This was explosive. Donna and Maria believed with little doubt that Jeff was—if nothing else—a prime suspect, someone who needed to be checked out. Donna did not want to tell John or her father about Jeff. Not right now. “They knew who he was and would have gone right after him,” she explained later. Still, Jeff needed to be investigated. Did he have an alibi for that night? Could he be forced to give up a sample of his DNA? So many questions ran through Donna’s mind that she began to experience major bouts of anxiety. By now, after doing a bit of research, Donna had learned that 80 percent of rape victims are assaulted by somebody they know. She had also learned that many rape victims fear not being believed, or think they’ll be blamed for the assault, and that because of these concerns, a large percentage of rapes are never reported. Donna, however, was not going to fall into a hole and go away. She was determined to see this through.Donna again experienced that sense of something going on behind the scenes.
