WEBVTT 00:09.879 --> 00:15.520 In the US, it's not the culture to go abroad to study. 00:17.040 --> 00:20.080 But my mom said, "Oh, well, you can go to Spain." 00:24.920 --> 00:27.680 And I was an 18-year-old kid, you know. 00:27.760 --> 00:30.720 And it was just like this… It was like an adventure. 00:32.000 --> 00:34.559 I don't know exactly when things got so 00:35.680 --> 00:37.080 fucking bad. 00:42.440 --> 00:43.720 When I moved to Spain, 00:44.640 --> 00:46.520 I was the youngest kid in my program. 00:49.080 --> 00:53.360 American college students who were studying abroad in Spain. 00:54.760 --> 00:56.720 I studied abroad in Sevilla. 00:56.800 --> 00:57.960 -Sevilla. -Sevilla. 00:59.959 --> 01:03.080 After I got to Spain, we were saying, "Oh, let's go on a trip." 01:03.160 --> 01:04.640 ¡Hola! 01:04.720 --> 01:06.720 Discover Excursions was recommended. 01:08.039 --> 01:10.280 We were adults for the first time. 01:10.360 --> 01:14.600 Looking at the photos from that time, we were so vulnerable. 01:19.240 --> 01:22.119 Something bad happened. I don't have the language for it. 01:23.240 --> 01:25.520 She called me, hysterical crying. 01:25.600 --> 01:26.920 Like, what the hell happened? 01:27.399 --> 01:30.240 I never would've imagined what was happening. 01:30.320 --> 01:32.960 It was happening for years. 01:35.119 --> 01:37.199 I think it was like 50 people towards the end. 01:40.720 --> 01:42.880 I was like, "Wow, this is wild." 01:45.800 --> 01:48.040 You feel like you were in the room with the devil. 02:02.360 --> 02:06.759 My name's Gabrielle Vega. I am 30 years old. 02:09.039 --> 02:11.519 I'm the oldest of three girls. 02:14.239 --> 02:19.519 I grew up in a normal suburb in the US 02:20.959 --> 02:23.440 We got bicycles, and we were always outside. 02:23.519 --> 02:26.400 It was just, like, a sweet childhood. 02:26.480 --> 02:28.560 I'm a horsey, Mom. 02:28.640 --> 02:31.320 My father is a first-generation American. 02:32.920 --> 02:35.120 My mom's from New Jersey. 02:35.760 --> 02:37.920 My family has no Spanish roots. 02:38.000 --> 02:42.799 But my husband's side has deep roots in Spain. 02:43.679 --> 02:48.560 His grandparents were from Asturias. 02:48.640 --> 02:52.679 My parents really loved the idea of me going back to Spain 02:52.760 --> 02:55.360 and reconnecting with the origin story of the family. 02:56.120 --> 02:57.120 That's it. 02:57.880 --> 03:01.040 I remember the night before, I was packing my bag, 03:01.120 --> 03:03.519 and I was by myself, and I 03:04.720 --> 03:07.160 was getting really sentimental. 03:07.239 --> 03:10.040 I had started writing letters. 03:10.560 --> 03:14.720 I think that's the only letter she's maybe ever written to me. 03:14.799 --> 03:16.600 It was meaningful. 03:17.519 --> 03:20.200 We knew she was excited, and she really wasn't afraid. 03:20.280 --> 03:21.920 And so it was, you know… 03:22.000 --> 03:25.200 It was a happy thing for us to send her off. 03:25.679 --> 03:28.880 I think my dad, I don't wanna say regrets, 03:28.959 --> 03:33.440 but wishes that he taught me… taught us Spanish when we were younger. 03:33.519 --> 03:38.920 He was looking at where could I learn the purest form of Spanish. 03:39.000 --> 03:41.600 And so he was like, "Oh, it's in Salamanca." 03:42.119 --> 03:45.480 So that's kind of why I decided to go there. 04:03.320 --> 04:06.920 I don't know. I just felt like the world kind of just opened up, 04:07.000 --> 04:09.600 and I was just gonna do whatever I could. 04:16.599 --> 04:18.399 I knew nothing about Salamanca. 04:23.320 --> 04:28.800 It's really, really beautiful, and you learn the little things about… 04:28.880 --> 04:31.960 You meet under the clock when meeting your friends in the plaza. 04:32.039 --> 04:33.599 That's where you go to meet. 04:33.680 --> 04:36.160 And you just set the time, get there, whatever. 04:36.840 --> 04:40.440 I didn't know how to drink. I didn't know how to behave. 04:40.520 --> 04:44.520 I was on my own for the first time. I didn't speak the language. 04:45.200 --> 04:47.080 It was so new. 04:47.160 --> 04:49.640 But I remember living there and feeling 04:49.720 --> 04:52.200 like it was the first time I saw color in my life. 04:52.280 --> 04:54.000 So I really loved it. 04:54.080 --> 04:57.240 And tried to immerse myself as much as I could. 05:05.120 --> 05:07.240 UNIVERSITY OF SALAMANCA 05:07.320 --> 05:13.640 I was with kids who were probably 21, 22, 23. 05:16.720 --> 05:20.440 We were thinking about all the trips 'cause Europe is packed. 05:20.520 --> 05:24.720 And so I was like, "Oh, I could go to France or Morocco, go to Africa." 05:24.800 --> 05:26.800 And we're like, "Well, Africa, I don't know." 05:26.880 --> 05:28.800 But you could go, and that would be great. 05:28.880 --> 05:32.520 I had always known that was one of the trips that I really wanted to take, 05:32.599 --> 05:34.560 just because it was so foreign. 05:36.560 --> 05:41.000 Discover Excursions was known across our group. 