Central Park rape victim now voice for backlogged kits in Duval, Clay, Nassau

A jogger brutally raped and nearly beaten to death in New York City’s Central Park in 1989 is now advocating for rape survivors in his hometown of Jacksonville.

Trisha Meili moved to Jacksonville about six years ago.

Now she’s joined the State Attorney’s Office’s new Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Team as a voice for survivors in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.

“When I was finally found, after laying for hours in Central Park, I was in a coma. I had lost almost 80 percent of my blood. I was in a profound state of shock. And a priest was called in to give me my last rites. So I have absolutely no memory because of the brain injury from anything that night of the attack, from about 5 that that evening until six weeks later,” said Meili.

Meili said she doesn’t even remember going out for the jog that changed her life.

She said she’s still haunted by the uncertainty of what happened.

Five teenagers were convicted of the attack, but 12 years later a serial rapist confessed and said he acted alone.

“I would so like to know, what is the truth? Was it just one person, as a serial rapist claimed 12 years later? Or were the others who initially confessed to it, were they involved in some way?” said Meili.

Meili said that uncertainty is why she feels so passionately about making sure 1,300 survivors in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties whose rape kits remain untested get answers.

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Now the team she’s a part of has introduced the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Victim Information Line so those victims can call to track the progress of their kits.

The number for that information line is 904-255-3076.

The State Attorney’s Office got more than $3 million in grants to deal with the rape kits, which had been sitting untested.

The project covers cases as far back as 1989.

“Every single one of those kits represents a person. And every single one of those people deserves an answer,” said Assistant State Attorney Theresa Simak, who is with the Sexual Assault Division. “A lot of people have maybe waited 15 years to hear something and now they can make one phone call to a warm and wonderful person who’s going to help them deal with this issue.”

Simak pushes for answers for those survivors, but she is frustrated that there’s one question she can’t answer: why all those kits were never tested.

“We don’t have answers for that. You know, I wish that we did. But there are a variety of reasons why kits didn’t get tested. But what we can tell them is, well, you’re validated now and we’re going to work for you,” said Simak.

“That night in Central Park, I experienced an incredible amount of violence that changed my life forever, but I also experienced during my healing an incredible level of human kindness and love,” said Meili.

Now Meili wants to provide that same support to help local survivors reclaim their lives.

“The effect of that support, of that love, is stronger than the effect of that violence,” said Meili.

Meili said she didn’t let her ordeal stop her from jogging through Central Park. Now that she lives in Jacksonville, she said she loves to jog by the river.

Cox Media Group