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Ellen Mason
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Affiliation
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Schoolteacher
Rape Victim |
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Status
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As of 1988, still living in fear despite Alan Beaks' death
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Episode Appeared In
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Played By
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Ellen Mason is an elementary education teacher at a Miami-area school. In 1986 Mason was the victim of a rape at the hands of Alan Beaks, a member of a wealthy family. Beaks was tried, convicted, and sentenced to three years in prison. But due to overcrowding and Beaks showing remorse by creating a prison choir and using his family fortune to help with the prison library, Beaks was released after 20 months, much to Mason's (and the arresting officer, Trudy Joplin's) horror, as Beaks threatened to "get even" when he got out of prison. Beaks' story caught the attention of the Miami press, and he appeared on The Murray Phillips Show to tell his side, and to publicly apologize to Mason for what happened, but Mason refused his call, and the relentless press began coming down on Mason, crowding around her home, her personal space, even her school. Mason was so frustrated at the legal system, saying "First Beaks raped me, then the courts, and now the press is raping me!", Trudy stayed at her side, even intervening physically to keep the reporters away (risking her own career in the process), but Mason got an idea from Phillips' show; she would use the American Mercenary magazine to hire a hitman, Charles Hatch, to end her pain by taking care of Beaks, paying nearly $12,000 to do so. Beaks later attempted to get Mason to apologize by constantly calling her, then visiting her school (the TRO against Beaks was vacated for his Murray Phillips Show appearance), but Mason, fearing another rape, pulled out a pair of scissors in self-defense, but no action was taken against Beaks (as she was the one with the scissors, not Beaks) and was released. Hatch attempted twice to kill Beaks, once in his apartment complex (but failed due to other people showing up) and the second attempt (shooting him from a nearby rooftop) was successful. Hatch was later killed by police, but there was no substantiated proof that Mason hired Hatch so she was not charged, but someone continues to call her saying ("you should have accepted the apology..."), causing her to continue living in fear...