05:42.720 --> 05:47.320 I knew they went to Morocco. It seemed like tons of kids had done it. 05:50.760 --> 05:54.000 Are you looking for a fun and easy way to travel to Morocco? 05:55.479 --> 05:59.160 Come with Discover Excursions on a safe and eye-opening trip. 06:01.080 --> 06:02.599 Ride on a camel. 06:03.120 --> 06:05.479 Try delicious food. 06:05.560 --> 06:09.280 And enjoy sun-filled days in miles of endless desert. 06:10.640 --> 06:14.400 Trust us. You'll be surprised by what you'll experience in Africa. 06:16.200 --> 06:19.720 Do more than travel. Discover. 06:20.919 --> 06:23.680 We were just the market for it, for that company. 06:23.760 --> 06:27.599 It was like, "Oh, well, you wanna go to Morocco? This is the company." 06:27.680 --> 06:31.000 They had all the marketing. They had pictures of all of us. 06:31.080 --> 06:32.960 Little American kids going. 06:33.039 --> 06:37.280 Yeah, I mean, it was… Discover Excursions was a legit business. 06:37.960 --> 06:38.960 Welcome. 06:39.039 --> 06:43.320 We're open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. No siestas for us. 06:43.400 --> 06:47.400 It was very professional. It was pretty affordable. 06:47.479 --> 06:50.680 But it was also very much this kind of… 06:50.760 --> 06:54.359 fun, sort of like young environment. 06:54.440 --> 06:56.039 It was young tour guides. 06:56.960 --> 07:00.359 And kids from my program, we all kind of decided to go together. 07:03.160 --> 07:04.440 They organized the trip. 07:04.520 --> 07:07.720 The days were planned. You had an itinerary, and it was like… 07:07.799 --> 07:11.760 I think it was a group of 200. It was a huge group of kids that went. 07:11.840 --> 07:14.719 I think it was two buses or something. It was a lot of us. 07:21.280 --> 07:24.159 I remember telling us she was gonna go to Morocco. 07:24.239 --> 07:26.120 So we were like, "Oh, this is great." 07:26.200 --> 07:27.919 And I know she was excited. 07:32.000 --> 07:34.440 We basically went to Morocco. 07:34.520 --> 07:37.960 And we went around the northern part of the country. 07:39.239 --> 07:40.599 Wow! 07:47.280 --> 07:48.799 Oh my God! 07:51.760 --> 07:54.680 I remember being really impressed at how beautiful it was. 07:54.760 --> 07:57.560 There were these mountains that were really incredible. 07:57.640 --> 08:00.679 The architecture being extremely different. 08:02.919 --> 08:06.479 The main tour guide, my impression, was Manuel. 08:08.159 --> 08:10.120 I remember Manuel 08:11.679 --> 08:13.400 talking to all of us on the bus. 08:13.479 --> 08:15.440 Standing up at the front and talking about 08:15.520 --> 08:18.159 how we're gonna have a great time, do X, Y, and Z. 08:20.960 --> 08:24.320 He seemed friendly and warm and kind of like an excitable person. 08:25.359 --> 08:28.239 Probably in their early 30s, late 20s. 08:28.320 --> 08:31.120 He seemed like a nice guy who was gonna show us around 08:31.200 --> 08:33.400 and was really excited we were there. 08:37.400 --> 08:40.039 We went to the Blue City. 08:40.120 --> 08:44.000 I went to the markets that were really incredible. 08:44.079 --> 08:49.199 I remember being almost overcome by the aggression of these salesmen. 08:53.320 --> 08:56.400 I was with my friends, and we were excited by the whole thing. 08:56.480 --> 08:59.480 Because it was like we were in this different world. 08:59.560 --> 09:01.480 And they spoke every language. 09:01.560 --> 09:05.240 They spoke French, English, Spanish. It was like… It was overwhelming. 09:05.320 --> 09:09.040 The smells were overwhelming. And not in a bad way. It was just like… 09:09.120 --> 09:11.600 It was like I was in this really new place. 09:18.079 --> 09:21.959 I think it was Saturday. And that was the last night of the trip. 09:22.040 --> 09:24.120 Hello, little kitty. 09:24.199 --> 09:26.079 It's so pretty. 09:26.160 --> 09:29.839 They wanted us to feel comfortable the whole time we were there, you know? 09:29.920 --> 09:31.199 And they emphasized safety. 09:32.560 --> 09:36.440 "Morocco's not super safe. You guys should stay inside." 09:36.520 --> 09:38.880 "There's a bar at the hotel on the…" 09:38.959 --> 09:41.720 I think it was the top floor of the hotel. 09:41.800 --> 09:44.400 "We can go up there if you guys wanna drink." 09:44.480 --> 09:46.199 "It's best if you don't go outside." 09:46.280 --> 09:49.600 "At night here, it can be sketchy, and there's a big group of us." 09:49.680 --> 09:52.160 We were all encouraged to stay in the hotel that night. 09:54.720 --> 09:59.360 And we went to the bar. Me, Ashley, and Nicole. 09:59.440 --> 10:02.560 We were staying in a room together. The three of us. 10:02.640 --> 10:04.480 I had met them through my program. 10:05.240 --> 10:08.199 I remember I smoked a cigarette with my friends. 10:09.400 --> 10:10.920 And Manuel popped up. 10:17.680 --> 10:20.160 He was like, "Are you guys getting another drink?" 