18 Other Corroborated Cases of
Recovered Memory Overview: The cases
in this file don't fit comfortably into either of the
other categories. Many of the cases are "legal"
in the sense that they involve legal claims - but the
ones in this file were not allowed to go forward, most
often on ground involving the statute of limitations.
This archive preserves the corroborative facts that the
plaintiff tried to introduce in those cases. A few others
are pending, but clearly have corroboration. Most of the
remaining cases are cases reported solely in magazines or
newspapers, often by journalists who spent a considerable
amount of time investigating. For example, the case
uncovered by Tad Shannon in the Eugene Register-Guard
in 1998 is unquestionably a powerful case of recovered
memory; so is the one self-reported by Jill Christman (and
consciously avoided by Ofra Bikel in her one-sided PBS
"documentary" on recovered memory).
- Jill Stimsons memories of child sexual
abuse by her father. "In times of intimacy
with her husband [beginning in the late 1960s],
Stimson began having disturbing flashbacks"
both vague and horrifying. For years, she
struggled with low self-esteem and other problems,
but she never identified the source of the
flashbacks. "It wasnt until 1982 that
Stimson learned what happened." Her mother,
moved by the knowledge that her ex-husband was
occasionally babysitting Stimsons daughter,
told her, in hopes of protecting the
granddaughter, that "when you were a little
girl your father molested you." The mother
had seen physical evidence at the time, had
confronted the father, and had even consulted a
lawyer. Tad Shannon, "Memory and the mind:
recovered memories lead Eugene woman to a painful
truth," Eugene Register-Guard (July
11, 1998: A1).
- Jill Chrismans recovered memories of child
sexual abuse. Ms. Chrismans case is
noteworthy for at least two reasons: first, she
obtained verification from a childhood friend who
witnessed the abuse; second, she told the entire
story to Ofra Bikel of PBS, who later claimed (erroneously)
that she could "could not find" any
corroborated cases of recovered memory. See
Chrisman, J. (1998) "Quieting Doubt: The
gift of corroboration," Moving Forward
Online, 4 (1)
- Marilyn Van Derbur's recovered memories of child
sexual abuse (revealed publicly in Denver,
Colorado, May 1991). Her memories were
corroborated by her sister, Gwen Mitchell, who
had continuous memory of similar abuse and who
long thought she "was the only one"
sexually abused in the family. Fawn Germer,
"Ex-Beauty Queen's Sister Acknowledges
Father Molested Her, Too," Rocky Mountain
News, May 11, 1991: 6.
- Cynthia Yerricks recovered memories (in
1991) of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse by
the Rev. Robert E. Kelley (in the mid-1960s). Ms.
Yerrick recovered the memories in therapy. "Asked
by her therapist to draw a picture of what made
her so angry, the troubled young mother of two
felt a sudden rush of emotion. She sketched the
Catholic Church she attended as a 4-year old in a
small Massachusetts town." Jason Wolfe,
"Woman Relies on Repressed Memory in
Alleging Priest Abuse," Maine Sunday
Telegram (October 26, 1997: 1B). Soon
thereafter she began recalling horrifying
memories of abuse. "With the memories
bubbling to the surface, Yerick and her husband,
who salvaged their marriage, decided to find out
about Kelley. They leaned that three years
earlier, in 1990, he had pleaded guilty to
molesting a 10-year-old girl and had been
sentenced to five to seven years in state prison."
Id. Mr. Yerrick was awarded $527,734 by Judge
Daniel Toomey in a lawsuit against Kelley.
Richard Nangle & Gary Murray, "Ruling
against priest," Telegram & Gazette
(Worcester, Ma.) (October 18, 1997: A1). In
Yerricks suit against the church, which is
still pending, Judge Fremont-Smith recently found
the diocese in "serious and culpable non-compliance"
with the rule of civil procedure for, among other
things, trying to conceal corroborating evidence.
"The judge found that the diocese withheld a
1963 pastors report on Kelley in which his
pastor answered yes to the question,
Has he conducted himself with persons of
the other sex in such a way as to cause scandal,
criticism or suspicion." Dianne Williamson,
"Court raps dioceses knuckles,"
Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Ma.) (July
21, 1998: B1).
- Linda Lee's recollections of child sexual abuse (Florida,
1992). "Linda Lee can see flashes of her
childhood. Horrendous images: a relative forcing
oral sex on her when she was 3 and 4, the same
man raping her when she was a teen, his big hands
gripping her throat to hold her still
.[Lee]
says she didn't remember one single detail of a
childhood filled with sexual abuse until she was
an adult. Her mother finally confirmed it this
year and her abuser, when confronted, didn't deny
it." "In the case of Linda Lee, her mom
recently admitted that she knew what was going on,
but was too emotionally battered herself to
protect her daughter. A childhood friend told Lee
last year that she once saw Lee being attacked,
but was afraid to tell." Tracie Cone, "Memories
of Sex Abuse," Miami Herald, June 7,
1992: 1J.
