FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a woman who said she was raped by a Deerfield Beach High School football player in 2007 broke her silence Thursday afternoon after charges against him were dropped.
In a stunning announcement in court on Monday, the Broward State Attorney's Office cleared Steven Feagin of rape charges. The single mother said the news left her feeling violated all over again.
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The details of her rape, as police first reported, were brutal.
"I was awoken by something very heavy on my back, pillow over my head and fingers on the back of my neck," the woman said.
Police said she was knocked out with a chemical-soaked rag before being assaulted.
"My face was severely burned and my jaw was fractured," she said.
In 2008, police arrested Feagin at a Pompano Beach car wash where he worked as a manager
After linking his DNA in the Pompano Beach rape case to three unsolved cases in Illinois from the mid 1990s, detectives accused him of being a serial rapist. Feagin was also a football player at the University of Illinois.
But a State Attorney's office spokesman said the evidence was conflicting.
"While great detective work by BSO produced scientific evidence that placed Mr. Feagin in the victim's bedroom at some time, the victim made statements accusing another person she knew of attacking her," wrote spokesman Ron Ishoy.
Prosecutors said they could not proceed with the case.
The woman admitted she first thought her attacker was an ex-boyfriend, but also said she couldn't see anything that night.
"Saw nothing but pitch black," she said.
She said she trusted the system to get to the truth.
"I began to accept the fact that he could do this. He had done it in Illinois," she said.
Feagin will leave the Broward County main jail now that charges have been dropped, but he won't be a free man. According to the State Attorney's Office, he will be extradited to Illinois where more cases await.
The victim in Pompano Beach believes women in Illinois will get justice thanks to her.
"There are three victims, possibly five in Illinois, who finally are going to have their day in court. Thanks to me, for stepping up. I may not get justice now, but I did my civil duty," she said.