10:20.240 --> 10:21.720 We were like, "Yeah, we were gonna…" 10:21.800 --> 10:24.320 And he came up with this idea where he was like, 10:24.400 --> 10:27.240 "I can get champagne, and we can all hang out in the room." 10:27.320 --> 10:28.600 And, like, whatever. 10:28.680 --> 10:31.120 "I'll get it. Don't even worry about it." 10:31.199 --> 10:33.320 And we were like, "I mean, sure." 10:33.400 --> 10:37.120 I didn't even think about it. I was like, "Okay, that sounds good." 10:37.199 --> 10:42.760 And we went to our hotel room, the four of us. 10:45.800 --> 10:48.000 He had ordered the champagne to the room. 10:49.440 --> 10:54.839 And he was the one that opened the door when it came. 10:54.920 --> 10:57.640 We were sitting on the beds and just hanging out. 10:57.719 --> 10:59.320 The three of us girls. 10:59.400 --> 11:00.320 And… 11:03.920 --> 11:05.280 And yeah, he came over. 11:05.360 --> 11:07.800 I'm pretty sure there was a piece of furniture. 11:07.880 --> 11:10.480 You know the piece of furniture in front of the beds? 11:10.560 --> 11:14.320 He had put the champagne there. And we were behind him on the beds. 11:14.400 --> 11:17.000 And he just started pouring it with his back to us. 11:21.560 --> 11:23.000 It was very casual. 11:23.079 --> 11:26.400 It was a very friendly kind of environment. 11:30.560 --> 11:33.079 And I just remember 11:33.160 --> 11:38.600 his whole fucking, like… vibe started to change. 11:40.360 --> 11:43.079 He wanted to play games and stuff. 11:44.079 --> 11:47.440 He basically started asking us, 11:47.520 --> 11:50.760 "Well, how many people have you slept with?" 11:50.839 --> 11:52.839 And he would, um… 11:54.640 --> 11:56.000 He started saying, 11:56.079 --> 11:59.719 "Well, why don't we all switch shirts or play truth or dare?" 12:02.120 --> 12:06.240 And he was like, "Do you guys mind if we get… if I get more comfortable?" 12:07.800 --> 12:10.079 And he just takes his pants off. 12:10.800 --> 12:15.280 He's in his underwear. He takes a pillow and puts it over himself. 12:17.160 --> 12:20.040 I don't fucking… I was just like, "What the fuck is that?" 12:20.120 --> 12:23.400 But then you rationalize it, and you're like, well… 12:25.120 --> 12:27.480 Maybe it's just a cultural difference, you know? 12:27.560 --> 12:31.839 Maybe it's just him being, I don't know, different. 12:31.920 --> 12:33.079 I don't know. 12:37.400 --> 12:42.719 I remember I started getting really tired. Like really, really tired, and… 12:43.839 --> 12:46.800 There was a cot by the closet. 12:46.880 --> 12:49.680 I got up from the bed, and I went to the cot. 12:50.560 --> 12:53.199 And I laid down, and I knocked out. 13:03.680 --> 13:06.120 I don't know how long I was asleep. I have no idea. 13:09.160 --> 13:11.959 I just remember I woke up at some point. 13:13.880 --> 13:15.959 And no one was in the room. 13:16.040 --> 13:18.320 And I felt like shit. 13:18.400 --> 13:21.079 I had never felt that way in my life. 13:21.160 --> 13:23.719 I have not felt that way in my life since. 13:26.920 --> 13:29.839 There was almost a disconnect between my mind and my body, 13:29.920 --> 13:32.920 where my brain was working on such a slow level. 13:33.000 --> 13:35.640 It was just exhaustion. I don't know what that was. 13:37.400 --> 13:41.240 When I got up, I just remember leaning up against the wall 13:41.320 --> 13:43.920 and dragging my feet, one in front of the other, 13:44.000 --> 13:46.120 to get to the bathroom. 13:46.199 --> 13:50.120 I went to go open the bathroom door, and when I opened it… 13:52.520 --> 13:56.719 Nicole and Ashley and Manuel were all in the shower, the three of them. 13:56.800 --> 13:59.760 They were in their shirts and underwear. He was in his underwear. 14:00.959 --> 14:02.480 I remember I closed the door. 14:03.120 --> 14:06.000 And I was like, "What the fuck was that?" 14:06.079 --> 14:08.160 And then, um… 14:10.560 --> 14:12.480 They all came out, scurried out. 14:12.560 --> 14:15.560 It almost looks like they were all embarrassed, kind of. 14:15.640 --> 14:19.040 And so I just went in, and I sat on the toilet. 14:19.120 --> 14:21.079 And I was facing the door. 14:21.599 --> 14:23.079 And… 14:23.560 --> 14:25.520 All I remember… 14:29.719 --> 14:32.000 And it's the thing that's haunted me for years. 14:32.079 --> 14:36.199 It's that memory of the door swinging open, 14:36.280 --> 14:41.520 and seeing his crotch come towards me, and then him putting himself in my mouth. 14:41.599 --> 14:44.079 And then me getting hit in the head. 14:44.160 --> 14:46.319 And then I just blacked out. 15:07.839 --> 15:09.719 I woke up the next morning in the cot. 15:10.599 --> 15:12.640 And I was in my clothes. 15:12.719 --> 15:17.760 And my roommates, Nicole and Ashley, were in the beds. They were sleeping. 15:17.839 --> 15:20.280 He had just… He was not in the room. 15:20.959 --> 15:22.240 He was gone. 15:22.319 --> 15:25.439 And I was in a lot of pain. 15:25.520 --> 15:27.199 I was very sore. 15:27.280 --> 15:30.479 And I remember I moved the blanket, 15:30.560 --> 15:32.920 and I looked at my legs, and I had… 15:33.000 --> 15:35.839 I was wearing pants, and I remember I looked at my knees, 15:35.920 --> 15:37.520 and I had bruises on my knees. 