Post by Scumhunter on Sept 9, 2014 8:01:09 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: amw.com archives)
A Dancer's Nightmare, A Rapist On The Run
Lizz Plot was a dancer ever since she could walk. She was performing solos by age seven and entering dance competitions at age twelve. By the time she was 16, she was living in New York City -- touring the world and dancing in Broadway productions. "Dance makes me feel. It makes me feel alive, raw, and passionate. It's my voice, sad, happy inspired, free," says Lizz.
Police say on September 26th, 2007, when Lizz was 24, she traveled from New York City to Vienna, Va. to perform in a children's festival. Lizz checked into a hotel on Jones Branch Road in McLean, Va. Her performance wasn't until the next morning, so she decided to head down to the bar to listen to a local jazz band.
Lizz says she was enjoying the music when she was approached by two men. One was a stocky black man who said he lived in the area and always came to listen to the band. The other man she describes as a younger, thin Asian man. He told Lizz that he was in town for military training. The two men seemed very friendly and harmless at first, but Lizz started getting a bad vibe about one of them.
"The older guy was starting to make very small sexual innuendos about me and the younger guy," Lizz recalls. "I told they guy straight up that I wasn't that kind of girl. I told him he was being inappropriate and was making me uncomfortable."
The man apologized and, in an attempt to make up for his rude behavior, Lizz says he bought the bar a round of shots. Lizz, already having had two drinks, told the bartender to make hers water.
A couple of minutes later, Lizz says she started to feel lightheaded. Worried about her dance performance the next day she decided to call it a night.
She walked over to the elevators in the hotel lobby when she realized the black man from the bar was behind her. "The next thing I knew, I’m in the elevator and there’s this stranger trying to kiss me, then things went blurry."
Lizz doesn't remember much that night, but what she does recall is horrifying. She says the man took her to a room, tied her up, blind folded her and then raped her. Lizz says she must have passed out because when she woke up the next morning, the man was gone.
Being the dedicated dancer she is and not wanting to disappoint the hundreds of children that were coming to watch her dance, she performed at the festival. As soon as it was over, Lizz confided in a friend that she had been raped the night before. The friend took her to the hospital where doctors confirmed Lizz had indeed been raped.
Fairfax County Police took over the investigation. They had evidence that backed up Lizz's accounts that night in the hotel.
"I'm a hundred percent positive that this is a sexual assault case," Fairfax County Police Detective Mike Holland says. "She did not go along with this. It was absolutely against her will."
But police didn't have very much evidence in terms of identifying Lizz's attacker. All they had were some grainy hotel surveillance footage that showed Lizz and her attacker getting into the elevator. They needed a break in the case. Little did they know that Lizz would be the one to give it to them.
One day, when Lizz was going through her text messages on her phone, she came across a photo she had taken of her attacker that night in the bar. "I saw this face and I freaked out. I'm like 'Oh my gosh this is the man.'"
Lizz turned the photo over to police. It's the best piece of evidence they have. The man in the photo is wearing glasses, but they are not his. Lizz says at one point, while they were sitting at the bar, he put on her glasses in an attempt to be funny. Lizz snapped a photo, but had forgotten about it until she was cleaning out her phone.
Police have released the photo hoping someone will recognize the man, which would bring relief to Lizz as well. "It really bothers me that there is this human being out there that has the ability to do such horrible acts. I don't want this to happen to anyone else."
New Clues Released
Police have since released a second photo, but it's not of Lizz's alleged rapist. It's of the younger, Asian male that was talking to Lizz and the suspect that night in the hotel bar.
"He is reportedly a marine of some kind, military possibly an officer, who is of Asian descent. By no means is he a suspect, he's just another witness that can help us out." Says Detective Mike Holland.
Police hope that someone may recognize this man or the man himself will come forward. He may remember something that could help police identify and track down Lizz's rapist.
Fighting Back Through Dance
Since the brutal rape, Lizz has been on a roller coaster of a ride getting her life back on track. For a long time, Lizz didn’t talk about what happened to her, but then she realized by sharing her story with others it not only helped her, it helped other victims.
Reflecting on her life five years after her attack, Lizz now sees things differently. "There is something greater than what happened to me and through music and dance it will help people transform their trauma into something amazing and beautiful."
Today Lizz is using her dance as a healing tool for other victims. Having experienced her own traumas and pain, Lizz has tried many traditional and nontraditional paths to recovery. After having survived not only traumas but a near death experience last year she believes she has tools to help. Using her background in the performing arts and her new found discovery of subtle energetics and alternative therapies, Lizz formed CreateShareLove to help others help themselves.
The organization serves as a platform for creativity, consciousness, healing and transformation. The goals range from creating multi-disciplinary interactive events that encourage freedom of expression and personal growth to individual personalized guided healing sessions to transform trauma and pain into love and a new passion for life.
Lizz has not only been able to recover, but feel an even greater love and appreciation for life. She believes that no matter what, we all have the ability to feel healthy and alive. "Trauma and pain can put blinders on us and create what feels like prison walls around our hearts and mentality. There is a time to feel pain and a time to feel joy. After sitting in the pain long enough it does become our choice to feel how we feel. Sometimes we just need a little help remembering who we really are." The intention of CreateShareLove is to do just that.
Currently, Lizz is working on her first dance show. After intense research on color therapy, sound therapy, vibrational frequency healing, and talk therapy, she has decided to create an interactive experience bridging the gap between live music, dance, art, and various healing techniques.
After years of experience performing on a more "traditional" stage, she has decided to take a step out of the box in an attempt to provide a new type of show: one that isn't just for entertainment, but also has the potential to literally change your life in just hours.
Lizz also helps others by offering individual counseling, teaching dance classes, and doing extensive research on how sound, color, movement, and subtle energetics help heal.
Admin Note #1: Call your local police or Crime Stoppers line if you have any information on this case. Please contact site if you know of a direct phone line to call for tips.
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
Thoughts? The good news is Lizz sounds like she's doing great based on what I've read. But we still can't let this guy get away with what he's done. Thankfully, above we have a photo of him. Unfortunately, because of the AMW website no longer functioning I can't find the picture of the other man believed to be at the bar with Lizz's attacker, but I do remember AMW getting a lot of great tips on this case. So much so that they aired it again on June 22nd, 2012 just months after the April 6, 2012 airing. I don't remember all the leads, but I know one of them was a man travelling on Amtrak and another possible lead in Houston, Texas. (Perhaps Pakman can help me out since he still has AMW's airings, just saying
) I also remember John Walsh asking to make the photo go viral, one of the last time's AMW tried to use the power of social media before getting cancelled. But why not try again, anyone reading this should do the same thing and share that photo again to get Lizz justice.
