Audio Story

Special audio Presentation of The Institute’s rape Kit Investigation: “I’ve lived with it every day of my life.”

For years in Memphis, sexual assault victims didn’t get the justice they deserved or the law required.

Published

August 26, 2020

The Waiting Decade: Rape Victims Still Seek Justice

More in this series
Part 1: Victim investigates own case
Part 1 Extra: Evidence Dumped
Part 2: ‘Raped twice’
Part 2 Extra: How Memphis failed
Part 2 Extra: MPD explanation
Part 2 Extra: Protecting the ‘bid’ system
Part 3: Race Against Time

Debby Dalhoff was raped and tortured decades ago by a masked intruder who slipped away into the Memphis night never to be identified. Her search for answers, and justice, led Dalhoff to locate victims and witnesses and interview police and prosecutors who couldn’t – or wouldn’t – solve her case. It’s led her through the frustrating maze created by MPD’s infamous rape kit backlog and to a landfill where she knows now police discarded evidence in her case years ago as worthless. Her powerful story personifies a public tragedy in Memphis where sexual assault victims didn’t get the justice they deserved or the law required. Hear it now in a special audio presentation of ‘The Mess’ from The Institute in partnership with WKNO-FM.

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Written By Marc Perrusquia

Marc Perrusquia is the director of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis, where graduate students learn investigative and explanatory journalism skills working alongside professionals. He has won numerous state and national awards for government watchdog, social justice and political reporting.