– U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a former sex crimes prosecutor, has released the following statement in response to a news report by ESPN’s Outside the Lines about the alleged sexual assault, and subsequent suicide, of a University of Missouri student:

“As a mother of a daughter in college, my heart breaks for this young woman and her family. We must create a safe space for all women to report sexual assault to law enforcement-and no matter who the alleged perpetrator is, there must be a thorough and professional investigation. There are real questions about why none of that happened in this case, and it’s important the University figure out why and what must be done to fix it.”