- The initial complaint against Norman Ackison for
rape and child sexual abuse. (Separate complaints
were ultimately the basis for criminal charges,
but those complaints certainly corroborate the
recovered memory). "A number of adults in
the Shasta Drive neighborhood recalled being
victimized by Ackison when they were young,
Patten said. However, no charges could be brought
in those cases because of the statute of
limitations had expired." Ackison was
eventually charged for offenses involving 'three
girls between 5 and 6 [that] occurred between
September 1989 and February 1991. Ackison
surrendered after being featured on America's
most Wanted. "The investigation was
triggered when one of the victims became upset
after watching an episode of In The heat of the
Night featuring a child abuse case." (Jim
Woods, "TV Show May Have Scared Accused
Child Abuser Into Giving Up," Columbus
Dispatch, April 16, 1992: 3D.)
- John BBB Doe and John MMM Does recovered
memories of child sexual abuse by Rev. William J.
Effinger. These plaintiffs were joined in a civil
suit by five others who always remembered abuse
by Rev. Effinger, but who did not understand its
significance until adulthood. The repressed
memory claim for BBB and MMM "was included
in their briefs in opposition to the motions to
dismiss." Doe. V. Archdiocese of
Milwaukee (1997), 211 Wis 2d. 312; 565 N.W. 2d
94; footnote 1. The Wisconsin Supreme Court
prohibited all seven suits from proceeding,
arguing that only the legislature can extend the
statute of limitations in such cases.
The corroboration for the two men with recovered
memory extends far beyond the others in this
lawsuit. Seven other men and two women who were
abused by Rev. Effinger in Wisconsin reached out-of-court
settlements with the Archdioscese of Milwaukee.
"Church Settles with 9 for Abuse by Priest,"
Chicago Tribune (December 1, 1993: p.3).
Those claims spanned 20 years "from
the priests first parish assignment to his
last." Id. In 1993, Father Effinger
entered a no-contest plea in Sheboygan County to
second-degree sexual assault against a 14-year-old
boy. He was sentenced to 10 years and died in
prison.
- Chris White, whose repressed memories of sexual
abuse at Ryerson Public School 20 years ago,
resulted in a guilty plea by Robert Warren.
"Now in his mid-50s and living in British
Columbia, Warren had been with the Toronto Board
of Education for 23 years and had two other
convictions for sexual offenses against children.
One dated back to 1965 in Lindsay; the other was
in British Columbia in 1988." (Judy Steed,
"Abuse Victim
" The Toronto
Star, May 7, 1995: A1).
- Janet Ostrowskis memories of child sexual
abuse by Rev. John Mott, pastor of St. Catherine
of Sienna Roman Catholic Church in Franklin
Square. Ms. Ostrowski was prohibited from
pursuing the claim because of the statute of
limitations, but "four more women
subsequently contacted the Roman Catholic Diocese
of Rockville Center to say that they had been
sexually abused by Mott when they were teenagers."
Stuart Vincent, "Dismissal of Abuse Suit
Appealed," Newsday (May 11, 1995: A31).
- Angela Mitchell's flashbacks of being sexually
abused 27 years earlier by Monsignor Arthur Sego
at the St. Patrick Catholic School. "Mitchell
repressed her memories of the incidents until
April 1994, when she began helping an abused boy
while working as a teacher's aide at the Kokomo
YMCA." "Kokomo Woman Says Monsignor
Molested Her," Gary Post-Tribune (March 5,
1995: B12). Mitchell told her older sister at the
time of the abuse. Her sister told her mother,
who contacted the diocese in Lafayette, "but
a bishop there allegedly told her not to tell
anyone, saying that church officials would handle
the situation." Id. (The Monsignor was sent
to the St. Joseph Mother House for two and one-half
weeks to reflect on what had occurred. He also
received psychiatric therapy for two and one-half
months. He was then assigned to a different
parish.)
The Bishop confirmed the basic facts in a 1967
letter that ended: "I would suggest that you
might destroy this letter after you read it. In
this way, we will protect both [A.M.] and
Monsignor." A.M. v. Roman Catholic Church,
669 N.E.2d 1034 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1996).
The mother "followed the Bishop's
instructions and never again spoke to A.M. about
the molestations. The older sister also kept the
secret." Id. Remarkably, the Indiana Court
of Appeals did not allow Mitchell to proceed with
her highly-corroborated claim because the
perpetrator was not a family member, and she did
not bring the suit before turning 18--something
that would have been impossible, since her first
recollections were at age 34.
