‘Central Park Jogger’ to Go Public

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NEW YORK (AP) _ The jogger who was brutally beaten, raped and left for dead in Central Park in 1989 is moving into greater public view in an effort to inspire others with her recovery.

She has been talking to small groups, was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey for O magazine and plans to reveal her name in an upcoming book.

``For a long time, I’ve been thinking about how I can use my recovery to help others,″ the jogger said in the April magazine interview. Her book, due out next April, is tentatively titled, ``I Am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility.″

At the time of the attack, the woman was a 28-year-old investment banker for Salomon Bros. She was found in a pool of mud with 75 percent of her blood drained from her body. She was in a coma for 12 days.

``One doctor said that because it was likely I’d be a vegetable, it might have been better if I had died,″ she told the magazine.

Astonishing her doctors, the jogger recovered. She testified about the severity of her injuries in the trials of the five defendants. But she had no recollection of the attack itself.

She returned to her job eight months after the assault. Now 41 and married, she lives in a Connecticut suburb and works for a nonprofit organization. She says she has impaired vision and problems with her balance, sense of smell, concentration and memory.

But she is running again and even participated in the New York City Marathon in 1995. She said she also passed the ravine where she was nearly killed.

There, she saw flowers and notes from a concerned public.