The Mirror

Woman Who Accused TV Anchor Of Rape Speaks Out

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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In January, 2012, Maria Di Toro accused New York Fox5’s Good Day New York Greg Kelly of rape. Kelly, a former White House correspondent for Fox News in Washington, fiercely denied the charges. He said the sex was consensual.

So did he or didn’t he? Regardless of the fact that Kelly is New York Commissioner Ray Kelly‘s son, the evidence was found to be insufficient. The DA would not charge Kelly with a crime.

BuzzFeed did a series of interviews with Di Toro, in which she talks for the first time about what it was like to land in the tabloids –  and in her view, to not be believed. It was recently Monica Lewinksy‘s turn in Vanity Fair. Now, apparently, it’s Di Toro’s. But BuzzFeed has some explaining to do. The story is solely from Di Toro’s point of view. They did invite Kelly to be part of the story, but would not. His lawyer provided a comment on his client vindicated.

Also: Why all the sympathy? At the time of the alleged crime, the press rightfully challenged her. She approached police a full four months after the so-called incident. The New York Post dubbed her “Shady Lady.” A sharp-tongued columnist wrote a piece saying the cops should charge her. She did, after all, report a crime that could conceivably destroy a man’s life.

She said she felt intimidated by the media and constantly felt her words would be distorted. So she chose to turn down offers to talk, instead saying nothing. “I was really scared into submission,” she told BuzzFeed in today’s blockbuster story on the attractive brunette. “I felt that if I had said anything to the press — because I had already seen my own words in a police report twisted — I thought for sure if I gave them any interview on the phone, it was gonna happen the same way.”

BuzzFeed reporter Jessica Testa met with Di Toro in her Manhattan apartment.

The writer lends a distinctly sympathetic ear to how she was treated by the media. Testa writes, “Whoever she is and whatever she did, Di Toro’s story is still one of an everyday encounter gone terribly wrong, and of the brutal consequences for people who level accusations against powerful public figures.”

As for why she is speaking out now, Testa explained to the reporter that she had always stood up for herself – but not this time and it was “eating away at her core.”

To her, the press against her felt brutal. But was it not warranted? Di Toro had a) no evidence of an alleged crime b) she communicated with Kelly through 17 texts after the sex and c) commented that  “oh sure” they’d do it again. Even a New York Post editor said no crime had been committed against her. How could an editor possibly definitively know this? And why would it ever be his place to do anything more than ensure that his publication report the facts?

Another interesting factoid about BuzzFeed‘s story: “The DA’s office denied BuzzFeed’s Freedom of Information Law request for Di Toro’s report, which is sealed; Di Toro was also denied a request to obtain her own records.”

The story has everything — an accusation that Kelly drugged her, raw sexual details, a pregnancy and — sadly — an abortion. Also — a conclusion: If Greg Kelly was a nobody, this story would never have been made public.

Di Toro stands by her charges of rape. She says she suffers from paranoia that she’s being followed and nightmares.

To be sure,  the story has all the makings of a ripped from the headlines episode of Law & Order: SVU. In fact, when she and her sister walked into Harlem’s 13th precinct, she was sent to the SVU.

“It’s a bit of clearing my name,” Di Toro said of telling her story now. “It’s making things right — mind, body, and soul for myself.”

Read here.

Update/Correction: The Mirror previously questioned why Kelly is nowhere to be found in the story. There is a comment from Kelly’s lawyer in the story predominately featuring Di Toro. They did ask Kelly to participate in their story. The above has been changed to reflect it. “Nearly two and a half years ago the allegations against Mr. Kelly were very thoroughly investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office properly exonerated Mr. Kelly,” said Andrew Lankler.