Posted on 07/14/2003 10:32:41 AM PDT by bedolido
E A G L E, Colo., July 14— The nation knows basketball player Kobe Bryant's accuser only as a namless 19 year-old hotel worker, but her hometown friend says everyone in the small town of Eagle, Colo., knows exactly who she is and what she has been through.
Starlene Bray, a friend of the alleged victim, says the young woman is upset over a media stakeout outside her home and reports of emotional difficulties she's recently suffered.
"She's kind of in hiding right now," said Starlene Bray on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "She's been back and forth from Denver, kind of trying to avoid the media and the press right now," she said.
Bray says it seems as if everyone in the town of Eagle, a community of just 3,700 people, knows that her friend is the young woman who has accused Bryant of sexual assualt. And reports of the young woman's emotional problems has made the attention even worse, says Bray.
A recent story in the Vail Daily newspaper reported that the young woman sought doctor's care this spring for serious emotional problems that resulted from the death of a friend and a breakup.
Bray, 19, says it's true that her friend did seek help, but she says that had nothing to do with the young woman's allegations against Bryant.
"She did seek some medical help," Bray says. "She knew she needed it, so she went and got it. She was definitely emotionally fragile, but I don't think it had anything to do with what happened," she said.
Bryant's accuser, a former high school cheerleader, says the 24-year-old NBA star attacked her while he was staying at the hotel where she works on June 30. The media has not released her name because of policies intended to protect the privacy of victims of alleged sex crimes.
Reporters Flock to Small Town
Meanwhile, a steady stream of reporters from around the country have been circling the cul-de-sac where the young woman's middle-class home is located.
The young blonde has been described by her friends as a talented piano player. She sang in her high school choir and tried out for American Idol.
Bray described the young woman as "a good friend, trustworthy, thoughtful, warm-hearted."
Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant has been accused of sexual assault. In a newspaper interview, he said he "would never do something like that." (ABCNEWS.com)
Officials at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards, Colo., where the young woman claims the attack took place, say Bryant was a guest there June 30-July 2. Byrant was in Colorado for knee surgery at a Vail clinic.
Bryant surrendered to authorities on July 4 and was released after posting $25,000 bond. Prosecutors have said they expect to decide this week whether to file charges. Bryant's attorney says he is innocent.
Bryant Proclaims Innocence
Bryant denied the allegations and said he "would never do something like that," in a story printed in Sunday's Los Angeles Times "When everything comes clean, it will all be fine, you'll see," Bryant said.
Bray says she has no doubts about her friend's story.
"Well, when I first talked to her, she seemed really distraught in the fact that it had happened to her," Bray said. "She didn't know what was going to happen to her. She was just scared," she said.
Bray says the young woman encouraged her to speak publicly "to tell everybody who she was and what kind of person she was and to try to get the newspapers and everything like that to settle down on her."
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It makes me sick that the paper would "imply" that she might be a nutcase just because she saw a doctor after a traumatizing experience (death of her best friend.)
White House Communications Director Says 'Stalker' Accurate Description of Lewinsky!
I think it's the friend. At least according to the way the article was setup. I posted her cuz she's pretty. No other reason....lol.
do you think Kobe's pretty? (hehheh)
She IS a nutcase...any way you look at it.
You are the nutcase...anyway you look at it.
Billy Dee Williams....now he's pretty!
Remind me never to introduce my sons to your daughters.
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