News, Weather and Sports for Sioux City, IA: KCAU-TV.comSiouxland Woman Speaks Out For Rape Victim Rights

Siouxland Woman Speaks Out For Rape Victim Rights

By Staci DaSilva

sdasilva@kcautv.com

Because of the statute of limitation laws in states like Nebraska and South Dakota, rape victims have either 7 years or until the age of 25, whichever is longer, to press charges on their attackers.

But many times, it takes victims years to even admit to their families what happened to them.

Here's the story of one woman who's fighting the system.

Growing up in Wayne, NE Jolene Loetscher took a part-time job working at a family friend's business. But when she was just 15, Jolene says the owner, a man she trusted, took advantage of her innocence and, raped her repeatedly over a span of almost 9 months.

"You go back to being 15 in a heartbeat. You go back to it in a second. And I can tell you the smells, everything that was around me. The color of the carpet," said Jolene.

From that moment on, Jolene was choked by shame.

"The kid that I was would think 'who would believe me?' and I must have done something to cause this. This was my fault," said Jolene.

Jolene carried that guilt through high school, college...

"That man had no right to take from me what he did," said Jolene.

...and ultimately, half of her life, before finally telling her family just 3 years ago at the age of 30.

"The trauma doesn't fade. The part of me that was broken, never heals right," said Jolene.

On what she calls her "2nd birthday," Jolene confronted that man face-to-face. "He came out. And I looked him straight in the eye and I said 'I know what you did to me and I will not be quiet," said Jolene.

Afterwards, with her husband Nate by her side, Jolene says she felt empowered for the first time since that fateful day 15 years earlier.

Because of the current statute of limitation laws, Jolene is unable to face her attacker in court.

Jolene said, "I think that statutes of limitations on crimes of sexual violence and child abuse only protect the rapist, the pedophiles, the perpetrators."

But Jolene isn't giving up. Being a voice for silenced victims, and planning a camp for sexually-abused kids to feel safe and to heal.

"You reach a point where you go from victim to survivor. And I'm proud to say, I'm at that point," said Jolene.

While this happened to her in Nebraska, Jolene has a friend who's a lawmaker in South Dakota.

After hearing her story, the two are teaming up on a bill in the Senate, which would eliminate the statute of limitations for criminal rape cases in South Dakota.

They'll both be at the bill proposal next Tuesday.

The states say those laws are in place because, legally, it becomes more and more difficult to prove guilt as time goes on.