Megan Rondini's parents sue University of Alabama
The parents of a Texas woman who said she was raped while attending the University of Alabama have sued the alleged attacker, school officials and others, claiming the episode led to her suicide last year.
A federal wrongful death lawsuit filed over the weekend by Michael and Cynthia Rondini of Austin, Texas, claims the alleged assault and officials' subsequent mishandling of the allegations prompted Megan Rondini to kill herself.
The lawsuit says Rondini, then a 20-year-old junior who planned to go to medical school, met a man at a popular Tuscaloosa bar in July 2015. She was later sexually assaulted at his home, possibly after being drugged, the suit contends.
Megan Rondini, 20 (pictured), may have been driven to commit suicide after she accused TJ Bunn, 34, the son of a wealthy Tuscaloosa family, of rape in July 2015. She hanged herself on February 26, 2016
Megan (pictured) told investigators that on July 1 she went to Innisfree Irish Pub for trivia night with a group of sorority sisters. She blacked out and woke up in Bunn's Mercedes. Megan said she was so intimidated by Bunn that she didn't try to stop him as he drove toward his house
Ultimately, Megan and her family decided it was no longer safe for her to stay in Tuscaloosa. She withdrew from the Univeristy of Alabama (pictured) before the end of fall semester. 'She did everything that she could to protect herself and to get help,' Megan's father, Mike Rondini, told Buzzfeed News
Megan ended up transferring to Southern Methodist University in Texas. While there, she filled out an intake form for SMU's mental health center and, for one question, which asked if there had been major losses, changes, or crises in her life, Megan wrote: 'Raped, bullied by police, changed university' (Pictured, the Bunn family home)
The man whom she only knew as 'Sweet T' turned out to be business man TJ Bunn, 34, the son of an influential Tuscaloosa family.
Police investigating the sexual assault were sympathetic toward the man and wrongly focused on Rondini's actions, which including taking a handgun and $3 for cab fare from his home, the lawsuit claims.
'Megan ultimately was treated as a crime suspect and her status as a victim of a sex crime was completely disregarded,' the suit said.
The young woman withdrew from Alabama and returned home to Texas, where her mental condition deteriorated, according to the complaint.
Megan's mother, Cynthia (right) and father, Michael, are suing the school and law enforcement over the tragic suicide of Megan (left)
The man wasn't charged, and the lawsuit claims investigators and university officials mishandled her allegations.
The suit contends Rondini afterward suffered depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, which her parents say led to her suicide.
It also names Beth Howard, Title IX coordinator at University of Alabama; Cara Blake of the school's Women and Gender Resource Center; Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy; and two county officers, investigator Adam Jones and deputy Joshua Hastings.
In a statement, the university declined comment on specifics of the lawsuit but said school officials were 'deeply saddened' by Rondini's death and are trying to raise community awareness and support victims of sexual assault.
A lawyer for Bunn denied that he had sexually assaulted her.
'The allegations against my client as set forth in this baseless lawsuit are simply false,' the statement said.
Abernathy said the case was referred to a grand jury, which declined to issue an indictment. Letting grand jurors consider evidence rather than filing immediate charges is standard practice in cases with 'very conflicting statements,' Abernathy said.
The suit names Beth Howard, Title IX coordinator at University of Alabama (above); Cara Blake of the school's Women and Gender Resource Center
The lawsuit was assigned to a federal magistrate judge Monday, but no hearing date was set.
The complaint doesn't seek a specific amount of money. It asks for a court order requiring the sheriff's office to provide better training to officers and 'to provide safe conditions to citizens around criminal investigations.'
Megan told investigators that on July 1 she went to Innisfree Irish Pub for trivia night with a group of sorority sisters. She saw Bunn there and had seen him before but they only had spoken once.
She blacked out and came to in Bunn's Mercedes.
Megan said she was so intimidated by Bunn that she didn't try to stop him as he drove toward his house.
She then said Bunn told her to go to his room and she complied, sitting on a couch near the door, as far as possible from his bed and - when he came in - he told her he wanted to have sex.
That's when Megan said she had to leave, while 'trying to be really nice to him' because 'I know he's an influential person in Tuscaloosa'.
'I said, I really need to go, I have friends that are waiting,' she told police when they first interviewed her at the hospital. 'He didn't really take that.'
Eventually, Megan said, she 'felt like just letting him have sex with me was the only way he would let me go'.
Megan said she took a gun out of Bunn's car for protection after she crawled out of his window - but police also threatened her with felony theft charges - which Bunn said he would drop if she would drop hers against him
According to investigators, Megan was able to escape his mansion by climbing out of the second story window.
When she realized she couldn't find her keys, she checked Bunn’s Mercedes, where she found his wallet and a pistol, which she took for protection despite not knowing how to fire it.
Under Alabama's rape law, victims must prove they 'earnestly' resisted their attackers, and the investigator who interviewed Megan, Adam Jones, decided that she hadn't done so against Bunn.
According to him, she hadn't 'kicked him or hit him,' so the investigator would conclude that no rape occurred.
When she told him about going into Bunn's car, video shows Jones entering and exiting the room, asking Megan questions that were about her behavior the previous night instead of her rape allegations.
When Bunn was interviewed, he called Megan 'a very willing participant.'
When his interviewer left the room for a moment, Bunn told his lawyer in a whisper that he'd drop the charges against Megan if she dropped hers.
'I won't pursue her if she doesn't pursue me, but I will play hardball if she does,' he's seen saying on video.
The suit names Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy (above with his wife), saying law enforcement treated Megan like a criminal and TJ Bunn like a victim
Later, when Megan tried to file a civil suit, she learned the only way to escape possible prosecution for those crimes was to drop her case.
The district attorney's office eventually decided to present it to a grand jury - but the grand jury would also rule on felony charges against Megan for breaking into Bunn's car and stealing his gun.
When Megan went to the University of Alabama for counseling, a staff therapist told her that she had to recuse herself from the case because she knew the Bunn family.
Ultimately, Megan and her family decided it was no longer safe for her to stay in Tuscaloosa and she withdrew from the university before the end of fall semester.
The suit names Tuscaloosa County Deputy Ron Abernathy, above, and two county officers, investigator Adam Jones and deputy Joshua Hastings. Jones concluded that since Megan hadn't 'kicked him or hit him,' Bunn she hadn't fought hard enough
'She did everything that she could to protect herself and to get help,' Megan's father, Mike Rondini, told Buzzfeed News. 'She should have gotten that help, and she didn't. That is a failure on everybody's part.'
Megan left Tuscaloosa newly-diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and her depression seemed to only worsen.
On February 2016, Megan sent a text to a friend that read: 'When all is said and done, I wonder what I could've accomplished if one man didn't completely rip everything away from me.'
RELATED ARTICLES
Parents of University of Alabama honors student, 20, reveal... 
'Do you not want it?' Brave rape victim helps put her...
Share this article
ShareMegan ended up transferring to Southern Methodist University in Texas, a school she hated because she missed her old friends, her sorority, her old life.
She filled out an intake form for SMU's mental health center, in which she wrote that she thought she would be 'better off dead' more than half the time.
One question asked if there had been major losses, changes, or crises in her life. Megan wrote: 'Raped, bullied by police, changed university.'
She never turned it in and hanged herself on February 26, 2016.
Megan never wrote a suicide note, but the intake forms were found next to her bed.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWKBd4KRcW5vZ4CWv6a606xkrKylmbKvwIysrJ5lhaO2t7HRrKCtsV12uaKuwKaYZqulnrCqsMRnn62lnA%3D%3D