about the rape. Jessica, of course, already told us she was pressured to say this by Morris the same way Shannon was. Morris then writes that on March 22, Shannon came to Lynchburg PD to meet with him, which was their first time speaking, according to him.
- [83:56]
P.K. Morris
So the first time you ever spoke to her, she reported it didn't happen.
- [83:59]
Jed
It was the only time I talked to her. Okay, reported it didn't happen. Now I know this is what's going to lead up to me telling her about false report is no, just got two witnesses who's already told me she's lying.
- [84:15]
Andrew Jenks
His report then reads, quote, Shannon was told she was not under arrest and was free to leave at any time. Investigator Morris confronted her about telling a lie. Shannon stated she was not lying. Investigator Morris explained to her the need to be truthful, that she did not want to be in jail when her baby was born, that she needed to tell the truth so Investigator Morris could tell the Commonwealth Attorney's office she was truthful. Shannon still maintained that she told Wilson the truth, end quote. So Morris writes that Shannon stuck to her story that she was telling the truth twice. But remember he said this.
- [85:08]
Jed
I don't know, I mean, maybe she wasn't the type of 18 year old that says, hell no, you stupid ass cop, this really happened.
- [85:17]
Andrew Jenks
Morris report continues. Quote, Investigator Morris was finally able to get Shannon to admit that the incident as reported to Officer Wilson was not. Shannon was asked if she wanted to make any statements about being sorry for not being truthful. Shannon stated she was sorry and then the interview was over. An incident based report was completed changing the rape to unfounded and adding the false report to police. So Morris himself reclassifies Officer Karen Wilson's initial report from rape to false report, even though he told Zach earlier that Karen Wilson did so.
- [86:09]
Jed
Karen changes the report from rape to the false report.
- [86:15]
Andrew Jenks
And finally he reclassifies Shannon from victim to offender. But here's the kicker. Morris report contains a handwritten section which reads as follows, quote. After an extensive investigative effort, it was determined that event is unfounded. Shannon admitted lying to police about events. Warrants will be obtained. Intensive investigation. Remember, Morris said this earlier, I will.
- [86:59]
Jed
Have investigated having a problem and she says it didn't happen. So I'm not going to go investigate.
- [87:05]
Andrew Jenks
Something that she says in the curse and then this.
- [87:11]
P.K. Morris
But you didn't investigate it. The existence.
- [87:14]
Jed
She said it was false. Before I could investigate It. I don't want you thinking that I'm an cop that kills people. This so I don't have to investigate a report. I don't mind investigating. That's what I get paid for. Okay?
- [87:31]
Andrew Jenks
Five days after Morris's report, Officer Jones at Liberty University PD makes his supplemental stalking report now, saying that Jed was told to lie by Shannon and that P.K. morris told him that the stalking incident could have been made up. And then there's no follow up after that. But there's still one more crucial piece of the puzzle that we have to tell you about. Again, we are issuing a strong trigger warning here. You'll remember Jane Doe 2 from episode three. We gave her the name Kathy. Kathy had been attacked on Lu's campus back in 2005, dragged to a nearby ditch and gang raped by three men. Three men that she'd reported to Liberty police were Hispanic. First, here's Kathy speaking back in episode three.
- [88:44]
Shannon
And the only thing that I remember.
- [88:45]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
Is flashes of light, but I'm almost 100% guaranteed that pictures had been taken during that.
- [88:54]
Andrew Jenks
Kathy and her roommate had pleaded with Jerry Falwell Jr. And and the school to add safety measures, including call boxes, lighting, and cameras. They were denied at every turn, and Kathy ended up transferring schools. Well, as Zach was reporting on Shannon's story for this episode, Kathy found a document, an L.U.P.D. document. It's a follow up to her initial rape report in 2005. Earlier in this episode, we said we'd come back to a key detail that Shannon remembered four of her five attackers to be black or Hispanic. The LUPD document from 2005 says the following. I received a phone call from Kathy regarding more information she thought I should know. Kathy stated that the three Hispanic men that sexually assaulted her told Kathy that she was not the only girl they have done this to. They named, and it lists two female first names. Kathy believes one of them is is a Liberty student, but she does not know which one. These three men told Kathy they purposely picked all of the females, and they showed Kathy a picture of one of the females. I asked Kathy if this was a compromising picture, and she said yes. I asked if the picture was them doing something of a sexual nature to this female, and she said yes, end quote. Of the two first names this document lists, one of those names is Shannon. Let that detail sink in. Had the school done anything after Shannon reported her rape, it's possible that Kathy wouldn't have been attacked. On top of that, if Liberty knew that there were three serial rapists attacking its students in 2005 while Shannon was still a student. Why did they still do nothing? They didn't even reveal Kathy's rape on its annual security report, which resulted in a fine from the Department of Education. Kathy recently received a text message from the female L.U.P.D. officer who'd worked on her case, which said things were swept under the rug and people have to live with the decisions they made and the things they didn't do anything about. I tried to advocate for you, but I was told to stay out of it and mind my business. Here's Shannon's sister.