15:39.880 --> 15:43.479 It just felt like something was really wrong. I was just in pain. 15:43.560 --> 15:46.760 And I felt very out of control and very slow. 15:47.959 --> 15:49.520 And I remember getting up. 15:50.680 --> 15:53.839 Got in the shower, cleaned myself off. 15:53.920 --> 15:56.079 And they woke up, 15:56.160 --> 15:59.079 and we had to get all our stuff ready 15:59.160 --> 16:02.000 'cause we were leaving that morning to go back to Spain. 16:02.079 --> 16:07.319 And I just remember feeling so fucking exhausted. 16:15.160 --> 16:16.839 I got all my stuff. 16:18.199 --> 16:20.439 Went downstairs with my stuff. 16:21.400 --> 16:26.040 And I sat on the couch that morning when we were getting ready to leave. 16:27.240 --> 16:29.680 And I remember I put my head back. 16:30.599 --> 16:31.680 And I closed my eyes. 16:32.760 --> 16:34.319 And I had that flashback of… 16:37.640 --> 16:40.640 the door opening and him putting himself in my mouth. 16:44.520 --> 16:46.880 And I remember I felt like I was gonna throw up. 16:52.359 --> 16:58.800 It was, like, so vivid and visual and just, like, horrifying. 17:00.040 --> 17:03.560 That's when I… realized what had happened. 17:08.280 --> 17:10.240 The craziest thing was… 17:11.880 --> 17:13.720 I couldn't have a breakdown. 17:14.599 --> 17:16.079 I couldn't freak out. 17:16.800 --> 17:18.720 I was in a different country. 17:18.800 --> 17:20.520 I had to just go through it. 17:20.599 --> 17:24.240 I had to just be like, "Just go. Just get on the bus." 17:24.319 --> 17:25.359 "You'll be fine." 17:26.680 --> 17:28.640 Manuel was at the door of the bus 17:28.720 --> 17:32.080 when we were all going on the bus to go to Salamanca. 17:34.680 --> 17:39.480 I walked to get onto the bus, and he just looked over my head. 17:41.640 --> 17:43.040 I was not… 17:43.520 --> 17:47.520 It was almost like I was completely invisible, which I preferred. 17:57.960 --> 17:59.840 But I didn't cry. I didn't… 18:00.560 --> 18:02.280 I didn't do anything. I didn't react. 18:04.120 --> 18:07.440 I just went completely into myself. 18:07.520 --> 18:10.200 And I was just like… No one was home. 18:25.080 --> 18:30.480 I think I went back to the US maybe, like, May 2014. 18:31.600 --> 18:34.200 I remember crying on the plane. 18:35.560 --> 18:40.000 'Cause I still wasn't really even admitting to myself what had happened. 18:46.320 --> 18:48.200 When she came back, 18:48.280 --> 18:50.560 she was not herself. 18:50.640 --> 18:53.919 She was just kind of withdrawn and not herself. 18:54.000 --> 18:56.919 And we would say, "What's the matter? What's wrong?" 18:57.000 --> 18:59.200 And she's like, "I just don't wanna be here." 18:59.280 --> 19:01.760 "I don't wanna be here. I don't wanna, um…" 19:01.840 --> 19:04.440 "I'm just not used to being back in the States." 19:06.280 --> 19:07.760 I remember researching it. 19:07.840 --> 19:10.960 It was a common thing for kids who had studied abroad. 19:11.640 --> 19:14.200 It's called re-entry depression. 19:14.960 --> 19:17.120 If they come back and they're not themselves, 19:17.200 --> 19:18.960 just know that it's normal. 19:19.040 --> 19:21.320 That's what she kept telling us was going on. 19:25.120 --> 19:28.000 It was my biggest fear, reaching out to my parents 19:28.080 --> 19:30.720 and telling them 'cause I had so much… 19:33.840 --> 19:35.320 So much, like… 19:36.480 --> 19:38.640 that I didn't want them to know. 19:38.720 --> 19:40.080 You know? Like… 19:44.280 --> 19:47.480 I'm the first kid. I'm their daughter. Like… 19:48.760 --> 19:52.040 I don't know anyone that this has happened to. Um… 19:53.360 --> 19:56.840 And I just didn't want them to feel like they failed me as parents 19:56.919 --> 19:58.320 and let that happen. 20:01.640 --> 20:03.840 She was only home for maybe a month. 20:03.919 --> 20:07.720 And then it was time to start school at the university, 20:07.800 --> 20:10.960 which was about a seven-hour drive from our house. 20:12.760 --> 20:17.440 Gabrielle showed no enthusiasm. Like zero. She wasn't excited. 20:20.919 --> 20:24.200 I was really, really, really, really depressed. 20:24.280 --> 20:28.120 I had never dealt with depression like that before. 20:28.200 --> 20:30.000 And, um… 20:30.080 --> 20:33.360 It was… Everything in my life became difficult. 20:33.440 --> 20:36.080 Everything in my life became very difficult. 20:40.360 --> 20:44.360 I started having like these… suicidal ideation 20:44.440 --> 20:48.360 and just these intrusive thoughts about killing myself. 20:50.880 --> 20:53.440 I thought, "You have to tell your parents." 20:53.520 --> 20:56.760 "You have to tell your parents, Gabby, what's going on." 20:58.960 --> 21:01.360 I was outside. It was a Saturday. 21:04.520 --> 21:07.800 It was a beautiful day. And she called. 