The schoolgirl who says she was abused by Virginia football coach Travis Turner has broken her silence for the first time since he vanished into the Appalachian woods last year, sharing in an emotional statement that she once blamed herself for what happened. "I did not feel like a victim," said a statement from the girl read on her behalf at the Wise County School Board meeting Monday, the TimesNews reported.
"I felt like I was the problem. I felt like I had embarrassed the school, damaged the reputation of the coaching staff and disrupted something I was supposed to protect instead of myself," the statement from the girl added.
Blaming Herself Initially
The statement was read aloud by Wise County resident Stephen Murray, who said he was speaking on her behalf. He also went on to name three other county school teachers who have faced sexual misconduct charges in recent years.
"This is just the cases that have been reported and charged," Murray said, joining several other irate residents who blasted the board. "When there is this much abuse, it's not just a few bad apples. It is a culture. The fish rots from the head down."
The meeting marked the Wise County School Board's first chance for the public to speak since Turner disappeared in November, just as police were heading to question him about allegations involving child pornography and exploitation.
Turner, 46, a father and a well-known figure in the Big Stone Gap community where he coached the boys' football team at Union High School, has not been seen since. Despite extensive searches through the area's difficult, mountainous terrain, authorities have yet to find any trace of him.
Nowhere to be Spotted
Turner was last spotted on Nov. 20, carrying a gun as he walked into the woods behind his home. Police arrived at his house hours later to question him in connection with a child sex crimes investigation.
Days after he disappeared, Turner was formally charged with child pornography offenses and five counts of soliciting a minor. Since then, authorities have shared little new information about the case.
A man who said he is the grandfather of the alleged victim also spoke at the Wise County School Board meeting. He said he was proud of her for coming forward, adding that her bravery helped protect other children from being harmed.
"I'm extremely proud of my granddaughter. What she did probably saved some other children. I suppose there's a reason for everything, as God says in due time," the grandfather said, according to WCYB.
Murray went on to name several Wise County teachers who have faced sex crime charges over the past five years.
He mentioned Dalton Bates, a band director at Central High who was charged with child pornography offenses in 2020; Timothy Lee Meador, a Union High teacher and coach who pleaded guilty in 2023 to child solicitation and indecent liberties charges; and Tyler J. Tibbs, a teacher at Coeburn Middle School who was charged in August with taking indecent liberties with a child.
"How is this abuse allowed to continue?" Murray told the board.
"From where I'm standing, it seems the people you are trying to protect are not the kids but it's the reputations of the administrators, and the school board has been complicit in the sexual abuse," he added.
