Survivors of Nassar’s abuse say the fight for justice is far from over

When facing the man that sexually abused her starting at age 10 and facing down the university leaders who she says have let sexual abuse survivors down at every turn, Kaylee Lorincz told the Michigan Advance she’s had a faithful companion that has carried her to today: her 10-year-old self.

Every time she had to speak in court or advocate for herself as a teenager against former Michigan State University and Olympic doctor Larry Nassar, Lorincz, now 25, said she took her attorney’s advice and wrapped her “arms around that 10-year-old” girl and brought her with her.

And that strength is needed on days like Wednesday, where Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that long-withheld documents from MSU that survivors had hoped would reveal information about who at the university knew about Nassar’s sexual abuse of patients, revealed nothing pertinent to the investigation. Nessel said she was closing the case.

Lorincz said she and other survivors are holding fast to a commitment for accountability from MSU.

“They just want to be able to slide everything under the rug and act like it didn’t happen,” Lorincz said. “This has consumed my life for so long, I really wasn’t sure who I was anymore … This is something that will affect me for the rest of my life.”

Former gymnast Kaylee Lorincz sits outside the Hannah Administration Building on Michigan State University campus in 2018 surrounded by teal pinwheels placed to represent support for survivors of ex-MSU and Olympic doctor Larry Nassar. | Photo courtesy of Kaylee Lorincz

And as someone who was balancing starting college classes with court appearances, Lorincz said back in 2018, she didn’t have much space to heal. But healing is coming now from making sure “that this conversation doesn’t end and people don’t forget about what happened with Larry Nassar and Michigan State University, because we can’t allow this to happen again.”

Nessel noted the efforts of the survivors and their families who relentlessly advocated for a cultural change at MSU are the ones responsible for progress. Their work demanding that the university release some 6,000 documents requested by the Attorney General’s Office for six years is what made their release to the media Wednesday possible. The office says it plans to disseminate the documents to the public in the future.

“This will be something that is talked about for a very long period of time and these survivors will be admired by many for years, decades to come, we’ll remember what happened here, not just because of the horrific acts of Larry Nassar and others, but because of how the survivors banded together and made substantive change all over the country,” Nessel said.

Since Nassar was sentenced sentenced to effectively three life sentences across three courts between 2017 to 2018 on child pornography charges and several charges of criminal sexual conduct with minors, survivors have mobilized in Michigan and on a national scale to fight against sexual violence.

Since 2018, dozens of pieces of legislation have been introduced in Michigan aimed to prevent another tragedy like Nassar’s abuse from happening again, with things like school-related policies and resources and in-court procedures being made into law to support survivors reporting violence.

Former Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis, who led Michigan’s prosecution of Nassar, wants the public to remember that in the midst of all that has happened, the boldest voices for change have always been the survivors, she told the Michigan Advance in a statement.

“I continue to be inspired by the Nassar survivors & their families, who have tirelessly pursued justice, demanded accountability from all institutions & individuals, & continue to do all they can to prevent sexual abuse and assault,” Povilaitis said. “Their advocacy and bravery has & continues to empower so many other survivors to come forward and demand accountability.”

Nessel said Wednesday that prosecutors have never seen a group of survivors band together in sisterhood and impact such widespread systemic changes. The “sister survivors” have created nationwide awareness in schools on sexual abuse prevention. They have worked to ensure survivors are believed and are treated better in the judicial system and have changed “the culture in how sexual assault is seen by the public at large.”

Survivors have put in hard work and so has the state attorney general’s office, Nessel said. After reviewing the thousands of documents that MSU had for years held back under attorney-client privilege, she said she believes they were unjustly retained by the school and ultimately resulted in a painful six-year waiting game for survivors and their families.

“While we begin each investigation in pursuit of the truth and facts first and foremost and take criminal or civil charges as a secondary consideration, it is my belief that by withholding the remaining 6,000 documents, MSU unnecessarily prolonged that hope that the questions survivors had would be answered and denied them closure that they were entitled to many years ago,” Nessel said.

The impact of Nassar’s abuse and the events of the attorney general’s investigation is not lost on MSU, university spokeswoman Emily Guerrant said as part of a response issued Wednesday.

But while the university respects the thorough efforts by investigators, MSU claims that it has “fully complied with the attorney general’s office” supplying more than 100,000 documents in total for the investigation. And as for the other thousands of documents requested, the university maintains that its application of attorney-client privilege was appropriate.

“Since 2016, the university has taken significant steps to improve campus safety and culture through robust prevention, support, and response efforts. We are working to become a more accountable organization each day, guided by an unwavering commitment to providing a safe campus and equitable environment for all,” MSU’s statement reads. “We echo the attorney general’s comments in acknowledging the role survivors have made in advocating for change and improvements surrounding assault and abuse in our state and globally.”

