Christine
Christine Russo has been a sexual assault and domestic violence specialist for over a decade. After graduating with a BA in Interpersonal & Intercultural Communications and certification in crisis counseling, Christine began her career at Safe Horizon. For over 6 years she ran Staten Island's only Sexual Assault Crisis Program and Sexual Assault Advocate Program. She has been with the Joyful Heart Foundation since 2004. Christine also holds a NYS Esthiology & Cosmetics License and has worked for a variety of leading cosmetics companies including Sephora and MAC.
Posts by Christine
Survivor’s Story: Michelle
Oct 22nd
We’re continuing our features of stories from survivors of rape and sexual assault who have been affected by the backlog of untested rape kits. Today, Michelle share’s her story. We thank her and want honor her courage in sharing what she has experienced.
I wanted to share my story, to help add a sense of reality of the impact of the backlog on rape victims.
I was raped in 1984 by two men during a home invasion in Boston. They had a knife; I was blindfolded, raped repeatedly by both of them, tied up with a phone cord, gagged, and eventually left alive, much to my surprise. Perhaps it was the blindfold that saved my life. As I begged the men not to kill me, one of them said, “We don’t kill people. We just need the money. We’ve been doing this for seven years.” They were unafraid and unapologetic. They told me their first names; they did not wear gloves.
They left fingerprints all over the apartment, and I submitted to a rape kit thinking that this would help catch the men who did this.
The police interviewed me once. I called about a month after the attack and was asked by the More >
Survivor’s Story: Helena
Sep 28th
Nothing expresses the impact of the rape kit backlog like the words of the women and men affected by it. Today, we share Helena’s story. We thank her and want honor her courage in sharing her experience.
For my 17th birthday, in 1996, my mom gave me a vintage VW Rabbit. Days later, at a self-service car wash practically in view of my home, a stranger approached me and forced me into the car at knife point, instructed me to drive to several locations, and repeatedly assaulted me.
After being held captive for hours, I convinced him to let me free. He threatened to kill my family if he heard a report of the crime on his police scanner, or saw his picture in the paper. He took my license so he’d know where I lived and promised that, one day, he would come back and make me “his girlfriend.”
After I flagged down a police cruiser and was taken to the hospital, I sat on a metal table for hours, where I endured the harrowing evidence collection process and disclosed every last humiliating detail of my assault to indifferent detectives.
Several days later, my VW was returned to me covered in handprints, the shape of my body imprinted in the dusty hood, where More >
