Dorothy Groenert says her daughter, Carolyn Andriano, was just 14 years old when she was recruited to Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion. Years later, she died of an overdose.
On Wednesday, a batch of previously secret court documents from a settled lawsuit related to Epstein -- the jet-setting financier who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges -- were released to the public.
Now, Groenert is celebrating the release of the more than 150 names. The vast majority of those whose names appear in the documents aren't accused of wrongdoing. The initial release of the documents largely contained already public material or exhaustively covered information from newspaper stories, TV documentaries, interviews and books about the Epstein scandal.
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"Everybody should be held accountable," Groenert told NBC affiliate WPTV. "My daughter got raped, now I don’t even have a daughter. They destroyed my life."
The grieving mother says the unthinkable acts that occurred inside Epstein's mansion had lasting effects on Andriano years later.
"She was just a wreck," Groenert told WPTV. "Because she would disappear out of shame."
Police pronounced Andriano dead of an overdose in May, leaving her five children and mother behind.
"Do you know how many days I’ve sat in my room crying?" Groenert said. "It just came to a time where I couldn’t even sleep in my room because I’ve got all Carolyn’s artifacts of memories we’ve made. And I said to my son, ‘I can’t sleep in my room.’ All I see is Carolyn. Who’s going to fix that? Nobody."
JEFFREY EPSTEIN
The only person who has been criminally charged and convicted related to the case is Epstein's confidante and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for her role in Epstein's sex trafficking. Epstein himself committed suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Andriano's testimony against Maxwell was crucial in the confidante's conviction.
Groenert said she's been angry that the names of his associates were not disclosed for years.
"I’m angry, I’m frustrated, I’m aggravated," she said. "I was stripped."
With at least 40 unsealed documents full of names released Wednesday, and several others expected to come after, Groenert felt she finally had some glimmer of hope; an accountability she and her daughter fought for.
Despite receiving the sense of closure she prayed for, Groenert says she still carries the burden that her daughter is gone, and nothing can bring her back.
"It makes me sick. Literally churns my stomach," she said. "Carolyn and I did everything together since the day she was born. I was literally robbed."
Groenert explains that what happened in the mansion affected not only the girls who were there, but their families as well.
"Those men need to know that," she said. "Not only did you rape our children, but you raped their mothers. It goes up the family tree, and they need to know that, they need to be held responsible for it."