21:10.200 --> 21:12.200 And she was like, "I'm coming home." 21:12.280 --> 21:15.200 And I was like, "Why are you coming home? What's going on?" 21:15.280 --> 21:18.040 And I was like, "You know, I was raped." 21:18.120 --> 21:21.320 "I was raped while I was in Spain, and I need to come home." 21:24.520 --> 21:25.960 And, um… 21:28.560 --> 21:31.240 Honestly, it's kind of a blur after that. 21:32.880 --> 21:36.040 I didn't say, "What happened?" I said, "Come." 21:37.800 --> 21:40.760 And it was like two and a half years that I didn't tell my family. 21:40.840 --> 21:42.159 They thought I was depressed. 21:45.520 --> 21:47.000 Having no idea. 21:47.080 --> 21:50.240 I think, "How could I, as a mother, have no idea?" But I didn't. 21:50.320 --> 21:53.240 And even my mother-in-law, abuela, 21:53.320 --> 21:55.679 had said, "Do you think something happened to her?" 21:55.760 --> 21:57.960 "I think something happened to her in Spain." 21:58.040 --> 22:01.200 And I said, "Nothing happened to her. This is normal." 22:01.280 --> 22:04.919 You know? And I look back and I say, "Ugh. I can't…" She knew. 22:05.000 --> 22:07.360 She even recognized that Gabrielle wasn't the same. 22:13.960 --> 22:16.679 My parents opened the door, and they just… 22:18.760 --> 22:23.280 They just gave me a hug and, you know, we just tried to go from there. 22:23.360 --> 22:25.520 I was just… I was desperate. 22:25.600 --> 22:27.320 It was exactly what I needed. 22:27.399 --> 22:29.240 I just needed my family. 22:29.320 --> 22:31.919 And I had to face the fact that I was… 22:32.919 --> 22:34.280 suppressing all… 22:34.360 --> 22:36.880 I just had to face it all and just tell them 22:36.960 --> 22:39.600 and stop carrying it myself. 22:41.840 --> 22:43.120 Yeah. 22:44.080 --> 22:47.960 I said, "Did you know this person?" She said, "Yes. It was the tour guide." 22:48.040 --> 22:50.760 "It was the person who owned the tour company." 22:54.200 --> 22:56.080 And I feel like that's how she felt. 22:56.159 --> 22:59.520 She didn't want to say the words aloud even 22:59.600 --> 23:02.040 or to even talk about details. 23:02.120 --> 23:07.080 She just wanted to be in the security of her own home and be with us. 23:08.640 --> 23:12.360 They asked me, "Do you wanna go to the police?" And I was like, "No." 23:12.439 --> 23:16.840 "No, I don't wanna go to the police. I don't want anything to do with that." 23:20.679 --> 23:25.399 It was a time to recoup and just… heal. 23:27.520 --> 23:29.720 Yeah, it was rough. It was rough. 23:30.840 --> 23:32.480 A rough time. 23:55.040 --> 23:58.640 Um, I am an artist and graphic designer. 23:58.720 --> 24:03.560 In 2018, I was in my senior year of college 24:03.640 --> 24:06.520 at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. 24:11.800 --> 24:15.080 The worst moment of my life was at Florida State University. 24:17.360 --> 24:19.640 I remember going outside and crying. 24:21.120 --> 24:23.840 It was a project that I was working on. 24:23.919 --> 24:29.000 It was an installation on people's experiences. 24:29.080 --> 24:31.520 Their best and their worst experiences. 24:31.600 --> 24:35.360 It was supposed to be about the idea 24:35.439 --> 24:39.600 that we're shaped by our best and worst experiences. 24:39.679 --> 24:43.240 I felt like my world stopped. 24:43.720 --> 24:46.200 I was just totally lost. 24:46.280 --> 24:52.320 I reached out online to Facebook and Instagram and social media in general, 24:52.399 --> 24:56.840 trying to find people to do the interviews and record themselves for it. 25:00.800 --> 25:06.120 Gabrielle ended up being one of the people who responded to it 25:06.200 --> 25:11.560 and sent in her audio recording of her best and her worst day. 25:15.439 --> 25:19.760 When I heard her worst day, there was just… 25:19.840 --> 25:22.960 There was something very familiar about it. 25:24.199 --> 25:28.040 This is Gabrielle. I'm gonna start answering your questions. 25:28.640 --> 25:30.480 The saddest moment in my life? 25:30.560 --> 25:32.600 Probably when I was raped. 25:35.560 --> 25:37.679 I was in Morocco by myself. 25:37.760 --> 25:41.280 Well, not by myself. With two friends. 25:41.360 --> 25:42.880 And, um… 25:44.560 --> 25:45.880 we went on a tour. 25:45.960 --> 25:50.240 A tour guide took me and did some fucked-up shit. 25:50.320 --> 25:53.600 Anyways, that was really hard for a 19-year-old girl. 25:55.560 --> 25:57.040 Yeah, and after that day, 25:58.360 --> 26:01.640 everything… was just different. 26:01.720 --> 26:03.800 I wasn't a kid anymore. 26:05.960 --> 26:08.120 She didn't say the name of the company. 26:08.199 --> 26:10.000 She didn't say Manu's name. 26:10.080 --> 26:12.960 It was just a gut feeling that I had. 26:13.040 --> 26:16.919 And that was what prompted me to reach out to her. 26:24.000 --> 26:27.880 She sends me a message, and she's like, "Hey, thank you for sending this." 26:27.960 --> 26:32.040 "I really appreciate you doing that. I'm so sorry this happened to you." 26:32.120 --> 26:36.480 And I asked her if the company that she had gone with 26:36.560 --> 26:38.960 was Discover Excursions. 