When a Life Changing Event Keeps Changing

By Erin K. Costello

On September 7, 2020 KJ uploaded a video to her YouTube channel, Without A Crystal Ball, titled, The Night That Changed My Life Forever - No one Believed Me. I listened to her story and I felt badly for Katie. I doubted none of her story and I had no reason to, until she did what Katie usually does, she went too far.

Much of the three videos she uploaded; the one mentioned above, Thank You For Helping Me Use My Voice, and Weeks Like This, were uploaded within days from each other. Katie told her story in most of these, but also made some shocking accusations against a police officer at St. Louis Park, MN PD. She claimed this detective, Mike, called her a liar, jealous, looking for vengeance, a slut, and that there was no way the man Katie accused, Nick, could have done this because he came from a good family.

Upon hearing this, I decided to write an email to the police department regarding Katie’s claims she made in the middle of September. I mean, she herself tagged the department on Twitter so maybe this time my sending an email won’t upset her so much? I wrote the department because I thought if Katie was telling the truth, the department should know, and if Katie was lying, the department should know. I took screen shots of all her Instagram posts, Facebook posts, tweets, and downloaded the videos where she made these accusations against this officer. I put them all in a Google Drive, and sent the link with the email. Unlike the email I sent to Hammer Heart Brewing though, this one received a response.

Since then, I learned the dept considered taking legal action against Katie because the claims she was making against this officer were false. However, since the drama from this whole ordeal died out about as fast as it appeared, the dept didn’t see much point in drawing more attention to her false allegations, so they left it alone.

I felt and feel bad for this officer who has to deal with Katie’s lies about him when all he did was investigate her claims. And though initially this did upset me, what has me really upset now is the realization that Katie was proudly making these false claims on her “large platform” and this time was naming the officer and the department. Victims of sexual assault already fear reporting their assault for a myriad of reasons. However, now, in St. Louis Park, MN, sexual assault victims may have a new reason to fear reporting their attack. They may now have the fear of being treated the same way Katie alleges she was treated by law enforcement. Katie has proudly stated that many in her community have heard her story, it’s highly likely that her story will scare victims into not reporting their assault. This WILL harm the victims, this will harm the community, this will lead to assailants not being named, and will lead to assailants being able to harm more people in this community. Katie and her lies are now potentially creating more victims in her local area. This is what led to there being a records request.

I want to stress here that these records don’t necessarily prove anything about her assault, one way or another. No matter what you think at the end of reading this, there is still the very good chance that Katie was in fact sexually assaulted. I think it’s just as likely that she was, as it is that she wasn’t. I am not going to share specifics about the assault either, at least no more than Katie herself has already shared with the public. But there are a lot of inconsistencies, and, well…...lies, leading up to events and following events. Lies between Katie’s different versions of events, and lies between what Katie has been telling people, and what Katie told law enforcement. I think being caught in many of these lies is why she’s now decided to defame members of the police department. I’m going to cover the ones that I find most concerning. This will be in no particular order because I’m not really sure how to do that at this point.

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• In a May 4, 2017 blog post titled 5 Things I’ve Learned from Surviving Rape, Katie writes, “Justice is rarely served. My perpetrator was never prosecuted. My rape kit was very tested, and I have never been contacted by the police or investigators since my one and only interrogation at a police station.“
  
• Except Katie met with police on April 24, and on May 9, 2007.
  
