Cheryl Araujo

In 2020 the Araujo case was featured as an episode of the Netflix documentary series Trial by Media; the episode "Big Dan's" explores the effect that the broadcasting of the trial had on Araujo, the New Bedford community, and American society at large.

Araujo was essentially ostracized in New Bedford. Shortly after the trial, she moved to Miami, Florida, along with her two daughters and their father—Araujo's high school sweetheart—to find anonymity. Araujo had entered school to become a secretary.

Her case prompted national debate at the time over broadcasting of the trial, during which her name was released. Some states have passed legislation to protect the names of rape victims. Court cases have attempted to settle issues of newsworthiness, freedom of the press, and state interest, as well as personal privacy. Her case was the basis of the 1988 feature film The Accused.

The feature film drama The Accused (1988) was loosely based on this case. It starred Jodie Foster, who went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as the woman attacked, and Kelly McGillis as an assistant district attorney prosecuting the case. During interviews related to the film, McGillis acknowledged that she had also survived an assault and rape. She discussed her long struggle to get over the attack, and her decision to talk about it in the hope of helping other victims.

Ostracized in New Bedford, Araujo moved with her family to Miami to make a new life. Shortly after, on December 14, 1986, she died in a car accident near her home.

On December 14, 1986, Araujo lost control of her car while taking her daughters to a Christmas show and struck a utility pole. The girls were injured, but survived. Araujo died in the crash. She was 25 years old. Sources differ about what caused the crash. At first, in the days that followed the accident, the Associated Press reported that, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, "the cause of the crash was not known. Investigators [had] said alcohol or drugs were not involved." At the same time, The New York Times also reported that "Trooper Ed Rizera, who investigated the accident, [had] said that there was no apparent cause for the accident, but that there would be a further homicide investigation."

On March 6, 1983, after putting her two daughters to sleep following a third birthday party for the older girl, Araujo left her home in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to buy cigarettes. The store she usually purchased from was closed, so she stopped at Big Dan's Tavern. Reports differ on how long Araujo spent in the bar before the assault, but she apparently had a few drinks and socialized with a waitress she knew and then watched some men playing pool at the back of the tavern. When she tried to return to the bar area, Joseph Vieira and Daniel Silvia attacked her and began tearing her clothes off. A third man grabbed her from behind and threw her onto the bar's pool table. She was stripped below the waist, and several men raped her. According to Araujo's original report to police, she heard people "laughing, cheering, yelling", but no one responded to her cries for help. Bartender Carlos Machado testified later that when he tried to call the police, Virgilio Medeiros blocked his access to the phone, and that other bar patrons were too intimidated to intervene.

Cheryl Ann Araujo (March 28, 1961 – December 14, 1986) was an American woman from New Bedford, Massachusetts, who was gang-raped in 1983 at age 21 by four men in a tavern in the town, while other patrons reportedly watched but did not intervene. Her case became national news, and drew widespread attention to media coverage of rape trials.