Mikayla Evans remembers most of the night she fell from the fifth story of a downtown building in September 2020, but the events leading up to it — including how she fell — remain a mystery to her.
Evans said she has a fear of heights, and questions why she would have been near an open window that high up.
“I’m not scared of heights, I’m absolutely terrified, absolutely terrified,” Evans said.
After her fall, Evans spent nearly a month hospitalized, a stay that cost $1.12 million — $889,000 of which was covered by her insurance. Among her injuries was a laundry list of broken bones, which nearly led to her having both feet and right arm amputated. Evans broke all of her fingers and toes, both feet, fractured her skull in four places, shattered her pelvis, broke her sternum and several ribs and broke multiple vertebrae in her back, along with many internal injuries.
Evans is “Jane Doe 1” in former federal prosecutor Kateri Dahl’s civil lawsuit against Johnson City and its police department, alleging they fired Dahl in retaliation for pressing for an investigation into a man accused of raping multiple women — the same man who’s fifth floor condo Evans fell from, according to the lawsuit.
Dahl filed the lawsuit in federal court last week, saying in the suit she first was alerted about the man after a JCPD detective asked her to review a potential case of a felon in possession of ammunition. Dahl’s suit says the request was unusual in that charges like that are typically not brought by U.S. Attorney’s Office in Greeneville because they bring minimal prison time compared to the more serious charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The man’s real name is redacted in the lawsuit and he is identified using the pseudonym “Robert Voe.” The Johnson City Press isn’t using his real name at this time but has filed Freedom of Information Act requests seeking more information.
While the police said at the time they did not suspect foul play, behind the scenes they were investigating Evans’ fall as an attempted murder, according to the lawsuit, as of at least November. Evans said her medical records from that night also note the circumstances surrounding her fall were part of an ongoing investigation.
Evans said she wasn‘t sexually assaulted that night, but does believe she was drugged at some point.
“I don’t remember walking down the street, getting on an elevator and going inside his apartment,” Evans said.
Despite the unknowns surrounding her fall, Evans said she wasn’t tested for date-rape drugs after she was admitted to the hospital. Evans also said that, while she feels the investigator assigned to her case did their job as best they could, she has questions about how the investigation was handled.
In her lawsuit against the police department, Dahl said officers downplayed sexual assault victims’ complaints while she investigated “Voe,” including one officer who allegedly said of Evans: “You can see her on the security footage and she’s dressed like a real ... well I won’t say it.”
“To know that you are supposed to uphold and protect the citizens and then you’re going to say stuff like that? I don’t feel like you should be a police officer,” Evans said of the alleged comment. “Do you not have kids? Do you not have a wife? Do you not have a sister, niece or anything like that? What if that has happened to them? Oh, because they were dressed like a ‘you-know-what’ they deserved it? No.”
Comments like that, Evans said, will only make victims of sexual assault more hesitant to come forward.
“If a man (sexually assaults) you, and the police are making a joke about it, why would I want to come forward?” Evans asked.
Evans, against long odds, is now able to walk, drive and is fairly independent — able to do most things on her own, albeit not without pain or discomfort. She does have a caretaker come by her house for 20 hours a week to help, because even cleaning her bathroom sink causes intense pain and discomfort. Nowadays, Evans said, she typically stays home in bed because of the pain.
“I can’t do anything. I can’t live,” Evans said as her voice began to break. “I’m pretty much confined to my phone.”
She lost her job as a result of the fall, unable to work because of her injuries. The screws in her right foot cause her so much pain she mostly stands on her left foot, and everyday things she once enjoyed like going to the lake, roller skating and attending birthday parties with her son are now too painful to enjoy.
“I miss that probably the most — that’s probably what pisses me off the most,” Evans said. “I will never be able to roller skate with my son again, ever.”
