Gang-Rape Victim From Massachusetts Dies in Car Wreck
MIAMI — A young mother who was the victim of a widely publicized gang-rape on a tavern pool table in New Bedford, Mass., died in a car accident in Miami, the Florida Highway Patrol reported today.
Cheryl Araujo, 25, living in Miami since the 1984 rape trial, died Sunday night after losing control of her car and smashing into a light pole, Florida Highway Patrol officials said.
Her two children, ages 4 and 6, were injured in the crash, but were released from Miami Children’s Hospital on Tuesday, officials said.
Araujo told police she had been raped by six men in Big Dan’s tavern in New Bedford on March 6, 1983, while a crowd of other patrons cheered the men on with cries of “do it, do it.”
Four of the men were convicted of aggravated rape. Two others were acquitted.
Araujo had been working with a free-lance author and had sold the rights to her story, her lawyer said.
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