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Stripper Who Accused Man Of Rape Speaks

David Jansen Cleared Of Kidnapping, Rape Charges

POSTED: 1:45 pm EDT July 2, 2009
UPDATED: 7:18 am EDT July 3, 2009

The Atlanta woman who accused a Snellville man of kidnapping and raping her in a Tennessee cabin spoke to CBS Atlanta News Thursday night.

Reporter Joanna Massee talked with Violet Esteppe at the front door of her home.

"I'm still shocked. I't been a lot of stuff, but I'm still not allowed to release any details," Esteppe said.

Thursday, Tennessee prosecutors dropped charges against David Jansen, 46, saying they doubted Esteppe's credibility.

Jansen claimed that the May 26 incident was consensual.

Tennessee prosecutors aren't sure what happened.

"It's hard to look inside somebody's brain to see if all this was contrived between two parties or if she really was kidnapped and raped," Sevier County Assistant District Attorney Steven Hawkins told The Associated Press. "Who can tell?"

But Esteppe told Massee that she is sticking by her story. She said she is also getting counseling.

"All I can do right now is continue in the counseling that I'm doing, but the rest of the questioning has to be done through my attorney," Esteppe said.

Jansen, whose wife filed for divorce after his arrest, wasn't in the courtroom in Sevierville.

"This has been a difficult time for Mr. Jansen and he is happy to have this part of the ordeal behind him," attorney Don Bosch said. Jansen has not decided whether to take legal action against the woman or anyone else involved in his arrest, Bosch said.

Jansen's wife Christy also spoke with CBS Atlanta News Thursday. While she is angry with her husband, she said she doubted Esteppe's story.

"He's never been a violent person at all," Christy Jansen said.

She said she's especially angry at Esteppe.

"The fact that she's only two years older than our son really just ticks me off," Christy said.

Tennessee authorities learned after Jansen's arrest that Esteppe had been convicted and sentenced to probation for lying to Georgia police about being attacked in 2005 and 2006.

Esteppe told police she knew Jansen as a customer at a restaurant and strip club she worked at in Atlanta. She claimed he lured her into his car, tied her up, drove to Gatlinburg and raped her. Police found rope and ripped clothing in the cabin.

Bosch later found witnesses and convenience store surveillance videos that suggested the woman had chances to escape or call for help. And a polygraph test indicated Jansen was truthful when he told investigators that the sex was consensual, and that the kidnapping was part of a bondage fantasy.


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