26:39.840 --> 26:41.600 She said, "Yes." 26:41.679 --> 26:46.520 She asked me if the person I was talking about was Manu. 26:47.120 --> 26:49.000 And I said, "Yes." 26:51.840 --> 26:56.840 And so I just started panicking, like, completely lost my mind. 26:56.919 --> 27:01.040 I knew about something very similar happening to somebody else. 27:04.840 --> 27:09.800 I went to Spain to study abroad in 2017. 27:17.360 --> 27:20.000 My older sister had recommended 27:20.080 --> 27:22.120 Discover Excursions to us. 27:22.960 --> 27:26.199 Um, we wanted to go on the Morocco trip. 27:27.640 --> 27:30.199 You know, and you wanna believe 27:30.280 --> 27:32.960 that your tour guide will have your best interests at heart 27:33.040 --> 27:35.000 when you're out of the country with them. 27:37.679 --> 27:38.520 What? 27:38.600 --> 27:40.480 I remember that… 27:41.199 --> 27:44.560 there would be one night during these trips 27:44.640 --> 27:48.000 that would be a big party that they would throw. 27:59.520 --> 28:04.320 And that actually ended up being the night where he, um… 28:04.960 --> 28:07.640 He assaulted these other girls on our trip. 28:10.240 --> 28:12.880 I saw him acting weird around her. 28:14.000 --> 28:16.360 He was just… 28:17.280 --> 28:18.840 all over Catherine. 28:18.919 --> 28:21.760 I felt like he was following her 28:21.840 --> 28:25.439 and just was always around her, always talking to her. 28:28.840 --> 28:31.880 I asked Liz, "Can you get me in contact with her?" 28:37.480 --> 28:40.120 So then I reach out to this girl. 28:40.199 --> 28:43.639 She was like, "Yeah, Manuel basically pushed me on the bed 28:43.720 --> 28:46.800 and tried to put himself on me. I got really freaked out." 28:46.879 --> 28:51.040 "But I actually heard that something worse 28:51.120 --> 28:54.679 happened to two other girls on a different Discover Excursions trip." 28:55.679 --> 28:58.399 So I said, "Okay. Can you put me in contact with them?" 28:58.480 --> 29:01.199 "I need to track them down and talk to them." 29:02.760 --> 29:04.320 And, um… 29:05.800 --> 29:08.600 So I got in contact with Hayley and Carly for the first time. 29:18.520 --> 29:22.639 And they basically told me that he 29:22.720 --> 29:25.480 cornered them in a room, both of them, 29:25.560 --> 29:28.879 in a room in Portugal on one of the Discover Excursions trips. 29:31.040 --> 29:35.280 He very much was trying to get us to just keep drinking. 29:36.120 --> 29:39.199 He wanted to play a game of truth or dare. 29:39.280 --> 29:42.439 And he wanted us to kiss him and dance for him. 29:42.520 --> 29:45.720 He was grabbing one of them by the wrist and wouldn't let them go. 29:45.800 --> 29:48.199 And he was trying to force them to touch him. 29:50.240 --> 29:54.360 He said, "One of you touch me. One of you kiss me." 29:54.439 --> 29:57.199 He told us that we could not leave 29:57.280 --> 30:00.120 because we could not leave him with blue balls. 30:00.199 --> 30:02.879 And they were freaked out. Freaked out. 30:02.959 --> 30:07.159 Hayley was able to kind of spin away from him. 30:07.240 --> 30:10.439 And then when Hayley told him to let me go, 30:10.520 --> 30:16.520 he told her that he couldn't let me go because someone had to finish the job. 30:16.600 --> 30:19.840 She had to run out into the hallway and basically open the door and say, 30:19.919 --> 30:23.120 "If you don't fucking get out of here, we're gonna tell everyone." 30:23.199 --> 30:24.720 He let me go. 30:24.800 --> 30:29.280 And… and then the next day, he was gone. 30:29.360 --> 30:35.560 And all the other tour guides said that he had had a family emergency. 30:39.360 --> 30:42.600 So once I found those three women, 30:43.280 --> 30:46.639 I had like a complete switch in my mind. 30:53.639 --> 30:56.120 She called me, hysterical crying. 30:56.199 --> 30:58.600 "He's doing this to other girls!" 30:58.679 --> 31:00.800 And I was like, "What are you talking about?" 31:01.720 --> 31:06.800 I was in the car, driving home, on the phone with my mom 31:06.879 --> 31:09.720 and immediately focusing on what I was gonna do. 31:11.560 --> 31:15.159 So I got home and started posting on Facebook that day. 31:19.560 --> 31:21.199 "My rapist is still raping people." 31:21.280 --> 31:24.879 "If you know anyone that's going to Spain, you need to tell them 31:24.959 --> 31:29.320 that Manuel Blanco Vela at Discover Excursions is harming women." 31:29.399 --> 31:31.040 "Please share this." 31:31.120 --> 31:31.959 "Me too." 31:32.040 --> 31:35.120 So I just started writing nonstop. 31:35.199 --> 31:38.120 And I took it to a whole other level 31:38.199 --> 31:40.520 where I just started… I wrote the same message. 31:42.879 --> 31:44.959 "Hey, haven't heard from you in a while." 31:45.040 --> 31:49.040 "My rapist is still raping people. Can you please share my Facebook status?" 