48 Hours - Kristen's Secret

Episode Date: June 21, 2015

A former middle school athlete kept quiet about years of abuse by a trusted coach. Can she now get the woman to admit to her crimes? "48 Hours" correspondent Tracy Smith reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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When I first started going through the flashbacks and remembering everything that had happened to me, I didn't want to live anymore. Swimming is different than any other sport. There's a sense of peace that I've never experienced anywhere else. Growing up, I just have had so much passion for sports. Sports were my everything. I was so excited to go to junior high school. And I heard they had this young, really fun P.E. teacher. Julie Correa was the girls' P.E. teacher in junior high school.

She was athletic, outgoing. She was more of our friend, I would say, than a teacher. Did Julie treat Kristen differently? Yeah, you knew Kristen was a special one. She would let me stay afterwards and shoot three-pointers with her. We just became kind of buddies. And that's when she really, like, sunk her teeth in. Julie, she was just everywhere.

Surprising me places. She would come into my house and be hiding under my bed when I would go up to my bedroom at night. She literally was under your bed? Yeah. I just felt this grab around my ankles. I, like, lost my breath and, like, shook. She abused me in, like, every way she could have.

I was just paralyzed with fear. It's just the scariest thing in the world to have someone you trust and respect and admire betray you. So who was Mr. Witters? Mr. Witters was a science teacher at my middle school. Mr. Witters would tell me that I was Mr. Witters? Mr. Witters was a science teacher at my middle school. Mr. Witters would tell me that I was special, and he would touch me through my clothes and under my clothes. How old were you?

I was about 13 at the time. It was absolutely incredible that you had two teachers at the same middle school sexually abusing students. Mr. Witters started touching me in seventh grade. Did you confide in anyone that this was going on? No. I've lived most of my life trying to forget what happened. It was a big and scary secret that I had been able to black out for more than 10 years.

I was like a wreck. I didn't know if I could weather the storm of what had happened. The only way I got through it was with Scott. It was just hard because you knew how much pain there was for her. I was shaking in bed at night and having nightmares, not able to eat. Then Scott said, I love you, we're going to get through this. We have two options. We can find her and kill her.

Or we can go to police. I'm Tracy Smith. Tonight on 48 Hours. Kristen's Secret. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all.

I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defence attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+.

Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name

five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Ready, go! Taylor, that's a good look for you!

Kristen Cunane loves her job. Go! She's the associate coach of the women's swim team at Cal Berkeley, one of the top-ranked programs in the country. Every day, she gets to work with elite athletes, like four-time Olympic gold medal winner Missy Franklin. She's going to get a third Olympic gold medal. Oh, that's awesome.

Her home life is pretty sweet, too. Oh, that's awesome. Kristen is married to her high school boyfriend, Scott Cunane, now a prosecutor in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the age of 32, Kristen seems to have life licked. But look closer and there's darkness around her, a residue of painful memories that were long buried. I really didn't know if I was going crazy.

It was 2010 when Kristen began having disturbing flashbacks. It was like I could see the stuff that had happened to me happening again. Stuff that I had been able to completely black out for more than 10 years. The flood of memories transported Kristen back here to Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School in the wealthy California suburb of Moraga, not far from San Francisco. Back in the mid-90s, Kristen was a student here, and her favorite teacher was Julie Correa,

who taught physical education and coached the girls' sports teams. For some reason, during lunchtime, we would hang out in her office in the women's locker room, make our lunches in there, eat our lunches in there. Kristen would store her books in there. Maggie Renaud was Kristen's classmate and is still a good friend. The fact that we got to do that was so cool, and, yeah, we loved it. Julie Correa was a young married woman in her mid-20s. The girls looked up to her, and Kristen trusted Julie implicitly.

I was also taught that teachers are good, respect them, be a, like, good student, and so I think a lot of the things she did, taking me to get a Slurpee or those little things, I just trusted them because she's a teacher and of course she has good intentions. Julie was not the only standout teacher at Moraga. Her colleague Dan Witters also was a favorite, at least to some students. He was an interesting teacher. I mean, he was funny. I actually liked him as a teacher, but he definitely had a different way of teaching. He would make inappropriate comments

to girls who were blooming faster than other girls. He would smack girls on the butt with a yardstick. Witters, a married father in his early 30s, taught science and liked to experiment with the students to see just how far he could go. He was always very nice to me. He was great. He was fun to be around. In 1995, this woman, who asked that we not show her face, met Witters in his science class when she was only 12 years old. She's telling her story here for the first time. She asked that we call her Jane Doe. He paid a lot of attention to me, and he complimented me a lot. It was flattering, and it was nice. When Jane turned 13, Witters made his move.

