The family of a Loyola Marymount University student raped during a party last November at an unsanctioned fraternity party off campus wrote an open letter Wednesday, with the hopes that someone will come forward and identify the attacker.
"You don't expect to hear that they were sexually assaulted and raped," said the mother, who along with the family wrote anonymously in an article published Wednesday by The Loyolan, the campus newspaper.
Nearly seven months after the attack Nov. 1, 2014 at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house during a Halloween party, no one has come forward and police have made no arrests. A detective said only that it is an active, open investigation.
She was there with friends when, according to her parents, took a wrong turn while looking for the bathroom. She ended up in the garage, where she was cornered by an unidentified man.
"The rapist is still out there, so we are frustrated because it's very hard knowing people know who he is," the mother said. "This was a blatant, forcible attack."
Within hours, the student went to the emergency room, a rape crisis center and filed a police report. Fliers were passed out. Witnesses were interviewed, but there were no leads.
"A person wearing a white top hat and a white shirt and dark pants is a costume that you would forget and I think he wouldn't have been in that house unless he had been invited by somebody," she said.
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But despite the frustrations, the family said they are rallying behind their daughter, who they describe as a strong, kind and loving young woman, whose spirit will not be broken.
"She is not going to let him win," the mother said. "She's not going to let him take anymore from her and she's doing that every single day she keeps moving on with her life."
It is not clear whether the suspect was a member of the fraternity or a guest of the party.