This photo was taken by Megan Rondini’s close friend at University Park Mall in Dallas a week or two before died. A junior at Southern Methodist University, Megan had transferred colleges after her claims of rape — by an influential, Alabama 34-year-old man — were unresolved.
By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News
Mike and Cindy Rondini filed a lawsuit on behalf of their daughter Megan’s estate against the University of Alabama, the Tuscaloosa Sheriff’s department and T.J. Bunn Jr. for sexual assault damages and improperly handling their daughter’s case.
The lawsuit states: “This is an action for damages that arises from the sexual assault of Megan Rondini by Terry Jackson Bunn, Jr. and from the subsequent faulty practices and mishandling of investigation and treatment by the defendants, ultimately leading to the suicidal death of Megan Elizabeth Rondini.”
Megan grew up in Steiner Ranch and graduated from Vandegrift. In July 2015, Megan, then 20, was entering her junior year as a pre-med honors student at UA. She was majoring in biology with a 3.812 cumulative GPA. She killed herself in February 2016 without closure to her long, drawn-out rape case involving an influential Tuscaloosa, Ala. man.
The lawsuit was filed July 2 and as of this week, there have been no responses yet but Mike Rondini said the defendants have until the first part of September to respond. “All of the defendants issued press releases. Nothing surprising,” he said.
The Rondinis added co-counsel to help with the Title IX side of the suit and are amending their complaint this week.
“The more we uncover, the worse it gets,” Rondini said.
The lawsuit goes on to claim that Title IX Coordinator at UA, Beth Howard, as well as Cara Blakes of the Women and Gender Resource Center at UA, “deliberately and repeatedly denied services and mishandled accommodations with hostility towards” Megan.
The lawsuit also claims Sheriff Ronald Abernathy of the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Department “failed to assure proper training and supervision of the personnel and employees, and to implement practices, policies, and procedures to discourage lawless official conduct.”
It states that investigator Adam Jones and deputy Joshua Hastings of the sheriff’s department “deliberately failed to practice and provide proper investigations to complainants.”
The incident started when Megan went to Innisfree Pub in Tuscaloosa with friends on July 1, 2015. While at Innisfree, Megan saw Bunn, 34 at the time, and his friend Jason Barksdale. Bunn, an employee of ST Bunn Construction Co. located across the street, frequently attended Innisfree.
The lawsuit states that upon information and belief, Megan became either intoxicated or drugged at Innisfree. Bunn drove Megan to his house where Megan repeatedly asked Bunn to take her home or back to her friend’s residence and he refused. Instead, he directed Megan to the bedroom, demanded she get on his bed, and forcefully had sex with her.
A friend picked up Megan after she left Bunn’s house climbing through a window. Megan went to DCH Regional Hospital and reported the sexual attack to medical personnel and the Tuscaloosa Sheriff’s Department. A rape kit, along with a urine sample, was performed at the hospital and delivered to law enforcement. Later conclusive evidence showed she tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease contracted from Bunn.
After Megan called her parents in the early hours of the morning, her mom drove to Tuscaloosa while her dad called to ensure an advocate would be present at the hospital and spoke with Jones from the sheriff’s department before Megan arrived for the second interview. Jones reassured Rondini that they were trained to handle “high profile” cases such as this one. Rondini expressed concern about Megan not having an attorney present, Jones responded with, “whatever for?”
The lawsuit states that Megan’s rape kit and her urine sample were never tested by a forensic lab in the state of Alabama despite the fact that Megan exhibited multiple signs that she had been a victim of a drug facilitated sexual assault.
Jones, of the sheriff’s department, failed to ask questions that shed additional light on a possible drug facilitated sexual assault. Jones also neglected to interview pertinent witnesses that were at Innisfree at the time of the possible drug facilitated sexual assault, according to the lawsuit.
“Right now, I’d like to encourage anyone considering attending UA to rethink it until some significant changes are made,” Rondini said.