Readers React: Wanting to ask her rapist, ‘Why?’

To the editor: Thanks to her courage and the persistence of the Los Angeles Police Department, Jane Piper was finally able to confront the man who raped her many years ago and ask, “Why?” (“Victim confronts rapist in L.A. court before his sentencing,” Sept. 23)

I was raped at knifepoint in 1981 by a stranger whose face I never saw. Despite every effort made over the years, including the help of LAPD cold case detectives, my rapist was never caught. The statute of limitations ran out on my case long ago, the evidence was destroyed and I’ll probably never be able to find out “why.”

But Piper’s victory gives me hope, and I wish for her a deep sense of inner peace.

Wendy Werris, Los Angeles

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