On April 14, 1989, 28 year old investment banker Trisha Meili was violently raped and beaten while jogging in New York City's Central Park. She was then left tied up and bleeding until she was found several hours later. Her initial prognosis was that she would die or spend the rest of her life in a coma from the severity of her injuries, but Meili eventually returned to consciousness and slowly recovered.
The savagery of the crime provoked public outrage. The police investigation found that teenage men had been gathering in the park at night and randomly attacking people in an activity they called "wilding". Five suspects were identified as being Meili's assailant. Four of the men confessed and all five were convicted in 1990.
In 2002, imprisoned rapist Matias Reyes, who was not one of the men convicted, declared that he was the sole rapist who had attacked Meili. DNA evidence confirmed his participation in the crime. There had been no physical evidence to connect the other five men to the crime and their convictions were based on their confessions. Supporters of the men claimed their confessions were coerced. Opponents support the convictions and argue that Reyes participated in the crime with the other five men or attacked Meili after they left the scene. Based on Reyes' confession, a judge overturned the convictions of the five men in December 2002.
It is standard American media practice not to reveal the identities of victims of sexual crimes. Ironically, it is also practice not to reveal the identities of underage criminal suspects and the five men originally convicted for Meili's attack were not named. For several years after the attack on her, Meili was not identified by name and was refered to as the "Central Park Jogger" in reports of the case. In 2003, Meili chose to reveal her identity in an effort to help other victims and released a book "I Am the Central Park Jogger".
