“Certainly we care about the welfare and wellbeing of our citizens, but … we’ve not been involved in it,” said the mayor of Maryville, where the handling of a young girl’s rape has been criticized.
On Monday, Maryville Mayor Jim Fall opened a city council meeting by declining to answer any questions regarding Saturday's Kansas City Star story about the sexual assault of a teenage girl, Daisy Coleman, in January 2012.
Coleman, then 14, was allegedly raped by a 17-year-old football player named Matthew Barnett, the grandson of a local politician, and left unconscious on her front yard in 22-degree weather. According to Daisy's mother, the Colemans reported the crime to the Nodaway County Sheriff's Department and were slowly driven out of town by hostile Maryville neighbors. Prosecutors eventually declined to pursue charges against Barnett.
On Monday, after a day of renewed interest in the case — particularly from a group of rabble-rousing Anonymous hackers — Fall said the city isn't and wasn't part of the investigation.
"Neither individually nor collectively has the Maryville Public Safety Department or any of its members been in the past nor currently is involved in the investigation of that incident or incidents which were the subject of those articles. That jurisdiction was assumed initially by the Nodaway County Sheriff's Department and eventually by the Nodaway County prosecuting attorney, and it remains there. Our city officials are concerned about the wellbeing of all involved, but there's no official involvement, and your understanding of that position will be appreciated."
In an interview with Duane Lester of The Missouri Torch after the meeting, Fall reaffirmed his position.
"Certainly we care about the welfare and wellbeing of our citizens, but as far as the official investigation or anything, we've not been involved in it," he said, adding that he was unaware of the "Justice For Daisy" event planned for Oct. 22 in Maryville to protest the county prosecutor's decision to drop charges against Barnett. As of 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, that event had more than 1,000 RSVPs on Facebook.
Despite Fall's insistence that the city isn't responsible for Coleman's case, calls for Fall to get involved continue:
