Billie Walter

It was June of 1970 and I was spending a lot of weekends hanging out with my girlfriend Peggy.  Her parents had a place on Lake Erie, so occasionally we would go up there for the weekend.  This weekend was no different than the rest except we decided that we wanted to rent a hotel room instead of staying with her family.  I guess we wanted to feel like we were on our own.  We also didn’t want to have to worry about what time we would be getting in at night.  It was always a party atmosphere on the weekends.

We settled into our motel room and headed out for the evening.  We didn’t rent a car so we were pretty much relying on finding a party that was close by or getting a ride to one.  It doesn’t take a couple of twenty-year olds long to find a party.  We hung out for about an hour and met some nice people.  Two of the guys that we met told us about another party that they said was going to be really great.  Well, we were certainly up for that.

We left the party with them and headed down the main strip.  Then the driver took a turn down a long dirt road.  We were a little concerned but they assured us that this was the way to the party.  They drove out into the middle of a large field and stopped the car.  At first it seemed like they were just going to try and make out with us.  When I refused, I was pushed out of the car unto the ground.  I thought he was going to leave me there but he got out and came after me.  I started screaming but no one could hear me but Peggy.  The guy was holding her in the car so she couldn’t get out to help me.  He started hitting me and pinned me on the ground and raped me.  He was much larger than I was and there was no way that I was going to stop him.  After he was finished with me, he threatened to find us and kill us if we ever told anyone.  I was young and naive and I believed him.

It was a really horrible experience and I was just happy to get out alive.  Did it teach me not to go places with strange men?  Probably a little.  I was very trusting back then and I still had a lot to learn.