Johanna Orozco’s one-time boyfriend and eventual rapist, Juan Ruiz, walked up her driveway to fire a shotgun blast through her car window and into her face at close range in March, says the Cleveland Plain Dealer. In a seven-part series that began Sunday, she allowed reporter Rachel Dissell and photographer Gus Chan to tell her story, says Plain Dealer reader representative Ted Diadiun, who calls it a “riveting tale.” The series can be accessed at cleveland.com.
“We tell a story like this not because it is sensational or because we had access,” said Stuart Warner, who edited the Johanna series, “but because we felt that it provides insight into the human condition that we all can learn from.” Said reporter Dissell: “She agreed to do the story for two reasons. She said her goal was to help other girls in abusive dating situations — how to recognize the signs and when to get out. And she was broken-hearted that nobody in law enforcement cared enough about her life and safety to make sure [Ruiz] couldn’t get at her, or even to tell her when he was let out. Here’s a guy who raped her at knifepoint, and she didn’t even get a phone call when police released him.”
Link: http://www.cleveland.com/readers/index.ssf?/base/opinion-0/118932808813970.xml&coll=2