Strauss-Kahn and five other vexing sexual assault cases

Sexual assault cases rank among the most difficult to prosecute, as the one against ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is demonstrating. Here are five high-profile sex-crime cases that fell apart.

2. Heidi Jones's phantom attacker

Heidi Jones, WABC-TV weekend weather anchor in New York and an occasional host on “Good Morning America,” reported to police in November that she had been harassed by a man near her apartment – and that he had tried to rape her two months earlier as she was out on a run through Central Park.

But police, during their investigation, turned up nothing on video footage during the days in question. They could find no other evidence to support her charges.

Confronted with the dearth of evidence, Ms. Jones acknowledged having fabricated the whole episode, police said.

No one was charged in the case … except Jones herself. She is charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor, and her case is still pending.

Why the lie? Jones said she was looking for “a plea of sympathy to counter some unknown setback that she was experiencing in her personal life,” reported the New York Post in December.

2 of 5
You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.