Nebraska Hate Crime Victim Charlie Rogers Speaks Out Against Those Who Believe It Was A Hoax.

Charlie Rogers, the victim of an alleged hate crime, addresses people who question whether the attack actually happened in an interview with KETV. Last Sunday, three masked men broke into Roger's home and attacked her, binding her before carving homophobic slurs into her skin. They painted anti-gay phrases on her basement wall and attempted to light her house on fire.

From Huffington Post.

In an emotional new interview with KETV-TV, Rogers, 33, addressed those who doubted her claims. "The idea that people think it's a lie is so hurtful. It's understandable," she said, noting that her "world has been changed forever" by the alleged attack. "Intellectually I understand that people have a hard time wrapping their heads around what happened, as do I. But I'm a person, with feelings, with concerns...and it's just so...it feels like a punch in the stomach, like a betrayal." 

The Lincoln Journal-Star reported July 25 that investigators had no suspects, but "hadn't ruled out the possibility" that Rogers herself had somehow staged the attack. 

Though Rogers' attorney Megan Mikolajczyk said it was "par for the course" for others to question the alleged crime's specifics, she also explained to CNN that her client wanted to clarify that the case was not a hoax. "I don't think it's safe or necessary to point the finger at any one individual," she added.

Last week, friend Erin Thompson confirmed to the Omaha World-Herald that three anti-gay epithets, including the word "dyke," were found carved on the Rogers' arms and stomach. Other friends told local ABC news affilate KLKN-TV that anti-gay slurs were also found spraypainted throughout the Rogers' basement. 

Though distraught, Rogers seemed grateful for the conversation her case had created. "When these sorts of things, it ignites fires, and that's a good thing in some ways," she said. "It can also be a very bad thing. I'm not a pawn in a game, I'm a person...I want people to know I'm not afraid. I want other victims to know that it's important to come forward."