  

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• On August 2, 2018 Katie said in a blog post titled, Why Rape is the Perfect Crime in the United States, “Unfortunately, I don’t remember many details of the assault. Nick drugged me, and I lost consciousness for more than 12 hours.” In the May 2017 blog post she claims it was over 10 hours. In her September videos she makes the same claims. 
• According to the statement she gave officers, she and Nick headed back to her house after 3:30 and stayed up drinking and talking for at least 20 minutes before going upstairs. Then she told officers she woke up at about 9:00 am. 4:00 am to 9:00 am is not 10-12 hours. It’s 5 hours. Assuming the detective can read clocks and do basic math, this would mean that the following claims of Katie’s made in Katie's YouTube video titled, The Night That Changed My Life Forever - No One Believed Me, uploaded to YouTube on September 7, 2020 can’t be true; “And he [Detective Mike] said, "No. Nope." He said, "There is nothing. You're telling me that from three in the morning, or two thirty in the morning until ten in the morning you have no memory? You are telling me that you have no memory of what happened. That's impossible.” COPS ARE VERY SPECIFIC WITH TIMELINES
  
  

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• In the video uploaded sept 7 2020, The Night That Changed My Life Forever - No One Believed Me, Katie says, “And I got so frustrated and agitated and I was like hyperventilating crying and I was, and then it was, "Well you waited two days to call us. He left on Sunday morning and you didn't call us until Monday night. Why did it take you so long?”
• Except, Katie didn’t call the cops until Tuesday, April 24, 2007. Again, no detective is going to get the day of the week wrong like this in the beginning of an investigation. If you were to ask the officer today, "Was April 24, 2007 on a Monday or Tuesday," he’s unlikely to be able to recall without referring to his notes or the police report.  However, in May of 2007, just 15 days after she made her initial report, the officer is much more likely to recall the exact day of the week. Establishing a time-line is essential in any investigation and it isn't likely for an investigator to get these things wrong while in the middle of investigating.
  

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• In the Use My Voice video from last month Katie says, “And then people started making drinks. I remember somebody made me a drink but I wasn’t really wanting anything because I had been drinking beer that night and they were making me like a vodka cranberry and I just wasn’t into that at all. And I got really tired,” 
• Except in 2007 Katie told the officer that she had one drink at the after hours party, that she made herself, and it was vodka and red bull. 
  
  

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• In the same video, Katie says, “They ordered like four pizzas. I mean the fact that I can remember that, you know? I can remember sitting in my, in Saesha’s kitchen, and Steph, my friend Stephanie was there, my friend Paul was there, Saesha was there, Nikki was there, and I was sitting in there with Nick, and then Stephanie. And then all this pizza comes in, and I remember eating a couple pieces of pizza. And then after I ate the pizza I was like super tired.”
  
• Except in 2007 Katie told officers she had one hotdog with a bun, one without a bun, and one slice of pizza. She also makes no mention to the officers in 2007 about being suddenly very tired after the drink she made herself or after the hotdogs and pizza.
  
  

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• In the same video, Katie says, “And, “I know, like, and the funny thing is, I’m a scorned lover but I didn’t want his phone number. [laughter] I didn’t want your phone number. I didn’t want to ever talk to you again. I think the detective is still there. I tagged them on Twitter so we’ll see if they respond [more laughter]. I said I have a really large platform and everyone’s gonna know what you guys did [laughter]. Sorry.
  
• Except in the 2007 report, Katie told officers, “No. He...when I...when he left I...or, when I woke up and I...I saw that he was gone, I...I...it just seemed very suspect to me. And I thought maybe he would’ve left some contact information but he didn’t.”
  
  

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• In the video Thank You For Helping Me… Katie says, “I did everything I was supposed to do. I gave them all the evidence from my house. They took my comforter you guys. They took my comforter and my sheets and I never got them back. They took my clothing. They took, they took so much stuff from my house. I’ve never been told anything about it, nothing.
  
• Police took in her comforter, clothes from that night, pillow case, and sheets...OH WAIT, no they did not take in her sheets to be tested because she told the responding officer that she had already washed her sheets. They also took a condom wrapper but not the condom since her dog allegedly ate the condom and then she found it in her dog’s shit.
  
  

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• In 2007 Katie told the officer that when she and Nick were back at her house she had one beer. A Blue Moon standard 12 ounce bottle. That was it. 
  
