Don't Make Assumptions About What True Sexual Abuse Claims Should Sound Like

     The fact that a sexual abuse accuser did not come forward about sexual abuse earlier, is not proof that the abuse didn’t happen. They may have waited, due to confusion about what happened, or due to a feeling of duty to protect the person from consequences, and/or fear of outing the person for the sake of the accuser's own safety.

     The fact that an accuser seems inconsistent about their claims, is not proof that they are inconsistent. Don’t make assumptions about what true claims of sexual abuse or rape "should" sound like or look like; instead, ask the accuser clarifying questions.

     The fact that an accuser is not always around the accused person, is not proof that the abuse couldn’t have happened because the accuser was never around the accused person. That’s not the same thing.

     The fact that an accuser continues to associate with their abuser, is not proof that the accuser isn’t afraid of that person. They may be associating with the abuser out of feelings of duty, guilt, shame, bribery, manipulation, or brainwashing, or all of the above.

     The fact that an accuser can’t remember all the details of the abuse, is not proof that it didn’t happen. Traumatic incidents - especially those that happen very quickly - are easy to partially (or completely) forget.

     But at the same time, the fact that an accuser can remember all the details of the abuse, is also not necessarily proof that they’re making it up. The fact that many victims don’t fully remember the abuse, does not mean that no accusers will have full memories of what happened to them. That's not the same thing.

     Not everything is the way it seems, the instant that we look at it. The difference between "never" and "rarely" - and the difference between "doesn't" and "doesn't necessarily" - should not be underestimated.
     Please keep these facts in mind when evaluating the veracity of claims that sexual molestation and rape have occurred.

Written on June 18th, 2021

after studying the claims against Michael Jackson

Published on June 18th, 2021

Correcting the Record: Regarding the Details About Six of Forty-Three Dates on Which Molestation Could Have Occurred

     In my second report to police regarding the molestation I endured as a child, I explained that I may have been molested as many as 21 times, between 1992 and 2000. The majority of those incidents – as many as 12 of them (and certainly no less than 3 or 4) – occurred on the gray couch in the furnished basement of my childhood home, at 524 East Washington, in Lake Bluff, Illinois.

     I have identified, in previous statements, the forty-three Sundays between April and August of 1995 and 1996, as the dates on which those incidents of molestation on the gray couch could have taken place.

     I wish to clarify some things about seven of those forty-three dates.

     As I have stated, the twelve incidents in question – given as Incidents #2 through #13 in the first statement to police, and as Incidents #5 through #16 in the second statement – could only have occurred on forty-three possible dates:

     April 2^nd, 9^th, 16^th, 23^rd, and 30^th; May 7^th, 14^th, 21^st, and 28^th; June 4^th, 11^th, 18^th, and 25^th; July 2^nd, 9^th, 16^th, 23^rd, and 30^th; and August 6^th, 13^th, 20^th, and 27^th, 1995;
     and April 7^th, 14^th, 21^st, and 28^th; May 5^th, 12^th, 19^th, and 26^th; June 2^nd, 9^th, 16^th, 23^rd, and 30^th; July 7^th, 14^th, 21^st, and 28^th; and August 4^th, 18^th, and 25^th, 1996.

     The matter which I wish to clarify, is that I was less likely to be abused during major golf tournaments, than other dates mentioned. Those golf tournaments took place on seven of the forty-three Sundays I have listed.

     Those tournaments and dates were:

     1) the Masters Tournament in Georgia, held on Sunday, April 9^th, 1995;
     2) the U.S. Open in New York, held on Sunday, June 18^th, 1995;
     3) the British Open in Scotland, held on Sunday, July 23^rd, 1995;
     4) the Masters Tournament in Georgia, held on Sunday, April 14^th, 1996;
     5) the U.S. Open in Michigan, held on Sunday, June 16^th, 1996;
     6) the British Open in England, held on Sunday, July 21^st, 1996; and
     7) the P.G.A. Championship in Kentucky, held on Sunday, August 11^th, 1996.

     On the seven dates listed above, I believe that my father would have been less likely to have molested me, than the other thirty-six dates.

     I say that because my father is, and was at the time, such an avid golfer and golf fan, that he has routinely gone to parties at friends’ houses – or thrown his own parties – to watch golf tournaments on television.

     The significance of this is that I have increased the precision with which I have identified the dates on which I could have been molested.

     Those (between three and twelve) incidents of molestation on the gray couch, could only have occurred on the following dates:

    -  April 2^nd, 16^th, 23^rd, and 30^th, 1995;
      - May 7^th, 14^th, 21^st, and 28^th, 1995;
     - June 4^th, 11^th, and 25^th, 1995;
     - July 2^nd, 9^th, 16^th, and 30^th, 1995; and
     - August 6^th, 13^th, 20^th, and 27^th, 1995;
 and
     - April 7^th, 21^st, and 28^th, 1996;
     - May 5^th, 12^th, 19^th, and 26^th, 1996;
     - June 2^nd, 9^th, 23^rd, and 30^th, 1996;
     - July 7^th, 14^th, and 28^th; and
     - August 4^th, 18^th, and 25^th, 1996.

     As I have explained, I was molested no less than three or four times, and as many as ten or twelve times, on the gray couch (aside from nine other incidents, of which I have partial memory, and am not sure whether sexual touching occurred meanwhile).

     I can’t remember how many times it happened, because the pattern of abuse – sitting behind my father’s legs, being restrained onto my father’s lap, being tickled and partially suffocated through forced laughing, and then forced genital touching – occurred so similarly, over and over again.

     This fact makes it difficult to distinguish one incident from another in my memory, aside from two incidents. One is the time I clearly remember standing in the basement living room, telling my father that I didn’t want to sit behind his legs while he was watching television, knowing that he was probably going to touch me inappropriately. The other is the time I remember speaking to my mother in the laundry room and asking her to stay home.

     I wrote this statement because I want to make it clear that – if I was molested as many as twelve times on the couch – then there is as much as (approximately) a thirty percent (30%) chance that I was molested on any one of the dates, chosen at random from among the following even sets of three dates in close succession to one another.

     Namely:

     - there is as much as a 30% chance that I was molested on either April 2^nd, 16^th, or 23^rd, 1995;
     - there is as much as a 30% chance that I was molested on either April 30^th, or May 7^th or 14^th, 1995;
     - there is as much as a 30% chance that I was molested on either May 21^st or 28^th, or June 4^th, 1995;
     - there is as much as a 30% chance that I was molested on either June 11^th or 25^th, or July 2^nd, 1995;
     - there is as much as a 30% chance that I was molested on either July 9^th, 23^rd, or 30^th, 1995;
     - there is as much as a 30% chance that I was molested on either August 6^th, 13^th, or 20^th, 1995;
     - there is as much as a 30% chance that I was molested on either April 7^th, 21^st, or 28^th, 1996;
     - there is as much as a 30% chance that I was molested on either May 5^th, 12^th, or 19^th, 1996;
 and
     - there is as much as a 30% chance that I was molested on either May 26^th, or June 2^nd or 9^th, 1996.

     August 27^th, 1995, and August 18^th and 25^th, 1996, were left out of the set of dates above, since they could not be easily grouped together into sets of threes.

     My father, Richard S. Kopsick, should be asked where he was, and what he was doing – and whether he has electronic or paper records proving it - on the thirty-six dates listed above (as well as during the last week before Christmas of 1996, when Incident #20 occurred at the Union League Club Hotel in Chicago).



     To read my most recent statement to police (written between January 9^th and March 3^rd, 2021), please visit the following link:
     http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2021/03/second-statement-to-police-regarding.html

Written and Published on May 8th, 2021