31:49.120 --> 31:50.240 Insane stuff. 31:51.199 --> 31:54.840 I sent it to probably 200 people. 31:54.919 --> 31:58.719 Just direct message on Facebook. Just sending that out. 31:58.800 --> 32:02.240 My dad had contacts in Miami 32:02.320 --> 32:05.560 with the general consul at the embassy, the Spanish embassy in Miami. 32:11.320 --> 32:14.199 So I went down there, told them what was going on, 32:14.280 --> 32:16.040 told them I found these women. 32:16.120 --> 32:19.320 And I remember the general consul was very kind. 32:20.600 --> 32:23.000 And was gonna help me but was hesitant. 32:23.080 --> 32:26.120 He was like, "You shouldn't go on the news about this." 32:26.199 --> 32:28.600 "You shouldn't talk to anyone about this." 32:28.679 --> 32:31.879 I wondered why he didn't want us to go to the press, you know? 32:31.959 --> 32:34.760 Because it's bad press for the country. 32:40.080 --> 32:43.360 The second he told me "no," I was like, "That's what I'm gonna do." 32:57.600 --> 33:00.840 We were in the green room, and I was starting to get freaked out. 33:00.919 --> 33:03.560 I was blacking out, you know? 33:03.639 --> 33:05.760 -One minute! -One minute, guys. 33:05.840 --> 33:07.879 Here we go. Let's have a good show. 33:12.000 --> 33:15.080 I remember I was standing behind the stage. 33:16.280 --> 33:20.560 And, um… I just started sobbing. 33:23.080 --> 33:28.199 -Camera three… -Four, three, two, one. 33:29.159 --> 33:30.320 And we're live. 33:30.399 --> 33:34.360 And I just started breaking down. And she came up to me, and she was like, 33:34.439 --> 33:36.040 "You're doing a really good thing." 33:36.120 --> 33:38.840 "This is really gonna help you, and you're gonna get him." 33:38.919 --> 33:40.600 And I was like, 33:40.679 --> 33:43.159 "Okay, if Megyn Kelly says it, I guess, fuck it." 33:43.240 --> 33:44.800 "I gotta go and do this." 33:44.879 --> 33:49.240 And so she goes out on the stage, and then I go out. 33:49.320 --> 33:52.120 And I remember just looking at her. 33:52.199 --> 33:54.320 And she asked me a question, 33:54.399 --> 33:57.439 and I literally don't remember anything from it. 34:00.080 --> 34:02.399 But apparently, it went really well. 34:02.480 --> 34:05.480 My husband and I were in the green room while they did the filming, 34:05.560 --> 34:07.240 and we were very proud of her. 34:07.320 --> 34:13.159 And I think at the time we knew that this is gonna be something big. 34:14.760 --> 34:16.239 I knew… 34:18.040 --> 34:20.920 that I was going into really unknown territory. 34:21.000 --> 34:22.799 I had no idea what… 34:23.719 --> 34:24.839 I was… 34:24.920 --> 34:27.799 I had no idea that this was gonna turn out the way it did. 34:32.120 --> 34:33.839 When that show happened, 34:33.920 --> 34:36.040 a lot of people started reaching out to me. 34:37.600 --> 34:41.000 My phone just started going off. 34:42.560 --> 34:45.880 During the interview, they showed the image 34:45.960 --> 34:49.839 of the man I knew as Manu White. 34:50.480 --> 34:53.159 And I started screaming, "It's him!" 34:54.319 --> 34:57.799 I was sitting there and was like, "Wow, this is wild." 34:57.880 --> 35:00.920 I don't think he was mentioned. But I was like, "This is Manu." 35:02.799 --> 35:06.760 It all came crashing together, hearing Gabrielle's story. 35:08.240 --> 35:11.880 I never in a million years would have thought it was Manu. 35:11.960 --> 35:14.720 I felt a big sense of clarity. 35:14.799 --> 35:16.120 But also… 35:16.200 --> 35:18.640 …like an insane amount of anger. 35:19.799 --> 35:24.600 I guess when I learned from Gabrielle, it felt so clearly 35:24.680 --> 35:27.319 that he is a serial predator 35:27.400 --> 35:31.080 and that he committed these crimes and assaults. 35:31.160 --> 35:34.799 That's when I knew that what happened to me 35:34.880 --> 35:39.360 was happening to women for years after. 35:39.440 --> 35:41.280 And probably years before. 35:41.360 --> 35:45.000 I was telling my parents, "I found a girl here from Rhode Island." 35:45.080 --> 35:47.240 "I found a girl here from Virginia." 35:47.319 --> 35:49.920 "I found two girls from Florida. Three girls." 35:50.000 --> 35:51.040 "One's in New York." 35:51.120 --> 35:55.400 Finding all these women, and my parents were like, "Jesus fucking Christ, kid." 36:10.400 --> 36:12.720 This is part of the story that I… 36:12.799 --> 36:16.120 I messaged Gabrielle about. 36:16.200 --> 36:19.000 That one day… 36:19.080 --> 36:22.120 I believe this was early April. 36:23.160 --> 36:27.520 I sat in the office, and Manu's not there. 36:28.960 --> 36:32.080 My job was literally to go through… 36:32.160 --> 36:36.400 There were different Facebook groups of universities studying abroad. 36:36.480 --> 36:40.200 And I was supposed to go through each individual person 36:40.280 --> 36:43.720 and send them a message from the Discover Excursions account, 36:43.799 --> 36:47.960 saying, "Come to Morocco. Here's a discount code." 36:52.200 --> 36:55.720 And then I see him kind of pacing, on the phone. 