Detective: Victim one of 'strongest women I've ever met'

Metro Detective Chad Gish found the "sadistic" photos and images about 2:30 a.m. on July 4, 2013.

Gish called Detective Jason Mayo. Mayo and Sgt. Michael Shreeve immediately converged at the police department in downtown Nashville.

"They were so atrocious and so horrific," Gish said Tuesday of the images that became key evidence in the case against two former Vanderbilt University football players charged with raping an unconscious woman in a dorm in June 2013.

One of the first things that went through Gish's mind: "God, let's hope this is a strong, strong person that's the victim."

After Tuesday's guilty verdicts, the trio of detectives spoke only to The Tennessean about the rape case that has weighed on their minds and desks for the past 19 months. They sipped on diet sodas in a conference room at headquarters downtown. There would be no celebration, just more cases to investigate on Wednesday.

Mayo first met with the victim a few days after the June 23, 2013, rape — when detectives knew only that surveillance videos showed four football players going into a dorm room. One of the men carried an unconscious woman.

The woman did not know anything had happened. She testified during trial that she told Mayo what one of her attackers, whom she had been dating, told her: That she got drunk and he took care of her.

After Gish discovered the photo and video evidence, Mayo met with the victim again.

"This is probably the first case I've ever worked as a detective in this police department where we knew what happened to the victim before she knew," Mayo said. "I've never had to tell anyone they were raped. I had to tell her."

Mayo asked the woman if she wanted to see the photos and videos.

"She said she did," Mayo recalled.

That meeting happened in early August 2013, about the time Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey and two other former football players were indicted.

"The most upsetting thing to her was how they were laughing at her," Mayo said. "How they just kept laughing at her."

Mayo had tears in his eyes when the guilty verdicts were read Tuesday.

"She's the only reason we're here today," Mayo said. "And she deserved justice from day one, and she got it today."

The detectives met with the victim immediately after the verdict was read. There were tears of joy from everyone involved. The woman looked as if a locomotive had been lifted off her shoulders, Gish said.

"I really hope that people, not just men, not just women, not just people on college campuses, people everywhere, see how disgusting and wrong this crime is," Mayo said. "And more people come out and support the victims. We encourage every victim to come forward."

The detectives said the case would not have come together without help from the District Attorney's Office, Riverside County Sheriff's Office in California (where some evidence was recovered) and Vanderbilt University police. Shreeve said trying to thank everyone who had a hand in the case would be like an Academy Awards acceptance speech.

The victim issued a statement after the verdict, calling the trio of detectives her heroes. They quickly denied that, saying there was only one hero in this case: the victim.

"You know what, my prayer got answered," Gish said, "because that's probably one of the strongest women I've ever met."

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 or on Twitter @sbarchenger.