• Katie also told the officer that Nick had ample opportunity to spike her drink while at her house when she went to the bathroom since she left her drink unattended; her one drink at her house, a 12 ounce bottle of Blue Moon. 
  
• Katie also told officers on April 24, 2007 that she retained four Blue Moon bottles from that night; one partially consumed bottle from her nightstand and three bottles from her coffee table in her living room, as well as a can of Michelob Golden Light found in the kitchen sink. The responding officer took the four bottles and the one can as evidence. 
  
• Samples were taken from the four bottles; 38mL, 17mL, 1.0mL, 10mL and tested for controlled substances. NONE WERE FOUND. So, if Katie was drugged, it could not have happened while at her house with Nick. Katie told the detective that she had experimented with ecstasy in college so she knows what that drug feels like. 
  
• Katie told the responding officer that the feeling she felt that night when she said the “drug” took effect was a feeling she never felt before.
  
  

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• In the August 2, 2018 blog post, Katie said, “I felt “sober” enough to drive myself to the hospital. By the time I got to the hospital, the drugs had worn off. The nurse that performed my rape kit informed me the drugs used by rapists metabolize quickly. She told me they probably wouldn’t find traces of anything in my blood. Even though I had little memory, I still wanted to report the crime. The next day I called the police. An officer came to my home, took the report and told me they’d call me. A few days later, a detective called from the department and wanted to interview me.”
• Katie went to the hospital on April 22. The officer was called to her house on April 24. She met with the detective over two weeks later on May 9. 
• On the Night That Changed My Life video Katie says, “ [Detective Mike speaking] Those medications don't stay in your system that long. Nothing, nothing will stay in your body that long." [Katie speaking] Which is not true by the way, at all.”
• Which is it? It’s not true that those medications don’t stay in your system that long like Det. Mike allegedly said, or that these drugs metabolize quickly and leave the system like the nurse allegedly said?

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• In the Night that Changed… video Katie says, “Mind you, I was not coherent until 5 o'clock the next day. I went to the hospital that night and then I finally got some sleep, and I, the next morning had to call in sick to work, and then was working with my parents and my best friend, who were encouraging me along with RAINN to call the police.”
• Nowhere in any of the reports made in 2007 does Katie mention RAINN.
  

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• In a July 26, 2018 blog post Katie said “I have no memory of the assault. The bulk of my attack I learned from my “interrogation.” In that interview, detectives disclosed I was raped four times over the span of 8 hours” 
  
• In the August 2, 2018 blog post Katie said, “Nick had a detailed account of the entire night. He went as far as to tell detectives that we had sex four times.”
  
• What Katie said in the Night That Changed… video from September 2020, "So he went to [Cub?] Foods and he bought this KY, and he bought the protection, and then he even went over to McDonald's and he went and got a egg mcmuffin, and then he says that he went back to your house and you guys did it two more times." And I was like, "What? I only remember pushing him off me once." And he's like "Oh no, Nick said that you did it three times that night." And I'm like, "What?!" He's like, "Yeah, three times." 
  
• How many times did this happen?
  
  

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In Detective Mike’s supplementary report he says, “...that she suspects Mr Kozlak put something in her drink when she went to the bathroom. When I interviewed her she said that she felt herself getting increasingly intoxicated while he was outside getting beer from his car. From the original report, I was under the impression [KJ] accused Mr Kozlak of retrieving the drug from his vehicle the same time he retrieved his beer. Her initial report also mentioned the two “continued talking” (after Mr Kozlak came inside) and that “she did get up to use the bathroom at least once.” I was confused by the timeline [KJ] presented in this interview.”

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No one mentions Nick’s family money, businesses, affluence, prestige, or anything throughout any of the 2007 discussions. However, on this one page, I wonder if Katie ended up mentioning something about a business. At this redaction it looks like she felt weirded out by “Kozlak--” leading me to wonder if she was mentioning the funeral homes. However, I’m only speculating. This could say almost anything under the redaction.