Justice for survivors was blocked by the MSU Board of Trustees for years, former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement Wednesday. It was Schuette’s office that announced it was investigating Nassar’s abuse at MSU back in 2018 and he says MSU fought back to retain thousands of documents in the investigation.

“The years-long delay in response from the University caused the survivors to continue to wonder what they, and law enforcement, did not know. The reality for many survivors has been the inability to fully move on because these documents and the knowledge held within them was still out there — a lingering sense of anxiety surrounding a part of their lives that many would like to put into the past,” Schuette said. “The continued revictimization of the survivors due to the long standing delay tactics is wholly unfair and simply wrong.”

Nessel announced during her news conference with reporters that the information in the documents would be released to the public. Schuette said he’s eager to review them and encouraged others to do so.

“Although time has passed, we all must know the whole truth about what happened at Michigan State University and the monster named Larry Nassar,” Schuette said. “My sincere hope is that through the release of these documents, the survivors and their families will be able to continue the process of healing.”

Former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, April 20, 2016 in Flint | Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Because MSU clung so tight to the documents, survivors like Melissa Hudecz had hoped there was a reason that the school didn’t want to release them.

“It’s going to be something about who knew what when,” Hudecz told Michigan Advance back in January. “They’ve fought and held on to them for so long. If there was nothing in there, why would they not release them?”

On Tuesday night, Hudecz and dozens of other survivors were briefed by members of the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and were told that there were no chargeable offenses in the documents.

“I think as a whole, we were all very grateful to have the opportunity to ask questions and process information and have each other for support in that moment. We had a lot of good discussions. We got a lot of questions answered,” Hudecz said.

Hudecz is now an occupational therapist after surviving Nassar’s abuse starting at age 14. She and other survivors are utterly exhausted going to MSU Board of Trustee meetings, working with lawyers, calling lawmakers and knocking on every door of power that could enact real change when it comes to sexual violence in Michigan, she said.

“It’s not over until things get better and for things to get better, we have a lot of work to do in our country, in our institutions and we can’t do it alone,” Hudecz said. “We need people to be paying attention to these issues.”

Given that MSU is one of three universities in Michigan in which the governing bodies are elected positions, Hudecz said people need to understand that elections other than the presidential race matter in November. Two, eight-year positions on MSU’s board are up for grabs.

“As frustrating as it is I hope that the takeaway at the end of the day is MSU is still allowing this behavior at their university, and that the people of the state of Michigan need to hold them accountable and hold them to a higher standard, and that we’re stronger together, and all of our voices matter. … It’s exhausting, and we need help,” Hudecz said.

The pain survivors and their families have endured in this process has been excruciating, a group founded by parents of Nassar’s abuse, Parents of Sister Survivors Engage (POSSE) said in a statement Wednesday. And the message from MSU rings louder for survivors than it ever has: “MSU once again has shown it was never interested in helping the survivors of Larry Nassar to heal.”

Redactions in the hard-won documents were an immediate concern when the MSU Board of Trustees agreed to turn over the documents during a meeting at the end of 2023. Survivors and parents on-campus held each other in relief, gasping as the votes from each trustee came in in a unanimous decision.

Nessel noted that after six years, statute of limitations may have run out on any crimes that may have been perpetrated by MSU employees, and that may explain the sudden change of heart in releasing the documents, but the documents received don’t reflect legal wrongdoing.

But things have been lost as time has passed, said Danielle Hagaman-Clark, chief of the Criminal Justice Bureau for the Attorney General’s Office. Specifically emails received from MSU reflect that former University President Lou Anna K. Simon had long been deleting text messages.

“That’s what makes us believe that there [was] additional information out there that would have been relevant to our investigation and that they were deleted,” Hagaman-Clark said.

POSSE said it doubts every document MSU should have sent over to the attorney general was sent as they have a history of inaction and secrecy.

“It’s a stain on the university that should leave all of us in the state asking for greater accountability from a public institution that exists to serve Michigan’s people by educating the youth of the state. And part of education is having adults model our expectations. MSU has done a poor job of modeling accountability and transparency,” POSSE said in a statement.

When it comes to looking for role models in adults, Lorincz said she’s living her life as if the 10-year-old version of herself is watching. The road ahead is uncertain, but she’s got a lot to live up to.

“I do it for the 10-year-old me who had a very different life and I think I’ve learned a lot. … And I think I’m a much different person than I would be, but I think I live my life by trying to make that 10-year-old me proud and happy,” Lorincz said.

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