Girl's rape drives her ambition to help others

By all accounts, including the deviant sexual fantasies of the man who raped her, Kelsey Settle should be dead. Three years later, her once unspeakable horror now serves as her life's inspiration.

by F.T. Norton

Appeal Staff Writer

In the summer of 2003, weeks before she would begin her freshman year of high school, Michael Todd Botelho saw Kelsey Settle's baby-sitting ad in The Buck.

For three days he called the 14-year-old, explaining his name was Kevin, he was divorced and his children were visiting his home at Lake Tahoe. He needed a baby-sitter, he told Kelsey, and if it worked out, she might get the gig for the whole summer.

On Aug. 7, the married Dayton father picked up Kelsey near her Carson City home and drove her to Washoe Valley. He stopped the car on a dirt road and told her he had a flat. He asked the 70-pound girl if she knew how to change a tire. Kelsey shook her head. When Botelho disappeared from her sight, she thought he was getting the spare out of the trunk, but instead the 210-pound man came back with duct tape. First he tried to bind her wrists, but it wouldn't hold. Then he ran the tape around her head several times covering her eyes. For the next 90 minutes, he brutalized her.

When he was finished, Botelho threatened to keep her captive as his sex slave. Kelsey didn't know if he was going to do that. All she did know, she said, was she was just trying to get home. She promised to not tell anyone if he would just let her go.

Botelho drove her back to Carmine Street and Dori Way and left her to walk the block to her house.

She went inside, locked herself in the bathroom and cried uncontrollably for 10 minutes. Then she called her mother's cell phone.

"She said to me, 'Mom, I won't be baby-sitting today," Chellie Settle recalled. "I could tell she was trying not to cry. I asked her why, and she said she couldn't tell me. I broke land records getting home."

After some gentle prodding from her mother, Kelsey told her what had happened.

"He raped me," she said.

"I just died about 10 deaths," said Settle.

Rough start

Born prematurely in 1988 to a birth mother who was unable to care for her, Kelsey may have ended up in a Los Angeles foster home. But her mother's aunt Chellie would not let that happen.

The year before, Settle had adopted Kelsey's brother, Joseph. Three months after Joseph was born, the niece was pregnant again and Settle agreed to take that baby too.

Doctors told Settle, Kelsey probably wouldn't make it. The infant's lungs weren't working, she only weighed 4 pounds and she wasn't responding well. It could be weeks before anyone would know how she would fair.

Five days later the doctor called Settle and said, "Come get this baby."

Kelsey's first outfit came from the toy aisle. Baby doll clothes were the only thing that would fit her.

Settle smiled at the thought and glanced at her now-teenaged daughter who drives a car and works at McDonald's.

"She's still my baby girl," she said, stroking Kelsey's hair.

Twisted fantasies

In 2003, Botelho, then 42, had no criminal record.

To outsiders, he was a good guy, working hard and raising his two young sons with his new wife. The 18 months prior to his arrest he'd spent remodeling his Rainbow Drive home.

His first wife's impression was far different than what Botelho projected. After his arrest, she contacted investigators.

"She said it was Michael's fantasy to kidnap a young girl 12 to 13, find someplace to keep her, and have his way with her," Washoe County investigator Greg Herrara said during Botelho's sentencing. The fantasies included graphic descriptions of disfigurement, dismemberment and death, Herrara said.

When police were called about Kelsey's rape, the information Botelho had given Kelsey didn't pan out. Then Settle remembered her Caller ID. Botelho had called the house and his cell number was there. Investigators traced it to Botelho's Mark Twain home, but only his wife was there.

When investigators went back three weeks later, Botelho still wasn't there and his wife wasn't either.

Five weeks later, a woman in Susanville saw Botelho's picture on the evening news and later spotted him at a local motel. The clerk said the room was rented to Botelho's wife.

He was arrested without incident.

Botelho initially denied any wrongdoing. But in December he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexual assault.

In April 2004, he was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison.

The future

On Aug. 24, Kelsey will officially be a senior.

At 81 pounds and just over five feet tall, she still looks like the 14-year-old she was. Yet, she admits, she's different since the rape.

"But I'm starting to feel like myself again."

There were lessons she learned from the assault outside of warning others against placing ads for baby-sitting.

Kelsey learned she wanted to be a prosecutor.

Washoe County Deputy District Attorney Kelli Viloria handled the Botelho case.

Viloria's strength impressed Kelsey, she said. She knew prosecuting criminals was what she should do.

"I've always wanted to be a lawyer, but after the rape I decided I wanted to work with people who had been through it," Kelsey said.

Kelsey also learned teen victims of rape can't really find the support they might need in Carson City. Rape groups in Reno are a cross-section of victims from all ages. The sexual assault response team member who showed up at the hospital when Kelsey was raped was in her 50s, Settle said.

"How could she relate to her?" she asked.

Kelsey said for her senior project she is considering becoming a sexual-assault advocate or starting a teen support group.

Settle said that in the first weeks of Kelsey's freshman year, her daughter had a strong advocate at school - student counselor Cindy Watty. Settle spoke to the counselor about Kelsey's rape and Watty "took her under her wing."

Last year, Watty nominated Kelsey for a spot at the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law, and she was accepted. The forum gives students an intimate look at the legal profession, the opportunity to watch the judicial process in action and the chance to go behind the scenes at law firms and government agencies.

"She has always indicated to me an interest in law, and through her experience she has seen a lot of lawyers in action. I thought what a great choice for this opportunity," Watty said. "I think she can do whatever she sets her mind to."

Though she was nominated, there are still costs involved. With Settle's income as a house cleaner, the $2,500 fee for the trip is beyond what the family can afford, Settle said. She said she was hoping the community would come to Kelsey's aid.

"People can be inspired by what she's gone through and her will to survive. She wants to go on and prosecute these people and make sure this doesn't happen to any other girls," she said.

Settle said through this experience, she has also learned some lessons about her daughter.

"I used to think she had a pretty strong streak of wuss running through her," she said with a laugh. "After the rape I apologized to her, I said there's no wuss in you at all."

The deadline for registration is Aug. 11. At least $1,000 is needed to register.

• Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.

You can help

To help Kelsey Settle attend the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law in Washington, D.C., donations can be made to Bank of America account 005012641119.

If you are raped

• Call the police immediately.

• Do not shower, douche, or change clothing.

• Have a medical exam and internal gynecological exam as soon as possible. A delay in time may destroy evidence.

• Semen smears must be taken by a clinician.

• Inform clinician of exact acts committed upon you and have the clinician note any medical evidence of them.

• Clinician should note any bruises or injuries bleeding, lacerations, etc. external or internal.

• Have clinician test for venereal diseases (and pregnancy later, if relevant).

• Do not disturb the scene of the assault.

• Inform police of all details of attack, however intimate, and of anything unusual you may have noted about the attacker. Remember what the person said and how it was said. It may lead to the arrest of the assailant.

• Show police any external bruises or injuries, however minor, resulting from the attack.

• Police may request your clothes for purpose of evidence.

• Inform the police if you remember anything that was not previously reported.