When Jane turned 13, Witters made his move. It started out with the hugging and the kissing and touching me first over my clothes. And then from there, things just kept going farther until he asked me if I would give him a blow. And I did. And he would touch me as as well where were you when this was happening almost always in his classroom he had a supply room that was attached to it and a lot of the times it was in there did you feel like you had a relationship with him I did he would tell me that I was special and what we had was special and what we were doing was just between us. But that same spring of 1996, unbeknownst to Jane Doe, Witters also took a liking to Kristen Cunane. She was 14 and a grade

above Jane. You notice when I got my braces off and he would, like, squeeze my arm and tell me, oh, like, you're getting so strong and, like, pet my hair. One afternoon, Witters told Kristen that he wanted to see her after class. I remember walking to his class and, like, the blinds were drawn and then something happened.

Whatever happened in that room was so traumatic that Kristen has blocked it out. I remember walking in, and I have no idea what happened inside. Traumatized and confused, Kristen confided in Julie Correa. My next vivid memory is, like, crying and sobbing to Julie and telling her. She told me like, you don't have to tell your parents and I can help you through this. So her reaction was, let's not tell anyone? She told me that she would take care of it. All she did was use it to get me closer to her and isolate me. Julie's single-minded focus on Kristen did not go unnoticed. Her mother, Jean Lewis, was concerned. You did start to get

suspicious. There was a part of me that just didn't like the intensity of how interested she was. So I just told her I think that you need to not see Kristen anymore. I think it's affecting her friendships with other kids. So she goes, I can totally see where you're coming from and I totally respect that. She's a charmer. She knows exactly what to say. Kristen was mortified by her mother's behavior. At that point, nothing inappropriate had happened. It made me angry with my mom. Like, how could you think that she is being inappropriate? Or how could you think that she's spending too much time with me? You don't understand. But Kristen's mother was on to something because soon enough, Julie Correa

cornered Kristen in her car. I remember when she dropped me off at home, she kissed me, but it was like half on my mouth. And that's when I knew that like she wanted something else. I felt like my life was over at that moment. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn.

And it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have urged it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it,

people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly?

Introducing the best idea yet. A brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans. Discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening,

you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. Stop losing that dribble. Once she kissed me and I didn't tell anyone, she just felt like she had free reign. Kristen felt repulsed by that first kiss from Julie Correa, but at the same time felt powerless to do anything about it. I had been so devastated by what had happened with Mr. Witters that I didn't have my spirit anymore. I had no voice anymore.

It was just gone. That one kiss fueled Julie's desire. She rented an isolated apartment to be closer to the middle school. And before her husband moved in, she invited some of her favorite students over to take a look. Me and Kristen and a few other girls went to the apartment. And then Julie said, okay girls go away to the car and Kristen like stay here. I want to show you something and we just went to the car. The moment Maggie and her classmates left, Kristen says Julie literally

pounced on top of her. She was like molesting me and kissing me and stuff. And I was just so scared that someone would, like, walk in or find out what was happening. How did the abuse progress? It progressed really fast after that point. That summer, before Kristen's first year in high school, Julie used her apartment to initiate Kristen into sex, something Kristen knew virtually nothing about. I didn't know what she was doing to me. I was really young, pretty sheltered.

Sheltered and very confused. I got really scared, like thinking, like, oh my God, what if I get pregnant from what she's doing to me? Like, I didn't understand, so. It's heartbreaking. Yeah, that was really hard. At 14 years old, life was moving way too fast. Without going into too much detail, can you tell us some of the stuff that she did to you? She abused me in, like, every way I think she could have. From digital penetration, oral copulation.

Were there moments where you thought, I should tell my mom? No. No. Not at all. This whole Julie thing, it didn't feel right to me. It just did not feel right. But Kristen's mother, Jean Lewis, could not even imagine that Julie was sexually abusing her daughter. It never occurred to me that it was anything of the nature that it was.

She now regrets she never reported Julie to the school principal or anyone else. It's my fault. I should have acted on it. I should have been more forceful. And Kristen had her own reasons for not reporting Julie. The minute I told someone, my whole life would change. She would be arrested. People would probably know it was me. I didn't want my friends to know all this horrible stuff was happening to me. And so it was just easier and safer to do what she said. It was just easier and safer to do what she said. Did you have any hint at all that this was happening to Kristen?

