Name of Woman Who Recanted Rape Story Used to Pressure Young Victim

A 16-year-old rape victim was sent a hoax letter signed “Kathy Crowell Webb” in an attempt to push her into recanting her testimony, according to court documents.

The letter told the girl that her testimony in January was untrue and urged her to recant. It was signed: “In sincere earnesty, Kathy Crowell Webb.”

Cathleen Crowell Webb, who spells her name “Cathy,” received national attention a year ago when she came forward to recant her rape accusation against Gary Dotson six years after his conviction. She called the letter using her name “obnoxious” and “sick.”

The Rev. Carl Nannini, Webb’s pastor in Jaffrey, N.H., said he told Webb about the letter, and Webb “told me she had nothing to do with it and that the whole thing was absurd and sick.”

Not only is Webb’s first name misspelled, but she also “never pays any attention to what goes on in Chicago,” he said.

The letter was included in a report on the impact the crime had on the girl, who was 14 when she was attacked by a neighbor. Prosecutors wanted to use the report as evidence in the sentencing of the man convicted of the rape, Edwin Evans, 19.

The two-page, typewritten letter urged the girl to “repent” her “fabrication” of the “alleged rape.”

Associate Judge Matthew J. Moran sentenced Evans to concurrent prison terms of 15 years and three years for aggravated sexual assault and unlawful restraint.