This story deals with sexual assault and its effects. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) at 1-800-656-4673.
Paityn Crist sat nervously at her kitchen table, typing on her phone in 2023.
It had been nearly six years since a man she met on Facebook strangled and raped her when she was 19. It was time to say something.
She believed he was still using social media and dating apps to find his targets. She needed to warn other women.
The tipping point was hearing from her best friend that the same man had attacked another woman.
Crist decided to sleep on it before speaking out. She was terrified of him and worried that saying something would make her a target again. What if nobody believed her? What if social media turned on her? Victims had been blamed before – she experienced it.
On Facebook, a platform she knew he frequented, she opened with: “Paul Snow − YOUR LOCAL NORTHERN KENTUCKY RAPIST ladies and gentlemen!”
Then, she hit “post.”
The response was immediate. Her post spread through a women’s Facebook group, and more than 50 women contacted her with their own accounts, Crist told The Enquirer. Law enforcement took notice, too.
“It feels like your responsibility as someone who’s gone through that trauma to help avoid it happening to others,” she said.
When Crist publicly named the man who raped her, she did more than share some of her own story. She opened the door for other women to come forward, giving investigators the critical mass of digital evidence needed to identify a pattern and build a case.
What followed was a painstaking, multicounty investigation that authorities say exposed Snow as a serial predator and ultimately led to convictions that might not have been possible without one survivor’s decision to speak up.
A jury ultimately convicted Snow on 28 counts, finding that he raped and forced women to perform oral sex, and also subjected them to years of fear through digital harassment and intimidation. The charges involved nine women, six of whom Snow sexually assaulted.
He may very well spend the rest of his life behind bars. The detective who spent roughly two years investigating the case believes there are many more women Snow victimized.
An online meeting that turned violent
Crist told police she met Snow when he reached out on Facebook in 2017. He messaged her, asking for her phone number.
Both were single parents. He invited her to his Latonia Lakes home to play pool with his son.
She accepted and went to the man’s house on July 6, 2017, the day her nightmare began.
After Snow told his son it was time to go to bed, Crist said it was time for her to turn in as well. He wouldn’t let her go. That’s when Snow attacked.
She didn’t know then about Snow’s formula to lure women to his home. She didn’t know that she wasn’t the first. She didn’t know if she would even make it out of the house alive.
“I was terrified I was never gonna see my son again,” Crist said.
At the time, Crist said, she doubted reporting the assault would lead anywhere. A survivor of prior abuse, she feared she wouldn’t be believed.
“What are the odds that one girl and one rape is going to do anything or make a difference?” Crist said. “I just had no hope or faith that anything was going to happen,” she added, “because I know that people rape people all the time and get away with it.”
She told only a few people. One of those was a good friend whom Snow harassed and stole data from online. As years passed, Crist also learned of another woman who said Snow raped her.
On April 18, 2023, shortly after publishing her Facebook warning, Crist reported the rape to the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators were already aware of the post.
The next day, another woman who saw Crist’s post came forward. She told police that Snow handcuffed and raped her at gunpoint at his home in Verona. That report led to his arrest and an indictment in June 2023.
Because Crist’s allegation dated back years earlier, authorities traced it to Snow’s time in Kenton County, opening a broader investigation.
Detective identifies a pattern
Kenton County police Detective Andrew Kenner began reviewing the case in May 2023 after being contacted by Gallatin County authorities.
Over nearly two years, Kenner reviewed old case files to identify other victims. He interviewed women who came forward with accounts of sexual violence, using visualization exercises and other techniques to help them remember details. He also combed through extensive digital records to build a case.
“It wasn’t just specific to the sexual assault,” Kenner told The Enquirer. “I wanted what their entire Paul Snow story was.”
It was hard for Crist to relive what happened, but she knew that Kenner took the case seriously.
The detective quickly spotted a pattern: initial contact on Facebook, an invitation to Snow’s home, an alleged assault, then ongoing harassment online.
Snow used a range of pretexts: offering to fix devices, proposing jobs or expressing romantic interest − often targeting vulnerable women, including young single mothers or those recovering from addiction.
Digital evidence showed Snow used social media and his knowledge of technology to intimidate women for years, after persuading some of them to share online account information and secretly using spyware to get images for blackmail.
“We knew pretty well out of the gate that it was a serial offender,” Kenner said.
A key part of the investigation was reports made by women around the mid-2010s. While those didn’t lead to any criminal convictions at the time, the paper trail and digital evidence led Kenner to other women with accounts of sexual violence and privacy intrusions.
Kenner said it took a long time to track down other survivors and there were some he never got a chance to interview.
“There’s a lot more,” he said.
The investigation took its toll on Kenner. So much so that he needed time alone to decompress after long days on the job, telling his wife and kids it was about the Snow case.
“It was really tough. I ended up in a dark place,” Kenner said. “I mean, I lived in the man’s head for a year and a half, two years.”
The long hours eventually paid off. In early 2025, a Kenton County grand jury issued a sweeping indictment covering sexual assaults and digital privacy violations.
Story helped ‘put a monster away’
Securing an indictment was only the beginning of a lengthy criminal case, with prosecutors facing challenges to evidence and vying for time with the case in Gallatin County.
When that case resulted in a mistrial in April 2025, it was time for prosecutors in Kenton County to take their shot.
“We’ve decided that we’re going after this guy,” said Assistant Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jordan Sherrow. “We want him for the rest of his life.”
The trial began on March 3 and ended a week later with resounding convictions.
Snow’s attorneys argued that his encounters with the women were consensual, pointing to a lack of DNA evidence and what they described as untrustworthy accounts.
Messages Snow exchanged with the women were vital to prosecutors winning their case. They were also able to show that Snow’s behavior escalated from online invasions and harassment to premeditated rapes.
Sexual assault cases are notoriously difficult to investigate and prosecute, said Taylor Roof, another assistant Kenton County commonwealth’s attorney.
“The unique part of this was that our digital forensics, at least the messages … really corroborated [the women’s] stories and gave us the timeline,” Roof said.
A jury returned guilty verdicts on all 28 counts after hearing extensive testimony and evidence.
Crist, who waited anxiously in the Kenton County Justice Center with other women, said the moment brought a sense of affirmation.
It was the first time she felt true relief since she was attacked.
“My story made a difference and helped put a monster away for the rest of his life,” she said.
Women must protect each other, survivor says
Still, Crist said, the trauma lingers. She is constantly vigilant, especially around men, because of what she endured.
“I think I will always think about him and still have nightmares about him and about that attack,” she said.
While Snow was jailed pretrial, Crist said she bought a gun out of fear he could be released. After the Gallatin County mistrial, she said she slept with it under her pillow.
She knew that posting about Snow on Facebook put her in a dangerous position, but she still believes it was her responsibility to warn other women.
Now she knows that an abuser can face real consequences.
“I feel like every victim and every woman has a responsibility of reporting their rape or their attack to help protect other women,” Crist said. “Because at the end of the day, it’s women protecting women.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: She spoke up on Facebook. Dozens followed. A serial rapist was exposed
Reporting by Quinlan Bentley, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
