The Daily Mail has managed to track down Matthew Barnett, who allegedly raped Daisy Coleman, subject of the documentary Audrie and Daisy, in 2012 while friends filmed the assault and then dumped her unconscious body on her family’s porch in freezing temperatures. Despite concerns from the town of Maryville, who defended Barnett’s name by burning down the Coleman family home, and the town sheriff who, by his own admission, barely investigated the crime for fear it might ruin Barnett’s life, he’s fine.
The 26-year-old Barnett, the grandson of state representative Rex Barnett, is now a homeowner with a solidly middle-class job living in Kansas City, Missouri, an hour and a half away from his family in Maryville. Though the rape he allegedly committed and the four months jail time he served for “child endangerment” have been rough, Barnett tells the Mail:
“But Barnett said that although he is ‘good’, he has found the experience of being accused of rape difficult, telling DailyMail.com: ‘I still struggle with it but I’m okay.’”
Daisy Coleman died by suicide in August while friends say she lived in fear of attack by a man who was stalking her. Coleman’s mother, Melinda, died by suicide earlier this month, two facts that allegedly make Barnett “sad”:
“I don’t really have any comment. It’s just very sad.”
I have no comment on that lack of comment. Actually, I have a great many comments, but I will let Barnett’s comfortable, unruined life and his own statements speak for themselves.