After Monday’s release of 150 pages of testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury case, two of the survivors are opening up about what was revealed and where their lives are headed today.
Haley Robson met Epstein when she was 15 years old. She was molested by Epstein, threatened and harassed and told to bring other girls to his mansion on Palm Beach.
“All of us brought other women,” Robson said. “We were told the younger the better, and some of the girls brought their family members.”
It was a similar story for Courtney Wild. She was taken by a friend to Epstein’s home when she was 14 years old.
The deal was simple. Give an “old guy” a massage on Palm Beach for $200. Bring and friend and you’ll make $300.
“I felt so dirty and ugly,” Wild remembers after leaving Epstein’s home for the first time.
Her voice quaked as she pushed through the memory.
“I was embarrassed about what had just happened, and I was also trying to process the $200 I had in my hands,” Wild said.
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That was a lot of money to Wild. Her home life was in turmoil and her family was struggling to survive.
Wild would continue visiting Epstein at his home for the next three years.
“He (Epstein) had a type and his type was 14,15,16 years old,” Wild said. “He wanted that innocence, and he wanted to break that person down.”
“I think a lot predators look at women like Jeffrey did, from broken homes or abusive homes,” Robson said.
Though Robson said she had amazing parents and came from a healthy home, she said most of Epstein’s victims did not.
“He looked for girls or children who don’t have guidance or the upbringing, and they feed off that. It becomes an easier target for them,” Robson said.
After years of being haunted by their abuse and living through the headlines, trials and media coverage, both local women stepped onto the stage at the Kravis Center in downtown West Palm Beach this past spring. It signaled a new chapter for this pair.
Reading a prepared personal statement from a podium, it seemed the moment ushered in a new era. These were their stories in their own words.
“Jeffrey raped me and then his friend came in afterward to mock the entire scenario,” Robson recounted as she cleared her throat and breathed through the moment. “They decided to follow me for years to my job at Olive Garden to my gym at LA Fitness in Wellington. They would track me and harass me. It was part of the Epstein intimidation.”
A room filled with counselors listened in. Wild and Robson served as keynote speakers at The Children’s Healing Institute luncheon. The group gathered to listen and learn.
Both women revealed their truth and some of their deepest scars in a room of professionals. Robson and Wild said they hope their stories help others get out of abusive situations and heal after them.
“I think you have to help others hang onto that little piece of hope, even when things get really bad and you feel like there’s no way out it,” Robson said. “You need to hang onto that little bit of hope within in you. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
The audience gave the women a standing ovation at the end of their speeches. Robson and Wild later met in private breakout sessions. The professional counselors were able to ask deeper more personal questions that would prepare them in their counseling careers to help future patients.
“There were a lot of mistakes made in (the Epstein case),” Robson said, “but if I can bring to light the mistakes that were made and show other victims and other women and children how to move past the trauma and how to live past the trauma. I think that’s what my future looks like.”