S4E78 | Caitlin - Child Rape Survivor's Pursuit to Find Fugitive Kevin Ahern & Uncovering L.A.

Today I’m honored to introduce you all to: rape survivor and whistleblower, certified phlebotomist and medical assistant, photographer, music and concert lover, dog and pittie partitionist, artist, cannabis connoisseur, and survivor advocate: Caitlin.

I met Caitlin on Twitter recently and was instantly in awe of her. In a world where it is frightening and risky to speak your truth aloud and publicly, Caitlin struck me in her convictions of pressing forward with exposing her abuse, abuser, and what she’s experienced and witness first-hand - and it’s very difficult to not feel a sense of deep admiration for her.

In Caitlin’s freshman year of high school, around the time of January 2011, she was approached by a man named Kevin Ahern online on Facebook after seeing him pop-up as a mutual friend. From that point on, heavy grooming began and after relentless requests to meet with her, Cailtin eventually gave in. She met with Kevin Ahern two times, and both times she was raped. After the second time there was severe pain, and Caitlin refrained from seeing him again despite his relentless text messages and phone calls. She tried to move on and avoid what happened by keeping it a secret. And boy, was she good at keeping a secret. On the outside you would have never guess something horrific happened to her - she pursued art and photography, and excelled in the latter. She passed off the bad grades as being rebellious, and tried to seem as normal as possible.

After bottling up her emotions for so long, and hiding what happened, she experienced a mental breakdown which included psychosis. Despite the terror she was facing with delusions and hallucinations at times, she still went and reported her rape to law enforcement. For the first time in her life, she was forced to deal with what happened to her. Investigators would come to her house and question or discuss things with her, and soon her case was picked up by a District Attorney. Like most rape cases, it dragged on for a few years until in 2018 when trial commenced. Caitlin had to testify, and the outcome concluded in victory with 7 guilty counts of sexual offenses for the verdict. There was only one problem though.

Kevin Ahern, was missing and had absconded. He skipped out on bail.

The turmoil and trauma Caitlin was facing took time to learn how to deal with. Miraculously, she has not had psychosis or psychosis related symptoms since 2018 - for six years now which she credits to taking care of her mental health. The combination of trauma and mental health paved the way for crazy experiences in Los Angeles as an adult. Having dealt with everything from the music industry, to the healthcare industry, Caitlin has a lot to say about the things she has dealt with in her life and the secrets she thinks should come to light as well.

In the end of 2023 she started to find the courage to speak out about what happened to her. After being featured on Soft White Underbelly, new doors were beginning to open. She is slowly coming out of her shell of being so shy, and is ready to take on the world and country that seems to excuse pedophilia. She has began connecting with other survivors as well.

Caitlin is an absolute inspiration and her story today is important for many reasons. One reason being that it goes to show heinous abuse and injustice doesn’t only occur in generational abuse families and can - in fact - happen to anyone. And reason number two being that we can all learn so much from someone - like Caitlin - who was thrown into depths of hell that were meant to destroy, only to emerge as an ignited flame that is now lighting the way for other victims and survivors to reclaim their voice and strength of spirit again. Caitlin in every sense of the word… is a hero.

Before I finish introducing today’s guest - I wanted to give a couple reminders and updates: If you’d like to be on the podcast as a guest or share any information privately with me, please email me at imagineabetterworld2020@gmail.com. You can also use this email if you’d like to be a part of my new book series featuring written survivor testimonies. You can find the video with all the details on how to submit YOUR testimony on any of my podcast channels. And lastly - I’d love your support on Substack where I’m taking up investigative journalism as an outlet for me personally to share about my podcast, guests, and advocacy work and you can Subscribe to me there at www.emmakatherine.substack.com

CONNECT WITH CAITLIN:
YouTube: @seizonsha1
Twitter: https://x.com/seizonsha1
LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/seizonsha1
GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/cafe3740
IG: https://www.instagram.com/caitiecross
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@seizonsha1

CONNECT WITH THE IMAGINATION:
EMAIL: imagineabetterworld2020@gmail.com
My Substack: https://emmakatherine.substack.com/
BUY ME A COFFEE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theimagination
All links: https://direct.me/theimaginationpodcast
Website: https://standbysurvivors.com/