No, she was better than ever. She got better grades, better at sports. She hid things really well. Kristen kept quiet about Julie. But back at Kristen's middle school, the silence surrounding Dan Witters was shattered when several girls stepped forward to accuse him of wildly inappropriate behavior. Another girl in my class came forward, and from there, everything just seemed to fall apart. It was the fall of 1996. Witters was immediately suspended, and then he vanished. He went missing, and Jane wished she could too.

I was confused and scared, and I didn't want to talk to anyone. I just kind of wanted to fade away. But that was not an option. One girl told administrators that Jane was close to Witters and Jane was called in. What was that like? Horrible. I was embarrassed and ashamed and I didn't want to talk about it. I was scared that my parents would find out and be mad. And Jane felt like all her classmates knew her secret. How bad did it get for you? I often thought about killing myself.

And I did try on two occasions. Jane turned to the one person she felt she could trust. And ironically, it was Julie Correa. Did Julie kind of help you through this? She did. She was the one who was there for me. Just to be clear, did Julie ever do anything inappropriate with you? No. The Moraga Intermediate School was filled with rumors and innuendo, but then police found Dan

Witters. He had driven his car off a cliff here at Big Sur. His death was ruled a suicide, off a cliff here at Big Sur. His death was ruled a suicide, and the investigation into his behavior died with him. After he was found dead, people didn't ask any more questions, and the school just moved on. The school moved on, but did you? No, and I don't think I ever really did.

Kristen, now a high school student, was never questioned or mentioned during the investigation of Dan Witters, but it affected her anyway. She says Julie took Witter's death and used it to cement her power. And that became like her trump card, she would say things to me like, I'm going to have to do what Mr. Witters did, or I'm going to take you with me and do what Mr. Witters did. I was just so scared. Like I thought, if I don't do it, she says she's going to kill herself. She's going to kill me. She's going to kill my family. So I just did whatever she told me to do. And that included having sex after hours inside the middle school and wherever Julie wanted.

Julie always had a plan. She would tell me how to sneak out or when to sneak out and where to wait. Kristen says she would wait till her parents were asleep and then slip out of the house, hiding in some nearby bushes until Julie came by in her car.

She would always have a place picked to take me in her car and abuse me. To further tighten her grip on Kristen, Julie even gave her a cell phone. To further tighten her grip on Kristen, Julie even gave her a cell phone. But to keep it a secret, Julie made this elaborate cutout inside a Spanish-English dictionary. She put the cell phone in there and then made me carry it everywhere and call her every night and check in. She would say things like, I have to see you tomorrow. Like, I can't handle it if I don't see you. Like, I can't breathe.

And the abuse was about to reach a new, unthinkable level. In high school, Kristen dove headfirst into swimming to escape the relentless pursuit of her teacher, Julie Correa. Swimming became a place for me to have my own thing because Julie didn't know anything about swimming, and so swimming was still pure and mine. But by nightfall, Kristen became terrified as she realized the extent of Julie's obsession. The teacher began sneaking into this house, Kristen's home. Her parents always left the front door unlocked.

You had a bedroom on the second floor. How'd she get in? She would sneak in while my mom was, like, picking me up from practice or school. Walk upstairs and wait? Yeah. And she would just sit in my closet, usually. And wait for hours sometimes.

Sitting in your closet? Yeah. Crazy. It's so crazy. Crazy doesn't begin to explain it. Kristen says Julie forced her to have sex here, in her childhood bedroom, as her parents slept right down the hall. It was like the thrill of not being caught.

It was all part of a game, like a really sick, twisted game to her. Do you have any idea how many times she abused you? It was around 400 or 500 times. 400 or 500 times? Yes. That number sounds incredible. But remember, the abuse took place over a three-year period. Julie's fixation on her one-time student is shocking, but sadly, these types of cases are all too common. This is hardly an isolated incident, not just in this school district,

but across the state, across the country. It's an epidemic. There's no doubt about it. Dave Ring is an attorney in Los Angeles who represents former students abused by their teachers. You would think school districts put the children and their well-being first, and a lot of times they don't. The most recent study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education found that up to 7% of middle and high school students are the targets of sexual abuse by teachers and coaches, putting the total number of victims in the millions.

