Why ‘Outcry’s Gaebri Anderson stuck by Greg Kelley after sex crime accusations

Greg and Gaebri Kelley were like a “Friday Night Lights” storyline come to life. The pair started dating after they graduated middle school outside of Austin, Texas, where he was a budding football superstar and she was captain of the dance team.

“Back then I was attracted to how passionate he was about sports,” 24-year-old Gaebri, nee Anderson, told The Post. “We went on cute romantic dates and watched a lot of Nicholas Sparks movies. He knew what his goals were.” They both had their futures charted in the NFL: Gaebri as a cheerleader and Kelley, who had committed to play football at the University of Texas San Antonio, would be on the big league roster.

But in 2013, their picture-perfect love story veered disturbingly off script. Kelley, who was going into his senior year at Leander High School, was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 4-year-old boy at an at-home day care center owned by a friend of Kelley’s. According to police, the victim told his parent that “Greg” did it. The football star staunchly maintained his innocence.

And Gaebri did the unfathomable: she stood by her man.

“It was crazy. I had friends since I was a baby who were saying, ‘I can’t believe you are sticking by him,’ ” said Gaebri, who was only 17 at the time. “From the first day in my heart, I knew he didn’t do this.”

Kelley staunchly maintained his innocence, and had a chance to take a plea deal but opted to go to trial. Gaebri trusted him.

“I had no doubt in my mind. I knew what kind of person he was,” she said. “We weren’t really scared going into the trial. There was no way he was going to get convicted on the evidence they didn’t have. We actually had a trip planned for the next day.”

In fact, in the aftermath of the allegations, she felt her affection for Kelley deepening. “We started falling in love after these accusations. The way he handled himself; he was so positive, hopeful and persistent. It was so attractive.”

Kelley’s explosive case is the subject of Showtime’s riveting docuseries “Outcry,” which chronicles his harrowing six-year fight to clear his name — a drama that also divided a close-knit community and exposed ineptitude and blind spots in the criminal justice system. In 2014, the gridiron standout was convicted of the horrific crime and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

As Kelley sat in jail, Gaebri moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in the prestigious dance program Edge, at Kelley’s urging. She never wavered in her support, and they remained more aligned than ever.

Daily 20-minute phone calls, homemade cards and love letters, and “sheer faith in God” sustained the young paramours.

“Greg learned to draw in there. He would make me elaborate homemade cards and love letters that were eight pages long. They were so beautiful. The physical was taken away from us. Imagine not being able to kiss or hug the person you love. We had to fall in love with each other’s hearts through these letters.”

View Slideshow

Source: Read Full Article