A woman is bravely coming forward to describe how a man brutally raped her. She says she’s doing it to make sure other victims of Douglas Skoczek know they are not alone and have the strength to come forward.
What this woman says she survived is chilling.
Through tears she said, “he kept just suffocating me and strangling me and hitting me and spitting me, he’d hold my eyes open and spit in them.”
First the beating. Then the rape. That torture began about two weeks ago when she said she went to Douglas Skoczek’s Cape Coral house.
“I drove myself right into the devil’s arms,” she said.
The victim asked that we call her Josephine.
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Her mother, who reached out to WINK News, said her daughter always tried to see the rainbows in things. She said she is pained that someone would take that away from her daughter.
“She’s a character. She’s a free spirit. She’s like a butterfly. There’s that certain innocence and I don’t see how you can ever have that again. And now the fears have presented themself to be real and frightening and devastating,” said the victim’s mother.
Her mission is to find a way to help her daughter heal. “You can’t ever erase it. You can’t ever forget it. But I’d like to see her move forward and not live in fear all the time.”
Josephine said, “I think spending as much time in the sunshine and swimming and spending time with my family. My family is the most important thing to me they’re all that matter.”
Josephine lost so much, but not everything. Not her family, not the things that make her happy.
She told WINK News she believes joy is still possible as long as Skoczek remains behind bars.
“He did not take those things away from me. No one can take those things away from me,” said Josephine.
WINK News reporter Dannielle Garcia asked Josephine, “why did you decide you wanted to sit down with me today?”
Josephine said, “the way that he handled everything and the way that he let me go. It was so clear that it was premeditated and he had done it before and that he’d do it again.”
Cape Coral police say she is a rape survivor and her attacker raped other women as well.
“It’s been difficult because I’ve had to repeat over and over again what happened and it’s ugly and terrifying. I mean I’ve never screamed for my life like that, and to imagine that he’s done that to so many other people,” said Josephine.
Josephine said she loves the water, boats, animals and having fun. She said that is what drew her to Skozeck.
“He was so pleasant so lovely so inviting. I thought I was safe,” said Josephine.
They got together once and things went well. It was the second time she went to his house in Cape Coral when she was attacked.
“I walked in and he was already being like really aggressive and weird I could tell something was off. He said you need to calm the (sic) down.”
Josephine said Skozeck tortured her, hit her repeatedly. She begged and screamed for her life.
“He finally untied me and he said, ‘If you try anything stupid, I’m going to hurt you so bad that you’re never going to see outside of this house.’ So I did anything that he said and I had to say that I liked it.”
Josephine said she decided to talk so that the other women detectives’ fear are out there come forward.
Like the 17-year-old girl did after Skozeck’s arrest.
Josephine said, “in the long run when you see justice happening this monster of a person that has taken your life away from you and the people that love you and trust that you have and you see him being locked away where he should be.”
When detectives arrested Skozeck for Josephine’s attack he made bond and went home, but after the teenage girl came forward, police arrested him again.
He is now behind bars without bond.
Cape police say no one else has come forward, but they remain hopeful.