Take a look at these photos and mugshots of female teachers who've been convicted of sexually abusing their students. The study's author found that there are differences between female abusers and their male counterparts. For women, sex is usually not the motivating factor. For them, it's love, or what they believe to be love. An adult female abusing a younger female girl seemed to be a rarity 10, 15, 20 years ago. And now? And now you see it happening a lot. And that doesn't mean it wasn't happening back then.

I just think it wasn't reported back then. And back then, Kristen did not report her abuse. But in the fall of 1999, her senior year in high school, Kristen's life changed dramatically when she began dating classmate Scott Cunane. She was in a different science class, and I got her to take geology with me. You convinced her to take geology with you? Geology.

That was your strategy? It was a great move. He teased me, and he was fun, and, like, he just... He made me question, like, that life didn't have to be bad, so. Her new relationship gave Kristen the strength to finally confront Julie. The night after my 18th birthday, I told her that I knew what she was, I knew what she had done to me, and that, like, never contact me again or I'll tell the police. After graduating high school in the year 2000,

Kristen left home to attend UCLA, where she became a three-time All-American swimmer. As time went on, she blocked out the horrific memories until they resurfaced in 2010. There are memories where all of a sudden, like, it'll take my breath away because I'll remember her doing something really horrible to me. As the memories flooded back,

Kristen knew she had to reveal her long-buried secret to Scott, who she married in 2007. I remember being so scared of telling Scott what happened to me and just thinking, like, he'll never want to be near me physically again. I'm trying to imagine what it must have been like to realize what had happened to her. It was just hard because you knew

how much pain there was for her. Kristen saw a therapist who diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder. I was like a wreck. I was having a hard time not killing myself. She would have night terrors, shaking. You know, sometimes she wouldn't even eat. He said, I love you, we're going to get through this,

and we have two options. We can find her and kill her, or we can go to police. I didn't even think about it. I just said, we'll go to police. I didn't even think about it. I just said, we'll go to police. 1898. Deputy Birch Parker, then a detective assigned to the Lafayette Police Department,

was the lead investigator in the Kristen Cunane case. What was your first thought when you heard Kristen's story? I think my first thought was that she was very brave. Did you believe Kristen right away? Absolutely. She was able to describe even the clothes that Julie wore on certain days. And Kristen was able to provide important physical evidence. Like the cutout Spanish-English dictionary Julie made for Kristen to hide that secret cell phone. Kristen to hide that secret cell phone. Kristen also gave Detective Parker a handwritten note Julie once gave to Kristen. And it was a love note from Julie to Kristen. Can you read a little bit

of it? When I woke, I felt her next to me, overcome by a deep feeling of adoration. I leaned over and kissed my little angel and promised myself I would always be hers. That love note and the dictionary were great pieces of evidence. I thought that that would be enough because why in the world would anyone make up stuff like this? But to arrest Julie Correa, Detective Parker would need more. He asked Kristen to call Julie after all these years. He needed her to pretend to have feelings for Julie, the woman Kristen considers a rapist.

You touch me or kiss me or whatever, and, like, I can't get over it. I just want you to know that I'd do it over again. The last thing Kristen Cunane wanted to do was get back in touch with Julie Correa, the woman who'd allegedly abused her for three years. But Kristen agreed to make the call. I just felt like I had already taken a step down this road, and there was no turning back, that I had to finish what I started,

and that it was my only chance of getting my life back. Ten years had passed since the two had been in touch. Julie was now the mother of two young boys. She'd moved out of this part of California and was living with her husband and kids outside Salt Lake City. She had stopped teaching, but she was very involved with her son's sports teams. I really, really struggled with the fact that she had kids. I thought about it. I'd cry about it. But Kristen was determined to get justice.

These kids have a mom that committed horrible acts towards me, and it's my responsibility to hold her accountable for those. Hello? Hi. Hi. I can't believe you called me. Right when I heard her voice, I could feel what it felt like to be that young and being manipulated by her.

How hard was it to have those conversations? It was horrible. There's some things I can convince myself of. Mm-hmm. Like what? That I was doing good, that I was a little bit over it. Over me, you mean? OK. I'm finding that it's not true. It's over me, you mean. Okay.

I'm finding that it's not true. The emotional phone calls took place over the next two weeks. Kristen was coached on what to say by police, who carefully monitored the conversations. Newspaper reporter Malaika Fraley covered the story and would later piece together what happened. How did Julie react to hearing from Kristen? Her gut, you could tell she thought she was being set up, and she was.

