(Editors note: The women at the center of the criminal trial of Nathan Chasing Horse recently sat down with Las Vegas 8 News Now Reporter Vanessa Murphy to tell their story. To see related videos of the interview click here.)
When Melissa Leone was diagnosed with cancer, the urban Indian woman and her 14-year-old daughter sought a way to rid her of the illness.
That was when they came across Nathan Chasing Horse. They asked him to heal Melissa Leone and save her life.
Melissa Leone said she knew Chasing Horse when her daughter was six years old. Looking back, Melissa said she thinks he was grooming the girl for sexual abuse.
The self proclaimed “Medicine Man” told the woman’s daughter, Corena Leone, who was 14 at the time, that in order to save her mothers life she would have to sacrifice “her purity” to Chasing Horse.
Corena Leone said she was told this after Chasing Horse made her go into a closet alone with him for a private talk.
She didn’t question him.
“And so he had me take off my maxi dress and lay it under me, and it happened,” Corena Leone said. She didn’t tell anyone at the time.
“He said that it’s a sacred secret between me and the grandfathers and if I told, it would make her help go away,” Corena said.
This was the start of a nightmare that would last for years.
When she was 16-years-old, Chasing Horse asked Melissa if the teen could be his wife, according to the mother and daughter.
Corena Leone then became Corena Chasing Horse, and when she was 18-years-old she moved into his residence with six other women he said were his wives.
Then the abuse started; sexual, physical and psychological.
“There would be several times where I would wake up and he would be sitting on my bed waiting for me to wake up to start hitting me again,” Corena Leone said.
He also took her to hotels, blindfolded her, and leave her there while other men would come in to sexually assault her.
Fear of losing her mother prevented her from leaving, Corena said.
“I tried to kill myself,” she said. “I didn’t see another way out because to me leaving was never an option because of my mom, what would happen if I left?”
In 2021, Corena Leone left Chasing Horse. She posted a message on her Facebook page in 2022, telling of her experience. She later learned of similar incidents that occurred over the years by Chasing Horse, and none of them ended in an arrest.
“He was in the public eye, and everyone knew and said nothing,” she said.
Corena Leone said she came forward with her story to encourage other victims to come forward, be heard, and help heal.
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