Not Just Me: A Survivor's Fight For Healing, Justice, and DNA Reform

One in six American women will be the victim of sexual assault in her lifetime.

This is one woman's story-and a roadmap for healing.

When Julie Weil was violently abducted and raped in front of her young children in 2002, her world imploded in a single afternoon. For four years, she endured not only a legal gauntlet that would have broken most families but the emotional aftershocks of trauma that rippled through every part of her home. When her attacker received seven life sentences for the crimes against her family, Julie believed her battle was finally over.

It was only beginning.

The verdict did not end the story.

As she fought to heal, Julie uncovered a troubling reality. Evidence sat untested. Survivors were retraumatized by broken procedures. Systems meant to protect were often failing the very people they were designed to serve.

What began as one woman's pursuit of justice grew into a mission far beyond her own case. Over the next two decades, she worked alongside law enforcement, sexual assault nurse examiners, forensic professionals, and legislators to improve evidence testing, strengthen survivor-centered response, and bring meaningful reform to communities in the United States and abroad.

But this story is about more than reform.

It is about loss and rebuilding. It is about the devastating aftermath of trauma, the nightmares, the PTSD, the way violence reshapes entire families. It is about faith tested and strengthened. It is about the courage to speak truth and walk the long road toward accountability so that others may not have to walk it alone.

A memoir of resilience, reform, and the ripple effect of one voice refusing to be silent.

Julie Weil is a survivor advocate, international speaker, and founder of the Not Just Me Foundation. Following her assault in 2002, she helped advance rape kit reform legislation at the state and federal levels, contributed to the passage of the SAFER Act, and worked alongside forensic professionals and lawmakers to strengthen survivor-centered response in the United States and abroad. She has been featured on national media outlets, including CNN and C-SPAN, and was honored with the Carrie Morgan Whitcomb Award for her leadership in forensic reform.