I'm worried that you're trying to get me to say what concretely happened because somebody's trying to pin something on me. But, you know, at the same time, she couldn't resist Kristen. I don't know if I could see you and not have to touch you. And then if I touched you, I don't know if I could resist. I just don't know. She played perfectly into the trap set up by Detective Parker and Kristen. I don't know about you, but for me, there will always be an attraction,

a physical attraction, like a burning inside attraction. It wasn't only what Julie said that was important. It was also what she did not say. Did Julie at any point say, what are you talking about? No. Did she at any point deny anything that had happened? No. And just because I don't share things, I don't remember things. Okay.

I remember everything. Detective Parker thought they had enough and decided to visit Julie Correa at her home near Salt Lake City. The police recorded that visit with a hidden video camera. I flew out to Utah and knocked on her door. Hi, I'm Detective Parker. The Contra Costa County Sheriff.

She invited us into the home and we spoke for about 30 minutes. I didn't know. I'm just like dumbfounded by this whole thing. Of course, there's more to the story. I honestly felt like she was trying to get rid of the safety. Parker says Julie appeared nervous and asked officers to leave. They did, but they soon returned and brought her in for questioning. Kristen was very manipulative, and, you know, she just manipulated the heck out of me. It was always, you know, I'm going to do bad things for myself.

I'm going to, you know, every time I said, you know, not to call me anymore, it was, I can't deal with it. Julie, handcuffed throughout the interrogation, denied that she and Kristen had had sex. She claimed to be a caring teacher, confused by her own feelings. So you guys talked about waiting until she was 18? Well, I was like, let's wait and see where this goes. I can't, you know, I don't know. I don't know how I feel. I knew that I loved her, but in what way?

Right. You know? And I didn't know what way that was because it was just all so confusing to me. Right. You know? I was married. I mean, I, you know. confusing to me. I was married. Detective Parker, a former teacher himself, presented Julie with the handwritten love poem she had once written to Kristen.

So, that's your writing, isn't it? Yeah, you can see that's my writing. That's a lot more involved than I thought it was. But there's nothing there that said that I did what you're saying I did. Well, I never really said you did anything. Well, I know what you're leading to. I mean, I'm not... Yeah.

Julie claimed Kristen was always the aggressor. She would come on to me and kiss me and whatever, and I would push her away. And I would say, we can't. This is wrong. I'm trying to help her, and she's had these delusional thoughts before. She describes to you the two of you having sex upstairs in her house while her mother's downstairs, and you say, yes, I think about that too.

That's your response to her. I don't recall saying that. I mean, I'm sure maybe you have the take that I... On August 3rd, 2010, Julie Correa was arrested and later charged with 28 counts of felony child abuse, charges that could put her behind bars for the rest of her life. What did it feel like when Julie was arrested? It was a catch-22 because I didn't have to be scared anymore, but then immediately my fear came to, is my name going to be out there?

Are people going to know this is me? I was terrified, like, what the media would be like. A preliminary hearing was held in March 2011 to determine if there was enough evidence to hold Julie over for trial. I tried to look at her, and everything just got really blurry, and I got really dizzy, and I couldn't make eye contact with her. Then Kristen took the stand, and Julie's lawyers went on the attack,

arguing that the sex was consensual. Every time I would get scared by a question, I would just really quickly glance at Scott and know that he was there for me and that I just had to tell the truth. It wasn't easy. One of Julie's lawyers even asked Kristen if she had enjoyed sex with Julie. Scott was furious. That was despicable. It's despicable that someone made, that attorney made money to make those arguments. In the end, the judge ruled there was plenty of evidence. Julie would have to stand trial. But the harsh questioning ignited Kristen's anger.

She decided to go public, allowing reporters to use her face and her name. And that decision uncovered long-buried secrets at Moraga Middle School. Very quickly, we realized there was really a big cover-up that had gone on there. How could the school have been so blind? I think the school said, we don't want to deal with this, we don't want the hassle.

They knew exactly what was going on. I think coming forward has been the hardest thing that I've ever faced. Krista changed everything. Because if she hadn't come forward, there would have been no investigation. Once Kristen made that difficult decision to go public... It's always been about telling the truth. ...she told her story first to reporters Matthias Gaffney and Malaika Fraley

of the Bay Area News Group. She felt like a responsibility because she is a role model to young people. She wanted to let other people know that it's okay to stand up for yourself. Acting on a tip from Kristen, the reporters fought to unearth secret documents the Moraga School District had long kept hidden. With the hundred or so documents we received, we realized there was really a big cover-up that had gone on there.

