Before dawn on May 12, 2006, Kimberly Corban woke up and couldn't breathe. She tried to sit up, but couldn't. She heard someone say, "Shut up."
She was being held down by a stranger. His name was Ronnie Pieros.
"He was there for two hours,"Corban remembers. "The first hour he spent assaulting me and, afterwards, he kind of felt remorseful and stayed there talking."
Corban thought the only way to survive was to talk back. So she did. But she also plotted her revenge.
"I didn't cry," Corban said. "I didn't panic. I didn't do anything. I just stayed there and listened and locked every piece away in my brain."
Before May 12,Corban walked the campus of the University of Northern Colorado with a smile and an easy-going nature. She was a business major and a sorority sister.
She and her friends rented an apartment together in Greeley. The fact that it was on the ground floor didn't really bother her.
She never thought anyone would use an open window to sneak in and rape her. She just never thought it would happen to her.
Pieros eventually left that morning.Corban never got a clear look at his face, but she heard him speak.
Around three weeks later, Greeley Police arrested a man for taking lewd pictures of women at a pool.
They broughtCorban in and had her listen to him speak.
"As soon as the guy's voice came on, my body froze with fear,"Corban remembers.
"She knew right away that that was him and that was the person who attacked her," said Greeley Detective Clay Buckingham.
Buckingham saysCorban was a tremendous help in law enforcement's effort to build a case against Pieros.
The voice recognition would only be part of it. Corban had made sure not to disturb the DNA Pieros left on her body. She also took the stand at the trial this past July.
"I have this creep sitting five feet away from me, but I was absolutely in the zone knowing that what I'm doing here is protecting so many other people," she said. "It's not just about me anymore."
The road to the witness stand hadn't been smooth. Fear forced Corban to sleep with her parents for some time after the attack. Stress eventually brought on seizures.
"It was so hard to want to get out of bed every morning," Corban said.
But she did get out of bed. She went to a therapist. She started to talk about the rape. Her testimony at the trial was just the start.
"It was baby steps and there were setbacks and times I didn't think I could do it," she said.
In October,Corban stepped onto an outdoor stage at UNC and addressed a crowd that gathered for an anti-violence event called "Take back the night."
"On September 5, 2007, Ronnie Pieros was sentenced to 24 years to life," she told the crowd in a strong voice. "If I can stand up and do what's right, so can you."
Corban is a student again. She's a daughter again. She's a sorority sister again. Still, there is something different. She's also a survivor. She's now a voice.