- [92:07]
Jed
They extended the trauma that they went through by doing this to them.
- [92:12]
Jessica
I mean, it's.
- [92:13]
Jed
It's not even describable, the torment she went through.
- [92:16]
Jessica
And, you know, everybody was against her. They were, you know, telling her, oh, it didn't happen.
- [92:22]
Jed
It didn't happen. You know, you need to. You need to let this go. And, you know, veiled threats, you know, like, you know, I'd hate for you to lose, you know, your spot in. In college. What exactly are they trying to teach young females there? I want them to be held responsible. And all these females that went through this, it's a crime. It's a crime what they did to these girls.
- [92:55]
Andrew Jenks
And for the final word, here's Shannon.
- [93:00]
Shannon
It's just so amazing how something that quote unquote did not happen, how 20 years later, I'm still distraught and I'm still dealing with the effects of it. And the thing about it is, I got raped by five men, but then I felt like I got raped by Liberty University. And then I felt like I got raped by the city of Lynchburg. And the trauma from what Liberty put me through and what the city of Lynchburg put me through is sometimes just as bad as the trauma that I went through being raped. When I heard about the Jane Doe lawsuit and I started hearing kind of some of the stories and bits and pieces of the stories, honestly, I felt like, what's the point? What's the point of joining this? Because I figured it wouldn't get anywhere. It would just be another cover up. I was listening to some report where one of the girls had said something about the silence is the worst part, where if you are silent, you will never help change. And I'm like, well, you know, what could I lose? You know, like, it couldn't be as bad as 20 years ago where I was facing having a baby in jail. So I figured, well, maybe now's the time. And after telling myself, you know, back in the day, choosing to get up. Choosing to live every single day, choosing to look at my daughter and love her despite where she came from, despite how she came to be, just making those choices and saying that God has a plan. You know, how can I say that God has a plan if now's a chance and now's the time where maybe God's plan is now. Maybe it's time for change to happen. Maybe it's time for people to get the justice and get the closure. And how could I not become part of something where maybe it is part of God's plan? Liberty University has been blessed beyond belief. They have money, they have power, they have influence. And the entire place was founded on the motto training champions for Christ. And, and I'm a champion despite Liberty University, not because of Liberty University. It's time for them to use all of the things that they've acquired to actually start creating that safe environment. Not just physical safety, but emotionally, spiritually, mentally, just. Just creating a safe place for students to where they can actually promote themselves as one of the safest campuses in the world. Why cover up to promote something that they could achieve by just spending a little money on it? Why cover it up just to be able to say, we are this? Why not just use the resources to actually make it that? You know, the last 20 years, I've really just watched and waited to see, like, when, when is something going to happen? When is someone going to stand up against this?
- [97:17]
Andrew Jenks
This has been a creation and presentation of C13 originals, a Cadence 13 studio executive produced by Chris Corcoran, Zach Levitt and myself Written, produced and directed by Zach Leavitt Produced by Perry Kroll and myself Research and production support by Ian Mont Editing by Perry Kroll and Bill Schultz Mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz Production coordination by Terrence Malangone Studio coordination by Sean Cherry Artwork and design by Kurt Courtney Marketing by Brian Swarth, Josephina Francis and Melissa Wester. NPR by Hilary Shuff, original music by Joel Goodman and our theme song, you, sins will find you'd out is by Eli Paperboy Reid. Foreign.
- [98:18]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
I'm Jordan Robinson, host of the new podcast, the Women's Hoop Show. Each episode I'll be joined by a rotating group of women's basketball experts to talk wnba, college hoops, the new unrivaled league and the shifting landscape landscape of the sport. The game is growing and so are we. Listen to and follow the Women's Hoop show and Odyssey podcast, available now for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.