SAN DIEGO — Just a few blocks from San Diego State University, a teenager reported to police that she was gang-raped while attending a party in October 2021, and she's still seeking justice.
The now 18-year-old victim said she still suffers from the trauma of that night.
"I just want my criminal case to pull through, and I'd like to see charges filed," said the victim, who requested to remain anonymous to the public.
Her attorney, Dan Gilleon, said friends had been trying to find the high school senior the night of the incident and eventually did.
"...There, all bloodied up and crying and saying she was raped," Gilleon added.
She was taken to a hospital for officials to gather a rape kit, where DNA from multiple donors was recovered.
The investigation turned into a 'he said, she said; and remained open.
"It's pretty tragic for a young woman that multiple men raped, and with all the evidence that we know the D.A. has, it's pretty hard for her to deal with," said Dan Gilleon.
With no criminal prosecution after ten months, Gilleon filed a civil suit on the victim's behalf.
It named three former SDSU Aztec football players, Matt Araiza, Zavier Leonard, and Pa'a Ewaliko.
Araiza was drafted as a punter by the National Football League Buffalo Bills, but he was shortly cut by the team four days after the suit was filed.
"Well, that was a little justice for her because she and her family were getting harassed violently," Gilleon told CBS 8.
San Diego Police responded to a request for information, saying the District Attorney for San Diego County has the case.
"The civil case will probably take a year and a half, but we're going to be able to do a lot more investigation than the DA. They have the power of subpoena, they can get an arrest warrant or search warrant from a judge, but they have to jump through some hurdles," said San Diego police officials.
"I don't think I'll fully heal until I get closure of everything being done with and everybody being held properly accountable, but it is something that I will be dealing with forever. I don't think I'll fully get over it," the victim added.
CBS 8 reached out to San Diego State University, who released the following statement:
It is important to clarify that given the off-campus location of the reported incident from last year, the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) has always led the criminal investigation, as it is not in the jurisdiction of the SDSU University Police Department. SDPD announced in August 2022 that it had completed its investigation, now with the District Attorney's office under review for a decision as to whether any charges will be brought forward. Specific questions regarding the criminal investigation should be directed to SDPD or the District Attorney’s office.
SDSU's independent investigation was launched after SDPD confirmed on July 22, 2022, that doing so would no longer compromise its criminal investigation. SDSU’s own student conduct investigation follows California State University (CSU) policy and is presently ongoing. Given privacy restrictions, we cannot provide specific details about actions we have taken regarding the reported assault.
As part of the CSU audit of system-wide Title IX policy and practice at the CSU campuses, external reviewers are scheduled to visit SDSU in November 2022. This is a systemwide assessment and is not specific to our campus, nor is it a result of the criminal investigation. Before they visited SDSU, they had similar visits to 18 other CSU campuses in the last months. Our university welcomes this review and is looking forward to participating. As stated before, safety is our top priority, and numerous programs, policies, and activities have been implemented since 2018 to discourage individuals from harming others and to strengthen pathways for reporting. We will continue to address the societal problems we see with sexual violence and sexual misconduct.