Laura Neuman – Maryland

Laura Neuman was 18 when she was raped at gunpoint in 1983. Her attacker held a pillow over her head, and she could provide no description to detectives. For years Laura felt she wasn’t believed, but when she heard about a backlog of unanalyzed rape kits in Baltimore, she began pushing to have her kit located and analyzed. Her rape kit containing vital DNA evidence had been lost, but a search of the fingerprint database in 2002 immediately identified a suspect — a career criminal who had been in and out of prison since 1975. Due to Laura’s willingness to come forward about her ordeal, her attacker was eventually linked (and convicted) by DNA to 8 other rapes, and he is believed to have many more silent victims. Despite her temptation to go back to living her life quietly, Laura began talking openly about her case. She increasingly became convinced of the critical need for her voice as a spokesperson and activist — bringing the community together to identify, qualify and expedite rape cases, many of which had been unsolved for years.