The parents of a young woman who killed herself after alleging she’d been raped by a wealthy Alabama man have sued the accused attacker, law enforcement officers, and a university Title IX official, alleging their “faulty practices” and “mishandling” of the case drove their daughter to hang herself.  The parents of Megan Rondini, the University of Alabama student who killed herself after alleging that she had been raped by a Tuscaloosa man, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit Sunday against her alleged rapist, two university employees, the Tuscaloosa County sheriff, a sheriff's deputy, and a sheriff's office investigator. In addition, the Rondinis are suing Beth Howard, the University of Alabama’s Title IX coordinator, who also held that position when their daughter reported she had been raped; and Cara Blakes, who was a graduate student working as a therapist at the school’s Women and Gender Resource Center. As a result, it says, Megan Rondini suffered “extreme depression, anxiety, PTSD, fear, panic attacks, decline of cognitive functions and general well-being, weight loss, and feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, all of which directly led to Megan’s loss of life.” 
 
 W. Ivey Gilmore, Jr., an attorney for Bunn, said in a statement Monday that the accusations against his client in the suit are false. "It is, perhaps, natural to want to find someone to blame when a young woman takes her life," Gilmore said. "But accusing law enforcement and those who counseled this young woman for her actions is misguided. Unfortunately, bringing this matter before the courts in this civil action will only prolong grief without changing the reality." Terry Bunn Jr., Rondini's alleged rapist, could not immediately be reached for comment. Leroy Maxwell Jr., the Rondinis' attorney, said the lawsuit was filed with the hope that it would prevent cases similar to Megan's. Rondini ultimately dropped the case, left the University of Alabama, and moved back to her native Texas, where she hanged herself in February 2016. The man wasn't charged, and the lawsuit claims investigators and university officials mishandled her allegations. Meanwhile, the school, DCH Regional Medical Center, victim advocates, the Tuscaloosa District Attorney's office and law enforcement are establishing two sexual assault programs that care for sexual assault victims. The lawsuit says Tuscaloosa officers failed to test Rondini's rape kit, failed to interview witnesses, and failed to record all of the interviews they did conduct. “Megan ultimately was treated as a crime suspect and her status as a victim of a sex crime was completely disregarded,” the lawsuit alleges. Megan also received information from university representatives regarding services available to her on campus, including counseling through the university's Women & Gender Resource Center. The lawsuit claims Megan confided in a UA counselor who told her she could no longer give her therapy because she was a family friend of the Bunns, and that a second counselor would not see Megan unless she first took anxiety medication. "There was a mediation with the Rondini family and the university, the details of which are confidential.
– Former University of Alabama student Megan Rondini would still be alive if not for the "mishandling" of her alleged rape, her parents say. In a wrongful death lawsuit filed Sunday, Rondini's parents accuse the university, school officials, sheriff's deputies, and Rondini's alleged rapist of enabling her suicide in February 2016. Rondini had been a 20-year-old student at the University of Alabama in July 2015 when she alleged she was raped by local businessman TJ Bunn Jr. But authorities "wrongfully acted or failed to act in response," the lawsuit alleges, per Buzzfeed. It adds deputies—who found the case didn't meet Alabama's legal definition for rape—didn't test Rondini's rape kit or interview witnesses, an "intentional" behavior that was due to Rondini's gender. Rondini—who allegedly stole $3 and a gun from Bunn—was "treated as a crime suspect," not a victim, the suit continues, per the AP, also alleging a school counselor refused to see Rondini unless she took anxiety medication. Rondini later dropped out of school, moved back to Texas, and suffered "extreme depression, anxiety, PTSD, fear, panic attacks, decline of cognitive functions and general well-being … all of which directly led to Megan's loss of life," the suit states. Per AL.com, two days before her suicide, she sent a text reading, "I wonder what I could've accomplished if one man didn't completely rip everything away from me." Bunn, who claimed the sex was consensual, was never charged with a crime. His lawyer tells AL.com that the lawsuit is "baseless" and "simply false."