Christine Vendel

Editor's Note: This is Part 1 of a two-day series. Kaitlyn, a freshman, didn't know the man who she told police raped her in her dorm room last year at Slippery Rock University in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

Veronika Rodriguez, 26, agreed to meet for dinner a man whom she met at her base while working for the Air National Guard in Annville.

The morning after Kaitlyn was raped in her dorm room last year, she woke up and went to her college class.

Rape and sexual assault are considered among the most serious crimes.

“Consent is freely given ... because they want to, not because they are being pressured, manipulated or threatened.”

When a person reports a sexual assault to police, and they previously knew their attacker, the ability to prosecute or not often comes down to consent.

PennLive gathered data over a year that showed a shockingly low number of sex crimes getting prosecuted across the state.

Concerns about Allegheny County's sexual assault investigations have been aired for years.

| Longtime Harrisburg School Board Member Jim Thompson died Tuesday night after an illness, district officials announced Wednesday.

Our yearlong investigation shows officials in counties across Pennsylvania prosecute a shockingly low number of reported sex crimes.