Alleged victim had planned to keep hotel incident quiet

By Charlie Brennan And Jeff Kass, Rocky Mountain News
October 2, 2004

EAGLE - She was going to stay quiet.

That was one of the revelations in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case files released Friday by the Eagle County Sheriff's Department: The alleged victim's first reaction was to keep the whole thing to herself.

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A transcript of investigators' interview with her ex-boyfriend, Matt Herr, who she called an hour after her encounter with the Los Angeles Lakers star, shows she intended to keep it a secret - as she claims Bryant ordered her to do.

Asked what she told Herr in the 12:30 a.m. phone call on July 1, 2003, just an hour after she left the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera in Edwards, Herr said, "That she just wanted to forget about it and that nobody would believe her."

But she did not forget about it. Urged on by both Herr and a co-worker at the Cordillera, she sat down later that day with investigators and described how Bryant allegedly raped her, his hand wrapped around her neck, and ordered her to tell no one what happened.

She told detectives that after the alleged assault, "that's when he started, 'This is just between the two, the two of us. Nobody is going to know about this; you're not going to tell anybody.'"

She hoped for autograph

The most compelling material in the 354 pages released Friday is the 31-page transcript of what she said that day during her videotaped statement at the Eagle County Sheriff's Department.

"I wouldn't say he was choking me," she said in response to questions from Detective Doug Winters. "I could breathe, but he had his hands tight enough around my neck, so that I thought he would choke me."

She added that Bryant "continually had one hand around my neck and with his other hand, pushed me over to the side of the two chairs, um, turned me around and bent me over and lifted up my skirt."

She said "no," she told investigators, when Bryant lifted up her skirt. She said "no" when he removed her underwear.

"Did he hear you?" Winters asked.

"Yes, he did," said the resort employee, who had been excited to meet the star and said she had gone to his room with a marker and paper, hoping for an autograph.

She knew he heard her, she claimed, "Because every time I said 'no' he tightened his hold around me."

Willing to testify in court

Near the conclusion of the interview, in which the young woman admited she entered Bryant's room expecting he might "make a move" on her, she was asked if she would be willing to submit to a lie detector examination. Yes, she said.

"Are you willing to testify in court?" she is asked.

"Yes."

But 14 months later, that answer became "no." On Sept. 1, three days into jury selection for Bryant's highly anticipated trial, Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert announced that one of the most closely watched criminal cases in recent Colorado history was going no further.

The alleged victim, he said, no longer wished to testify because of the accumulated stress, part of which stemmed from the release of embarrassing details concerning her personal life.

Most specifically, Bryant's legal team had turned the focus on the woman, alleging that vaginal injuries prosecutors blamed on forced penetration by Bryant were instead the result of multiple partners in a short period of time.

When the case was dismissed, it did not leave the six-time NBA All-Star totally in the clear, however. The young woman has filed a federal lawsuit against him.

Bryant issued a statement after the charges were dismissed saying he wanted "to apologize to (the alleged victim) for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year."

Woman gave Bryant tour

According to the police summary of her statement released Friday, the alleged victim said she worked late so she could meet Bryant and make up some missed hours.

She showed Bryant to his room after his 9:30 p.m. arrival and made arrangements to return and give him a tour.

After the tour, Bryant invited her into the jacuzzi. She said she wanted to leave, but Bryant persisted and she finally consented "to get herself out of the situation," according to the report.

But they never made it to the jacuzzi. They kissed for five minutes.

"She told him she needed to leave," the report says, but Bryant started to rub her vagina from outside her underwear, she said. He then began choking her and dropped his pants.

"She stated she told him she needed to leave," according to the report. She said she tried to leave, but Bryant blocked her way.

"She stated she began to give in at this point because she was fearful of what he may do to her," the report said. "She thought possibly physical harm."

Different details The alleged victim said different things to different people, according to reports. She told a nurse, for example, that Bryant told her to kiss his penis after sex, but she did not originally tell that to detectives.

Also, she told Herr that she had showered before she was examined for sexual assault.

But she later said she didn't and only told Herr that "because she wanted him to get off her case about calling the police. "

Another issue involved the cleanliness of her panties - a subject that became relevant because forensic tests showed the presence of Bryant's DNA and that of another man.

"She stated she packed the panties in the bag for (a work) function," the transcript said. "However, when I asked her if she was certain they were clean, she hesitated and stated she was fairly certain they were."

'Sorry for inconvenience'

And in words that appear somewhat prophetic, the transcript of Bryant's interview captures Detective Dan Loya apologizing to Bryant bodyguard Mike Ortiz as investigators take Bryant in for his "rape kit" examination. "Sorry for the inconvenience for you guys," said Loya.

Ortiz, whose boss went on to spend several million dollars defending himself, replied, "You don't even know."

The excerpts

Included in the 354-page Eagle County Sheriff's Department Kobe Bryant case file released Friday was a transcript of the 20-year-old alleged victim's first interview with police.

• Upon returning to Bryant's room at the Cordillera, after giving him a brief tour, the alleged victim told Eagle County sheriff's Detective Doug Winters: "He proceeded to try and convince me to come back in 15 minutes, which I told him I would, just so I could get out of there, and then I was just gonna leave and not come back. Um, I just stood up to leave, he stood up, asked me to give him a hug. I gave him a hug and he started kissing me and I let him kiss me. And the kissing continued. Then he took off his pants. And that's when I tried to back up and leave. And that's when he started to choke me."

Winters: "Did he know you were trying to leave?"

Alleged Victim: "Yes."

Winters: "How do you know that?"

AV: "Because I kept trying to back away and move towards the door."

Winters: "OK. So and then what happened?"

AV: "That's when he continually had one hand around my neck and with his other hand pushed me over to the side of the two chairs, um, turned me around and bent me over and lifted up my skirt."

Winters: "Are you telling him anything at this point, now?"

AV: "At that point I was just kinda scared, and I said 'no' a few times."

Winters: "How do you know he heard you?"

AV: "Because every time I said 'no' he tightened his hold around me . . . And then he would lean his face in real close to me and ask me questions."

Winters: "What would he ask you?"

AV: " 'You're not going to tell anybody, right?' "

• After detailing the alleged assault, the young woman is asked to clarify certain points.

Winters: "OK. Um, had you led him on at any time during this event, where he would have believed that maybe he was led on?"

AV: "Yes."

Winters: "At what point?"

AV: "When I was walking to his room and showing him, showing him around, he was being flirtatious with me and I was flirtatious back."

Winters: "OK, and why were you doing that?"

AV: "Part of me was excited that he was Kobe Bryant and he was showing interest in me, and part of me was trying to, I don't wanna say being a good employee, but being nice, I guess."

Winters: "Did you think anything like this was going to happen earlier in the evening?"

AV: "I had some idea that, cause he was showing interest in me and being flirtatious, asking me how old I was, asking if I had a boyfriend, so a little part of me thought that he was gonna try and make a move on me."

Winters: "And what, what did you think at that point?"

AV: "I thought making a move on me would be kissing me, and that was it. And I thought that was fine."

Winters: "OK. You had no intentions of sleeping with him?"

AV: "No."

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.