36:57.120 --> 37:00.440 And then he comes in, and he grabs me like usual. 37:00.520 --> 37:02.520 "Aubrey, it's time to go to lunch." 37:02.600 --> 37:06.920 "I need to tell you, you know, what's going on." 37:07.000 --> 37:08.120 And I'm like, "Okay." 37:10.040 --> 37:11.680 So we go to lunch. 37:12.359 --> 37:15.280 He sits down. He orders. Like usual. 37:15.359 --> 37:17.799 He always orders all the stuff for us. 37:17.880 --> 37:22.720 And he goes outside, and he's just walking and pacing on the phone, 37:22.799 --> 37:25.600 like a little frantic. 37:28.960 --> 37:33.319 Then finally he comes. He sits down. He can't eat anything. 37:33.400 --> 37:36.760 And he tries to explain to me, like, 37:36.839 --> 37:39.120 "There are these girls 37:39.200 --> 37:44.600 who are just trying to ruin my reputation and hurt me, 37:44.680 --> 37:46.760 and get my money." 37:46.839 --> 37:49.799 "I don't know why they would do something like this." 37:49.880 --> 37:53.120 "This is horrible. And my poor family." 37:53.200 --> 37:55.200 "This is ruining my reputation." 37:55.280 --> 37:58.160 "This is gonna cause pain for my mom." 37:58.760 --> 38:02.960 I was like, "Oh, wow. Yeah. Like, that's crazy." 38:03.880 --> 38:06.720 He was trying to twist it. 38:06.799 --> 38:09.480 He was trying to get my sympathy. 38:09.560 --> 38:10.760 And… 38:11.520 --> 38:15.280 I… I went back to the office, and he left. 38:16.400 --> 38:20.120 I knew that it was on The Today Show. And I watched The Today Show. 38:22.359 --> 38:26.280 And I saw just how bad it was. 38:28.799 --> 38:30.440 And I left. 38:30.520 --> 38:35.760 And then the next day, I think, the office was shut down. 38:38.200 --> 38:42.200 We are following this case, which has gone viral in recent weeks. 38:42.280 --> 38:45.680 The police are investigating whether a tourism entrepreneur from Seville 38:45.760 --> 38:49.760 raped dozens of clients, primarily from the United States. 38:49.839 --> 38:52.359 A Florida student has recently spoken about her case, 38:52.440 --> 38:55.880 and this has triggered a wave of similar reports. 38:55.960 --> 38:58.440 We are at the offices of this travel agency, 38:58.520 --> 39:00.799 which, as you can see, we found closed. 39:00.880 --> 39:03.400 We also tried to speak with the agency's director, 39:03.480 --> 39:07.240 who has so far not responded to messages from the media. 39:11.920 --> 39:16.520 I call the agency, Discover Excursions. Nobody answers the phone. 39:16.600 --> 39:19.440 I go there in person because it's close to the newsroom. 39:19.520 --> 39:21.560 It's closed. No one is inside. 39:21.640 --> 39:23.760 I manage to get Manuel Blanco's number. 39:23.839 --> 39:24.880 I call him. 39:24.960 --> 39:28.839 He answers the phone. I said I was from Diario de Sevilla 39:28.920 --> 39:31.319 and wanted to speak with him, and he hung up. 39:33.040 --> 39:35.520 Then I decided to send a WhatsApp message. 39:35.600 --> 39:38.319 He sent a very brief reply. 39:39.000 --> 39:43.080 "On behalf of our company, we can only say that this is all slander and lies." 39:43.160 --> 39:45.120 "There are no lawsuits and no evidence." 39:45.200 --> 39:47.720 "Everything went viral without any basis." 39:47.799 --> 39:51.600 "The company's lawyers are aware, both in the United States and in Spain." 39:51.680 --> 39:54.040 That was the message, 39:54.120 --> 39:56.839 which I included in its entirety in my news report. 39:59.000 --> 40:00.319 "I WAS TERRIFIED." 40:00.400 --> 40:02.680 People started sending me stuff. 40:02.760 --> 40:05.920 And I'm pretty sure somebody sent me 40:06.000 --> 40:12.880 the screenshot of the Google "permanently closed" location thing, and… 40:14.799 --> 40:17.680 that was fuckin' awesome. 40:17.760 --> 40:21.520 It was awesome. It was amazing. It was like… 40:21.600 --> 40:26.560 It was like, "Okay, so now the access is cut off." 40:28.160 --> 40:32.440 Fuck you. Fuck your friends. Fuck everyone who supported you. 40:32.520 --> 40:33.960 Fuck you. 40:50.400 --> 40:55.480 I would say the majority of the messages came that week. 40:55.560 --> 40:57.520 And then they would slowly start rolling in. 40:57.600 --> 41:00.000 'Cause then I would have girls come and be like, 41:00.080 --> 41:03.760 "My friend was raped by him, but she's too afraid to contact you." 41:06.520 --> 41:09.040 "I was raped by him, but… 41:09.920 --> 41:12.480 I don't wanna tell my family. I don't know what to do." 41:12.560 --> 41:15.640 A bunch of people coming to me and trying to… 41:15.720 --> 41:18.000 They would come to me and tell me everything. 41:19.000 --> 41:20.560 It was one of those moments 41:20.640 --> 41:25.720 where I had no idea what I was involved in. 41:26.400 --> 41:29.280 And I remember I got a direct message on Facebook. 41:32.200 --> 41:33.760 She said, 41:33.839 --> 41:36.040 "Manuel Blanco Vela killed my daughter." Facebook.