Editor’s Note: To protect the victim’s identity, the following article will refer to the mother as “Mary.”

BY RACHEL DOVE
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

A former resident of Martin County recently attended a federal court trial detailing crimes against her juvenile daughter. Testimony and evidence in that trial centered around a man drugging and coercing her daughter into committing sexual acts. At the same time, the perpetrator recorded her and uploaded the recordings to pornographic sites across the country and beyond. The evidence was enough for a conviction and a 60-year federal prison sentence for Donald York, 60, of Beauty.

In early 2019, Mary, a Martin County native living in another state, struggled with serious health issues. She also had no job and was experiencing financial woes. She needed to relocate to another state where she had a support system to help her get back on her feet. Her juvenile daughter, diagnosed with a delayed learning disability, was excelling in her classes in Martin County and had difficulty adapting to change. She begged her mother to allow her to stay behind until the end of the school year.

Mary was against the idea of leaving her daughter behind. However, after seeing the mental stress the idea of moving was causing, she reluctantly agreed to allow her to remain in the home of her then-best friend of 16 years—York.

Trusting York and never seeing anything but a caring and nurturing demeanor toward her daughter, Mary packed up and moved to Missouri. She intended to fly her daughter to meet her in her new location once the school year ended.

“Had I known that the decision I made to allow my daughter to stay behind would destroy her life, I would have moved hell and high water to have taken her with me immediately,” said a tearful Mary. “I have beaten myself up every day since finding out the horrible truth. This monster – this sorry excuse for a man that I had known for years, considered my best friend and spent a great deal of time with – is nothing less than pure evil.”

Mary questioned herself: “How did I not see what he truly was? Or miss the red flags? How did I not see through the lies and the smiles that hid his true nature? How did I allow myself to leave my innocent child in the home of a predator? I will forever question every decision I make. I trust no one.”

Since the truth came out about what her daughter suffered, the mother and child have lived together in Missouri. Mary intended to put as many miles between them and York as possible.

“I don’t think it would have made any difference, with the continuous fear my daughter lived in, if we had moved to another country,” said the mother. “You can’t outrun your problems, and you can’t escape them. You can’t hide from the terror that lives in your own head any more than you can stop the nightmares that haunt your sleep.”

According to Mary, her daughter has undergone extensive therapy and counseling since their move to Missouri. She said it has helped but added that her daughter would never be the carefree, trusting person she was before her ordeal at the hands of York.

“Some days are better than most, but when I look into her eyes, I see an emptiness that rips my heart out. I see pain where there should be happiness. I watch her withdraw from those who love her and her reluctance to even say hello to someone new. She has outbursts of anger that come out of nowhere. Things that once brought her joy mean nothing to her now,” said Mary.

“My daughter was a victim of rape. I will scream that from the mountaintops until the end of my days. She was drugged, sexually abused and coerced into performing sexual acts while being videoed for this evil man’s sick pleasure and financial gain. He destroyed a part of her that she will never regain. For that alone, I know there’s a special place in hell for him.”

Mary said York’s 60-year prison sentence is not enough justice.

“Hell no,” she said. “There’s not enough punishment in the world.”

Mary spoke candidly about the evidence presented by the federal prosecutors in the April trial that ended with a guilty verdict on four counts of producing child pornography and two counts of distributing child pornography. She mentioned that investigators and prosecutors had largely prepared her for the content she might encounter during the trial.

“One thing I was not given a heads-up about that truly shocked me was when the judge spoke during the sentencing hearing,” she said. “He said that in all his 33 years on the bench, he had never seen or heard evidence that sickened him more. The judge said that among the evidence pulled from Donald’s laptop, they discovered two stories he had written. The content was about having sex with his mother and with animals… The judge did not read the stories out loud, thank God. But he looked Donald right in the eye and said he could only hope those stories were just sick fantasies he was living out in his head that he had put to words and that there was no truth behind them.”

The mother said the greatest lesson she and her daughter learned through this ordeal is that evil can hide behind friendship, kindness and even love. They also realized that rebuilding a future is crucial if they do not want to continue being victims of their fears.

“Each day we wake up, we put one foot in front of the other. We do our best to make it through without breaking down,” said Mary. “My daughter no longer cries. I suppose by now, she’s all cried out. I had braced myself for her to break down upon hearing his guilty verdict, but I was wrong. She hugged me and her cousin but showed no further emotion and not a single tear. When I asked her about it later, she told me she had promised never again to show weakness in front of Donald. It was at that moment that I realized healing had begun.”

Mary was relieved when the state recently requested the first-degree rape charge against York be dismissed. Her daughter did not wish to relive the nightmare.

“It’s time to reclaim our lives and do our best to rise above,” remarked Mary.

“One last thought I’d like to share is this: I believe with all my heart that a second person was guilty of assisting Donald in his sick crimes against my daughter. I pray every day that they will be brought to justice and stand trial for the part they played. I don’t know how they sleep at night. I’ve often heard what happens in the dark eventually comes to light.”