Nearly 100 women and girls are expected to make victim-impact statements during four days of Larry Nassar's sentencing hearing. Here are some of their statements.
This will continue to be updated throughout the week:
Day 3
“Who do they believe now, Larry? I remember your obnoxious laugh, and how loud it was and then you would slurp the drool off your lip. I don’t see you laughing now.”
— Jamie Dantzscher
“I had a dream to go to the Olympics, and the things I had to endure to get there were unnecessary and disgusting.”
“It is time to hold the leadership of Michigan State University, United States Gymnastics and United States Olympics Committee accountable, for allowing and in some cases, enabling his crimes. Our silence has given the wrong people power for too long. And it’s time for us to take our power back.”
— McKayla Maroney, read from her statement
"Larry, to me, you are the worst type of person, someone who takes advantage, someone who belittles, someone who controls, someone who took away trust, childhoods, happiness, innocence and someone who even took lives of others.”
Directed at MSU President Lou Anna Simon:
“I don’t know how you can still call yourself a president, because I don’t anymore. You are no president of mine. … You say you aren’t responsible for this. I wish you would come up to this podium and be half as brave as all of us have had to be the past year and a half. To be brave enough to be a public survivor and a competing athlete of your university who let me down. To be brave enough to come up here and confidently tell us the reason why you don’t think that you are responsible."
— Lindsey Lemke
Watch more from Lemke here:
Lindsey Lemke addresses Larry Nassar in court Thursday January 18, 2017. She references MSU, USAG, Nassar, Simon, Geddert and Klages. Matthew Dae Smith / Lansing State Journal
"Self care is hard to manage when your soul has been scarred.”
— Nicole Reeb
"I still remember the day that my 22-year-old brother brought me to my appointment. … and you stood there and said to him, ‘Are you here to beat me up?’ Knowing what I know now, we both wish he would have."
— Taylor Cole
“At the age of 17, I saw Nassar for a very severe ankle sprain. This baffles me, how he made his way to my private areas.”
— Jessica Smith
"I’m only 16. I should not event know what a victim-impact statement is, or what the inside of a courtroom looks like, let alone writing my own and reading it to you now. You seem to have a hard time looking at me now, but you didn’t when I was half naked on your table."
— Arianna Guerrero
"I’m still suffering every day and will continue to do so. And I ask each one of you and everyone this reaches that you will help cultivate environments where women don’t have to live in fear. I wholeheartedly believe that this begins with giving you a life sentence today."
— Melody Posthuma Vanderveen
“My family always used the saying 'the lord helps those who help themselves.' But with you, you had the opportunity for years to seek help. You knew what you were doing was wrong, but it wasn’t until you got caught that you started to ask for forgiveness."
— Christine Harrison
“No one did anything because no one believed me. They didn’t understand how such a respectable doctor would do something like that. And I don’t understand how a 14-year-old could make that up.”
— Katie Rasmussen
“He’s going to be put away not by one, not by two, but by three judges.”
— Judge Rosemarie Aquilina
Day 2
Gwen Anderson speaks alongside her former coach Thomas Brennan during the second day of Larry Nassar's sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal
“I want everyone to know that he did not do this to athlete A, he did it to Maggie Nichols.”
— Gina Nichols, mother of Maggie reading her statement
"You disgraced yourself by calling yourself a doctor to the medical community. ... You are not a real doctor at all. You’re a serial child molester, a pedophile."
— Gina Nichols, mother of Maggie Nichols
“The army you choose in the late ’90s to silence me to dismiss me and my attempt at speaking the truth will not prevail over the army you created when violating us. We seek justice, we deserve justice, and we will have it.”
— Tiffany Thomas-Lopez
“You made me believe that you were my friend. You deceived me, you manipulated me, and you abused me. I truly believe that you are a spawn of Satan.”
“As you sit behind bars, I pray that you are tormented by the very words said to you by all these brave women.”
— Jeanette Antolin
“Larry, the thing that you didn’t realize while you were sexually assaulting me and all of these young girls … is that you were also building an army of survivors. … You might have broken us, but from this rubble we will rise.”
— Amanda Thomashow
“I still can’t think about it without crying. We were just kids. We were just kids.”
— Gwen Anderson
“For the record, go to hell.”
— Thomas Brennan, former coach for Gwen Anderson
Watch more from Bennan below:
Thomas Brennan, former coach of gymnast Gwen Anderson, stood next to her as she gave her statement during Day 2 of Larry Nassar's sentencing hearing. He then made his own statement. Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal
“He knew exactly how to take advantage of us and did it every time. I was lied to and made to believe he was on my side.”
— Jaime Doski
"There are circles of hell reserved for people like you."
— Ryan Doski, husband of Jaime Doski
“You don’t deserve my thoughts."
— Jenelle Moul
“Larry, you know what you did to me. What you don’t know is how it affected me. …You took away my power, my self worth, my emotional development, my happiness and my innocence.”
“Larry Nassar is not apologetic for assaulting me, he is only sorry he was caught for it.”
— Madeleine Jones
“Because of you, I am now scared of the world we live in just knowing there are people like you out there.”
