EVERETT — The first thing a girl did after she was raped in the hallway of Mountlake Terrace High School was cut her hair.
Nearly seven years have passed since that January day, the victim, now 22, said Thursday in Snohomish County Superior Court.
“All I could remember was him touching my hair, every single time I touched it,” she told the court as she wept. “I couldn’t live with that feeling. I felt disgusted in my own body. I couldn’t breathe every time I looked at myself in the mirror, because I hated everything. I hated the fact that he raped me. I hated the fact that it even happened at a high school, a place where I should have been safe.”
The night after she was sexually assaulted in 2016, the girl told police that Cole Krause, a fellow student, had sexually assaulted her in the high school when she got out of dance practice.
She wasn’t the only victim.
At a sentencing hearing Thursday, Judge Paul Thompson sentenced Krause, now 24, to 17½ years in prison for four counts of felony sexual assault involving three students he met at school, where he played on the football team.
Krause was 17 and 18 when the attacks happened. The girls were 15 or 16.
The young woman who spoke in court was the first to come forward. At the time, she was 15.
High school was supposed to be a safe sanctuary, she said, where people were supposed to grow, make friends and live their teenage years.
“I didn’t get that chance,” she said. “Instead, I became suicidal. There was no stopping it at that point, because of how much self-hatred I had toward myself. It was really rough … the victim-shaming, and blaming, and bullying that I experienced in person or over social media. I didn’t have a support system outside of my family.”
After the judge handed down his sentence, the woman and her mother told The Daily Herald they felt relieved. Both asked not to be identified due to privacy and safety concerns.
“I think that justice was served,” the mother said. “I didn’t know what to expect. It’s been a long time, seven years. Seven years made it seem like this day would never come.”
Shame, guilt and flashbacks are some of the many trauma responses experienced by survivors of sexual assault, according to the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs. Trauma may be invisible to the eye, but it impacts the body physically.
The victim who spoke in court said the assault caused lasting distress.
“No person should ever have to go through that,” she said. “No person should ever have to become suicidal due to hating themselves so much.”
When the girl reported the rape to police in 2016, an investigation began. Krause was expelled but allowed to finish his studies online.
People who knew the girl said she was bullied by her peers after going to police. She dropped her case at one point, and the court documents were sealed, meaning Krause wouldn’t have the allegations on his permanent record.
But she changed her mind and asked prosecutors to reconsider when she learned a second girl had come forward.
In March, a jury convicted Krause of the four counts of sexual assault: three counts of third-degree rape and one count of second-degree rape. Two of the assaults happened in Krause’s home, where one victim reported she passed out after a party and woke up to Krause raping her.
At the sentencing hearing, Krause’s mother addressed the judge, saying her son is not a danger to society.
“These things that he’s been convicted of happened when he was a child,” she said. “I have seen him grow exponentially since them. … Please don’t throw him away. He is a good person, he really, really is.”
Under state guidelines, Krause faced a range of 17½ to 23⅓ years behind bars.
Deputy prosecutor Bob Langbehn asked the judge to sentence Krause in the middle of that range, a little over 20 years behind bars followed by a lifetime of probation. Defense attorney Todd Maybrown asked the judge to hand down a sentence below the range, known as an exceptional sentence. The defense attorney argued Krause’s adolescence at the time of the assaults should be seen as a mitigating factor.
When he announced his sentence, Judge Thompson noted he had read letters from family and friends of the defendant that cited difficult dating experiences in his past.
“Rape is not some difficult dating experience,” he told the court. “It is rape.”
After the court hearing ended, victims and family members hugged and held hands as they walked out of the courtroom.
Help is available
There are free and confidential resources for victims of sexual assault and people who experience suicidal ideations.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: dial 988, or 988lifeline.org.
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673.
The Providence Intervention Center for Assault and Abuse operates a 24-hour crisis line: 425-252-4800.
Care Crisis Chat: imhurting.org (chat); 800-584-3578 (call).
If you are concerned about the safety of a child, you can contact Dawson Place Child Advocacy Center at 425-789-3000, or call state Child Protective Services at the statewide End Harm line (866-363-4276). The Providence Intervention Center for Assault and Abuse also operates a 24-hour crisis line: 425-252-4800.
The Trevor Project Lifeline for LGBTQ Youth: thetrevorproject.org, 866-488-7386.
Mental Health First Aid courses: mentalhealthfirstaid.org.
Compass Health’s Mobile Crisis Outreach Team may be contacted at anytime by calling the Volunteers of America crisis line: 1-800-584-3578.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: afsp.org/get-help.
The Snohomish Health District has a list of other local resources: snohd.org/200/Suicide-Prevention.
Ellen Dennis: 425-339-3486; ellen.dennis@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterellen.
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