HASTINGS, Neb. — The young woman told a story of a rape so brutal it would motivate any criminal investigator to act.

Visiting family in Red Cloud, Nebraska, five years ago when she was 15, the Colorado woman said an older male relative got her drunk and forced her to shower with one of his children as he watched. Then he handcuffed her to a bedpost and “attacked her private parts” until she passed out, according to court records.

After coming to, she realized that she had suffered a vaginal tear that “hurt and was bleeding.” The girl, described by her mother as having an intellectual disability and mental illness, was left with a scar running to her inner thigh.

Later, during a videotaped interview of a witness in the case, Webster County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dianne Nichols said: “I’m bound and determined to take the little f—– down,” referring to the perpetrator.

“That’s why I’m kind of skirting a few things this time,” the sergeant added a bit later in the interview.

A District Court judge must soon decide if “skirting a few things” may have included listening to recorded phone calls the man placed from jail to his lawyer. Read More.