Rape Claims by Maryville Teen Daisy Coleman Addressed Today
Jan. 9, 2014— -- The controversy surrounding a two-year-old rape allegation by Maryville, Mo., teen Daisy Coleman may be resolved today with a statement by the special prosecutor assigned to the case.
A spokesman for Special State Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker told ABC News that Baker will make an announcement on the case today following a 1:30 p.m. court hearing.
The spokesman did not specify what the announcement will be, but the families involved are anticipating a decision on whether to prosecute suspect Matthew Barnett for the alleged sexual assault.
The court hearing and announcement comes days after Coleman, who is now 16, tried to commit suicide.
The girl's mother said on her Facebook that Daisy was hospitalized over the weekend after a suicide attempt. In the Facebook post, Melinda Moeller Coleman said her daughter was "very messed up mentally."
"My daughter has been terrorized to the point she tried to kill herself last night. She may never be ok," Melinda Coleman said.
Daisy Coleman was 14 when she claims she snuck out of her house with another girl in January 2012 to meet a group of older boys. The girls claim they were forced to drink something that made them very drunk.
Daisy accused Barnett, then a 17-year-old high school senior and the grandson of a former state representative, of raping her and dropping her off, while drunk, on her family's doorstep in the freezing cold.
The case garnered national attention in October 2013 when the Kansas City Star reported on the allegations and a prosecutor's decision to drop the charges against Barnett. The girl and her family say they were harassed and intimidated by members of the community.
The state at the time appointed Baker to be a special prosecutor to re-investigate the case.
The identities of alleged sex assault victims are generally not published, but Coleman's family has gone public with her identity and her accusations.