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• On the Night That Changed...video, Katie says, “And it went like this for three hours. And I was crying, and he just kept trying to tell me that I had made this story up, that it had not happened, that Nick had a story, I did not have a story, and because Nick had a story and I was a jealous angry girlfriend that didn't get a phone number and he left, and I was jilted, my revenge was to call the cops on him. And I'm like, "I have had plenty of guys turn me down and I've never once reported them, ever."
  
• It’s doubtful that the detective accused her of being a jealous girlfriend since by now the detective already knew Nick had a girlfriend that he lived with and it wasn’t Katie.
  
  

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• In an Instagram post in September 2020, Katie said, “I felt sick, my legs were heavy, and I texted my best friend and said “I think he raped me.” She told me to call RAINN, she said don’t take a shower, go to the hospital.” 
  
• In 2007 Katie told the responding officer that “The first thing I did when I woke up was I text messaged my friend. And she asked me to go downstairs and look around. So I got off the phone with her and went downstairs.”
  
• Why no mention in 2007 of having told her “best friend” that she had been raped? No mention of RAINN, or not taking a shower? And why did she have to get off the phone with her friend if she had texted her friend?
  
  

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Throughout the interview with the responding officer Katie had to be prompted several times to report information she had already told the officer but forgot to add in the statement. Like, for example, finding the condom wrapper on the floor, the fact that she stated she started her period early and it was very heavy, and she had diarrhea the next day.

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In the Thank You For...video Katie says, “Harvey Weinstein didn’t get justice until people spoke out. Bill Cosby didn’t get justice until people spoke out, so, I’m just gonna follow their lead [laughter]. I’m done.”

Justice happened in both of those cases because there were dozens of victims who broke their silence and told their stories. Now, maybe the same thing will happen here, I don’t know. But so far, Katie is the only one accusing anyone, even the detective.

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OK, ending this on a kind note, I realize, is redundant. But, whatever. First, let me again stress that I am not questioning if Katie was assaulted. I do believe something happened to her that night. Her lying about other parts of the night do not take away from that. Her lying about the police does not take away from this.

Lastly, one thing I can say with complete honesty is that either her parents think Katie is lying, or her parents are the biggest pieces of shit in the history of parents. In the Thank You For Helping…video Katie says, 

“My mom and dad’s 40th wedding anniversary was 10 years ago, 11 years ago. No….yeah 11 years ago. And they wanted to go to Jax’s. It’s owned by his family. And I said I will only go if we know that he’s not there. So we had to contact them to ask if he wasn’t there. It’s the only time I’ve ever been there, and I will never go back. And I only went there because my family wanted to go there.”

  Holy shit dude! Are you kidding me?! OK, when I was younger the son of a couple that my parents were friends with, and friends with for years, ended up looking for trouble at a party I threw and he got his ass kicked. He showed up asking to fight, so he got a fight, and he fought...poorly. He then sued my parents. This was a stupid fight between their kids and still, my parents never spoke to this family again. And...the mom made the BEST tomato pie in the city (it’s a Utica thing). I can only imagine what my parents would have done if faced with the family of a man who could have sexually assaulted me. I know one thing they’d never do though, and that’s spend their anniversary at the dude’s family’s restaurant, LET ALONE ask me to join them! 
  Katie, if you were in fact assaulted, and your parents did this, I am so sorry they did this to you. I can’t think of a more shitty thing for parents to put their child through. Even if everything you said were to be true, THIS RIGHT HERE is what would break my heart the most for you.To have parents that would give that family a fucking dime, or spend their special day at the family’s business, and then ask you to be there too?! Omg fuck that shit! THIS makes me want to cry. I’m sorry, but I almost hope they think you're lying because the thought of parents like that existing is fucking soul-crushing.

You know what? No, fuck that! Even if this wasn't true and your parents believed it wasn't true, even then they’d still be fucking assholes to do this and ask you to do this.

No matter what, you deserved better from your parents. I hope you know that.