“You have taken enough of my time, too many of my tears and taken over too many of my conversations. It ends today. Today is the last day you will be talked about from me.”
— Kayla Spicher
“You are the one person who caused the forest fire, and it was your match.”
— Jennifer Hayes
Hayes was responding to what Nassar said at his plea hearing in November:
Former Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar apologizes during his plea hearing Wednesday, Nov. 22. Matt Mencarini/Lansing State Journal
“How do I ever explain this to my son? I should be able to tell him that it’s OK and that he should be able to trust the doctors, who I don’t trust anymore.”
— Nicole Walker
“As of yesterday, I was identified as Victim 118. … Now, I am not afraid to say that my name is Chelsea Williams, formerly and better known to Mr. Nassar as Chelsea Kroll. And I’m a survivor.”
“Recently you described this situation as a match that turned into a forest fire, out of control. ... My question to you is this: What if you had just lit a single match? What if you had only ever performed this horrifying procedure on one single girl. Would it matter? Would you get away with it? That’s what I believe you were hoping. That each girl you assaulted would be just one isolated voice, impossible to hear. But I believe, that we all matter, no matter how many or how few of us there may be.”
— Chelsea Williams
“I can’t tell you how much it hurts to be a grown woman, with children, watching your mom and dad cry because they are blaming themselves and wondering what they could have done differently.”
“Some of the best memories of my life took place at Michigan State University. My love for this school has been tainted by all of this. … In the last year, every time MSU is spoken of, I cringe. I can’t so much as put on an MSU sweatshirt without thinking of Larry Nassar. I pray that someday I will understand that it was only him and a small number of people at the school who are responsible for this pain. And that I don’t need to forever hate my school because of all of these people. I am broke. I’m tired. I feel like the life has literally been sucked out of me. I am in desperate need of healing.”
— Carrie Hogan
“What kind of person has the audacity to assault a child in front of their mother? The kind of person who deserves life in prison.”
— Helena Weick
“People have to take responsibility. The institutions that enabled this to happen has to take responsibility. … Or this will not stop.”
— Lee Weick, mother of Helena Weick
Day 1
“Little girls don’t stay little forever. They grow into strong women who return to destroy your world.”
— Kyle Stephens
“You took advantage of my innocence and trust. … What you did to me was so twisted … how dare you.”
— Jessica Thomashow
“'He’s a famous doctor, there’s no way he’d do anything inappropriate in front of my mom.’ Well, I was wrong.”
“I am in charge now. It has been hard accepting what Larry Nassar has done to me – I’m angry and I’m sad. But I will not be silenced anymore.”
— Nicole Soos
Watch as Nicole Soos addresses Nassar and the courtroom:
Nicole Soos addresses the courtroom and Larry Nassar during his first day of his sentencing hearing. Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal
“I believe in forgiveness, but you will get none from me at this time. … We did not get to choose this trauma, but you did.”
— Amanda Cormier
“My first reaction was to question myself. To blame myself. I wanted to believe the best in people, but no matter how much I rationalized - he’s a doctor, he’s treating you, he didn’t mean for that to happen – I couldn’t shake the voice in my head that something wasn’t right.”
“I am a warrior. I know the end of my story: I will win.”
— Jennifer Rood-Bedford
“I have a question for you: Why? Why did you feel that you could do this to us and not only get away with it, but also that you were allowed to. You were the adult. You were the doctor.”
“You are truly sick. I am coming forward so that you can no longer hurt any one else and take things away that you took away from me.”
“I want the nightmares of you coming into my room to go away. … I want to be the same Ashley to my family that they once knew.”
— Ashley Erickson
“The monster who took advantage of you is going to wither.”
— Judge Rosemarie Aquilina to Ashley Erickson
“I remember being in so much pain, tears streaming down my face. … I didn’t know what to do.”
— Melissa Imrie
Below, Donna Markham, mother of Chelsea Markham, talks about why she spoke during the sentencing hearing:
Donna Markham talks about why she gave a statement during the first day of Larry Nassar's sentencing hearing. Her daughter, Chelsea Markham, committed suicide. Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal
“I am no longer broken by you.”
— Jade Capua
“I cannot sleep because of what you have done. … Over the last year, I’ve cried more nights than not.”
— Olivia Cowan
“Your legacy is that you’re quite possibly the greatest perpetrator of all time.”
— Woman addressing Nassar, who chose to be anonymous, said she was first abused in 1992
(Video below shows Rachael Denhollander reacting to the first day of Nassar's sentencing:)
Denhollander was one of the first women to speak out about the abuse she experienced from Larry Nassar. She reacts to the first day of the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 16. Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal
“Our daughter is scarred forever, our son is scarred forever, and we as parents, are scarred forever. … We trust no one. We have many sleepless nights over the guilt we feel for missing this. … This is our true reality. The guilt we feel will never go away.”
— Lindsey Lemke’s mother, Christy Lemke
“As I stand here, I still flashback to the feelings of fear, laying frozen in his office, my sweating shaking body, adrenaline pumping, painfully clutching the sides of the table, waiting for the sick treatment to be over.”
“Larry Nassar made me believe this was my only hope, that he was my only hope. … The world feels unsafe. Men feel unsafe.”
— Megan Halicek