- Stephen McCaffrey's adult recollections of sexual
abuse by Rev. Robert J. Vonnahmen at the
Belleville diocese camp. "Neither [another
abuse survivor] nor McCaffrey used hypnosis, or
was in therapy at the time of the flashbacks."
The suit was still pending at the time of this
article, which also states that "Rev.
Vonnahmen is one of eight priests who have been
removed from their duties in the Belleville
diocese." Virginia Baldwin Hick, "False
'Memories' a Growing Issue in Abuse Cases," St.
Louis Post Dispatch, March 3, 1994: 5B.)
- Former altar-boy in Baltimore, who requested
anonymity, but whose adult recollection of abuse
resulted in the removal of four priests. The
victim told the Washington Post that the
"molestations began when he was 11 or 12 and
continued until he was about 17. He began having
marital problems several years ago and sought
therapy. On January 19 [1995], he met for nearly
two hours with Monsignor William Lori. The next
day, Lori separately interviewed the four priests
and each admitted to the victim's allegations."
(Clari.news.crime.sex; article 865, February 6,
1995; see also, "4 Priests Removed After
Admitting They Molested an Altar Boy," New
York Times, February 7, 1995: A14.).
- Kevin MacKenzie, former alter boy in Pennsylvania,
who "did not remember the abuse until
certain events triggered his 'repressed memory'
in 1993." A New Jersey appeals court
dismissed his case under the statute of
limitations. "N.J. Court Dismisses Lawsuit
Against Priest," Philadelphia Inquirer,
July 25, 1995: N1. While this case was pending,
Kohler was apprehended for his involvement "in
taking 'suggestive photographs'" of young
boys with ex-priest William O'Connell. "Priest
Will Face Obscenity Charge," Bergen
County Record, July 13, 1994: A6. "Thousands
of photographs of young boys, some of them naked"
were found in the home."
- Michael Helferty's recollections of abduction and
sexual torture 37 years earlier (Ottawa, 1996).
"It was, in fact, a horrifying personal
flashback that brought [Owen] Dulmage to police
attention
.That account, combined with
recent evidence from a Quebec man who says he was
abducted in the late 1940's, led to Dulmage's
arrest." "[P]olice cordoned off the
Dulmage home last week and carted away boxes
filled with what police said were photographs of
naked and bound boys, allegedly abducted during a
period that spans more than four decades
.Examples
from some of the evidence collected last week are
chilling: a book titled They Asked for Death,
photographs that show boys wearing paper-bag
hoods and bound hand and foot; others show boys
strung by a rope and pulley from rafters or tree
limbs; and in one black-and-white shot, a
youngster crouched naked and bound on a tarpoline
.[Dulmage's
job as a scout master] ended in 1951, with his
conviction for the kidnapping and torture of a 13-year-old
Kingston, Ont., boy, Teddy Wainright. In a
sensational trial, Dulmage admitted that he
knocked the boy out and then took him to his
Ottawa home, where he suspended the trussed
youngster from the rafters, poured hot wax onto
his eyelids to seal his eyes closed, and carved
the initials TW into his thigh
.Dulmage
received a one-year sentence
.The faces of
only 10 boys in the hundreds of grainy
photographs seized from Dulmage's Ottawa home are
visible." E. Kaye Fulton, "Unsavory
Secrets: Ottawa Police Find a Cache of Horrifying
Pictures," Maclean's, April 7, 1997:
18."In 1951, nobody really believed me,"
explained a man who was abducted as a 13-year-old
and whose case resulted in prosecution at the
time. An article in the Toronto Sun described how
he and his mother were ostracized after the trial,
and how the perpetrator smiled at receiving a one-year
sentence.
- Susan Lees recovered memories of horrendous
physical and sexual abuse as a child (Birmingham,
England; 1997). Ms. Lees was adopted at the age
of five by a family who treated her as one of her
own, and did not even know about all the abuse
that she had suffered before they adopted her.
Her memories of abuse did not begin until she was
35. Lees was listening to a news report from
Bosnia on her car radio and heard the screams of
a young girl in Bosnia having shrapnel removed
from her back without an anaesthetic.
"The next thing I knew I had pulled
over and was crying uncontrollably. When I
got home I dashed into the attic to get my
old doll out of the loft. I started to bathe
and wash because I felt dirty. For weeks
afterward I bathed and scrubbed my legs
because they itched. It got to the stage
where they were raw." Lucy Johnston,
"Memories of Child Abuse Spark Lawsuit",
The Observer (March 2, 1997): 3.
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