Emilia Barassi is an Italian exchange student and the younger sister of Lara Barassi, both girls being rape victims of host parent Richard Matthews.
History[]
Emilia and Lara were targeted by Richard while still in the custody of their mother, Alessandra, and their father. Richard raped both girls, Emilia with Richard's fingers, to "demonstrate" false sexual abuse allegations he wanted to brainwash them into making against their father. First with Lara, then getting Lara to tell Emilia so Richard could rape her too, Richard successfully got the girls to testify and get their father convicted and imprisoned.
The sisters emigrated into the U.S. with Richard and his wife Mary acting as host parents. Richard continued to rape and molest the girls, often on camera and with Mary spectating in the other room through a peephole. The girls always kept quiet, as did Mary despite her own reluctance and humiliation by Richard, believing Richard "loved" them and "proved" them what their father never did to them.
Emilia went to a house party hosted by her friend, Tommy Burke, where she played strip poker. On the way back, cabbie Oscar Groves beat and raped her, leaving her unconscious in an alley. Groves was tracked, and Richard's sexual assaults were also found out. Emilia was the first to tell detectives how Richard raped her and Lara and destroyed their family. Richard then committed suicide by jumping over his balcony. Emilia nearly lost Lara, who was grief-stricken from realizing the truth and nearly killed herself from a pill overdose, being barely rescued when her stomach was pumped.
Groves was arrested and imprisoned for Emilia's rape, with Mary being released for her testimony. Emilia and Lara then returned to Alessandra to exonerate their father and make sure the entire family reconciled. (SVU: "Exchange")