The documents revealed that former school administrators knew that science teacher Dan Witters was sexually abusing middle school girls for two years before he drove his car off a cliff in 1996. Back in 1994, a former student of Witter's wrote the school a detailed letter outlining the abuse. She basically says, Dan Witter's drove me home from a school event and sexually molested me. That letter was only the first written warning the school received about Witter's. In 1995, there was another memo which gave clear examples of Witters' criminal behavior. Incredibly, the memo was written by Julie Correa, and only one year later, she would begin

her own abuse of Kristen. Many people think that Julie was testing the waters with the administration by reporting Dan Witters. To see if they would do anything. Right. And when they didn't, many people think that that gave Julie a license to ramp up this inappropriate relationship that she had with Kristen. California law even then required that teachers and school officials tell police if they suspected a minor was being abused. Despite that law, neither Julie nor the school principal

reported Witters to authorities. On May 28, 2012, reporters Gaffney and Fraley exposed the cover-up in a devastating story. What'd you think reading that newspaper article? My first reaction, absolute outrage. Lawyer Dave Ring. They concealed everything they knew about Dan Witters. I just couldn't believe that all of these people knew

for so long what he was doing and just chose to do nothing. And they could have stopped it. I think they absolutely could have stopped it. Jane Doe, who had attempted suicide twice after being abused by Dan Witters, hired lawyer Dave Ring. And in February 2013, Ring and his legal team filed a civil lawsuit against the school district. If Moraga and the administrators had followed the law, Dan Witters would have been fired and most likely would have been arrested and imprisoned. And Jane Doe and those other girls that came after him would never have been exposed to him.

What did they do to you by not reporting Mr. Witters? They made me live my life like this, faking relationships. And acting like everything is okay. When in reality, nothing is okay. Still. Still. This is something that will probably be with me forever.

Jane Doe was one of three women who came forward, saying they too had been abused by Witters in the mid-1990s. Do you think if the school district would have stopped Mr. Witters, this whole thing might not have happened to you with Julie? I 100% believe that. Current administrators at the Moraga School District apologized to the women who were abused and gave 48 Hours a statement noting that it has learned from past mistakes and is fostering a new culture. But the sins of the past came to a head in December 2011. Nine months had passed since a judge had ruled

there was enough evidence to hold Julie Correa over for trial. had ruled there was enough evidence to hold Julie Correa over for trial. What was it like being in court with Julie and Kristen both there? It was intense. I mean, the courtroom was stuffed with people. And Julie faced over 100 years in prison. Facing life in prison, Julie Correa instead worked out a plea deal with prosecutors. She pled no contest to four felony counts, including one charge of rape. In her remarks to the court, Julie told Kristen, it was never, never my intention to hurt you. I cared deeply for you. What she did to me is unforgivable, and I'm not, I have no plans on forgiving her. Like,

that's just not who I am. In December 2011, Julie Correa, the former phys ed teacher and coach who had never been charged with sexually abusing any other children, was sentenced to eight years in prison. Julie did not respond to our repeated requests for an interview. That's awesome. There'll still be scars for the rest of my life, but I think I'm learning

to live with my scars. The truth is that Julie's crimes continue to impact Kristen and her family. She has nightmares of being in this house. She cannot go beyond stairs or up into her bedroom. For years now, Kristen has been unable to visit the house where she grew up.

There's millions of good memories of growing up there. But the hundreds of bad memories of what she did to me there just, like, is overwhelming. Through all the pain and upheaval, Kristen has always had swimming, the sport she loves to fall back on. Ready, go! She also has the support of her little army, as she likes to call them,

the women of Cal Berkeley's swim team, where she's the associate coach. Taylor just needs some jean shorts and she'd be all ready to go. I get to coach swimmers transitioning from adolescence into being college adult athletes, and it's just a wonderful job, and it's gotten me through some really hard times. In perhaps the ultimate irony of this story, Kristen is now the coach everyone looks up to, the coach she had always hoped Julie would be. the coach she had always hoped Julie would be.

The school district paid out a total of $18.65 million to Kristen Cunane and three other victims who filed civil suits. Julie Correa is eligible for parole in 2018. Her husband is filed for divorce and custody of their children. In May 2015, Kristen gave birth to her second child, a baby boy.