‘Emotionally Fragile’ Friend of Kobe Bryant’s Accuser Says Alleged Victim Had Emotional Problem

ABC News ^ | 07/14/03 | Staff Writer

[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."

[Colofornian]

You are way too emotionally-invested in this discussion...You seem to have overly-identified with this unfortunate young woman. You should get some professional help before you do something rash.

Well, some folks might say that Christ was "way too emotionally-invested" and "overly-identified with...unfortunate" folks. I mean, becoming a man when you're the eternal Son of God is like...well, C.S. Lewis says it's like a man becoming a frog to save all the frogs of the world. And then for Christ to do even a more extreme thing and to die the way he did {see the movie, THE PASSION} prompted folks to wonder if He might be in need of special rabbinic help lest he do something rash.

I have no messiah complex. But all of us in Christ have Him in us: "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me." (Phil 2:20)

So flame away and call me zealot. 'Tis fine. Hasta, Doc...I'll try to wipe the dust off my feet & move on to other posting grounds.

[the infidel]

I'm assuming you two missed CNN reporting this afternoon that the lady in question was hospitalized for an earlier suicide attempt in February while she was in college. That makes two suicide attempts in four months.

I already told you I only watch baseball, preferably Astros. Suicide attempts are not mutually exclusive from being sexually assaulted. She deserves her day in court, and so does Kobe.

This young woman needs therapy; she's a danger to herself and to others.

And if Kobe turns out to be a sexual offender, he'll also need therapy and punishment. If he's guilty, he'll have to register as a sex offender wherever he goes because he's a danger to others.