At this stage it's impossible to predict the outcome of the Manhattan DA's investigation into Greg Kelly's alleged rape of an unidentified woman last October, but while we wait we may as well pass the time speculating on the identify of the woman's boyfriend. Kelly, the co-host of "Good Day New York" and son of NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, has not been charged, and because of the high profile nature of the case, the DA's office is said to be proceeding with extreme caution (the bitter backwash of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn investigation is probably another factor). But one unidentified source tells the Daily News the investigation could be wrapped up soon—and the tabloid has all but identified the boyfriend of Kelly's accuser.
According to the News, the woman's boyfriend is a 48-year-old jock who was in the top 200 runners in the NYC Marathon last year. The News says he's a rugby player and hard partier who is also "an expert sailor who once set off on a two-year solo trip around the world. He ran a beach bar on a remote Pacific island and relishes telling of the time he fought off a shark while diving." The News is withholding his name, but the article provides enough information that you can figure out who it is with less than five minutes of Googling.
After the boyfriend discovered she'd had an abortion after her encounter with Greg Kelly, she reportedly told him she'd been raped, and he angrily confronted Ray Kelly at a public event, telling him his son "ruined [his] girlfriend's life." Kelly says he told the man to elaborate, but he declined because they were in public. Last week, about three months after the alleged rape, the woman filed a formal complaint with the NYPD.
But sources tell the Post that she's "the defense’s best witness" and has been so forthcoming that investigators believe the sex was consensual. (Again, it goes without saying that this information is being funneled to the city's most NYPD-friendly tabloid from anonymous sources who no doubt have a vested interest in spinning the narrative in Greg Kelly's favor.) The Post's sources say Kelly and the woman exchanged flirtatious messages before and after their encounter, and that the messages on her phone say, in substance, "Do you want to meet up again."
"The texts sounded like she enjoyed her time with him and was asking if they would meet up again," one source tells the tabloid. The pair exchanged 17 texts, ending two days after they had sex. Kelly has not turned over messages from his phone to investigators, the Post reports, nor has he been brought in for questioning. He has not been charged, and it's unclear how the allegation will impact his television career.
One journalism professor tells the News that if the DA exonerates Kelly, he should be able to come back to work. But if he's charged with any crime—even if ultimately found not guilty—it will be fatal for his career. “The damage would be such that he would be toxic to news directors," says Richard Hanley, a journalism professor at Quinnipiac University. "That’s the way the system works. Even if you’re found not guilty, the trial would do so much damage to his reputation."
