The woman that James Ransone saved from sexual assault broke her silence after his tragic death.
Molly Watts took to Instagram on Tuesday, December 23, to identify herself as the female neighbor whom Ransone helped in 2006, writing, “I found out yesterday that @jamesransone died. I’m usually private but I want to publicly say I am so grateful that this man existed and don’t know if the trajectory of my life would be the same if he hadn’t.”
Watts recalled being neighbors with Ransone when they both lived in New York.
“Friendly, overlapping social circles. I was attacked at the threshold of our building. I screamed for help. No one came. My attacker put his hands around my throat so I would stop making noise. I couldn’t breathe. I remember the certainty that I was going to die or be raped as I was choked unconscious,” she wrote. “PJ heard my screams and ran to help. He came running shirtless, carrying a bat or pipe — I’m not sure which, because I never saw him in action. He scared my attacker, who ran. PJ chased him to the building he fled to. Because of the chase, the police were able to identify him, a repeat sexual offender.”
In her post, Watts thanked Ransone for saving her, adding, “I’m not sure if I would have the same life if he hadn’t run down that night. Even as an adult, I’m not sure how I would have handled the weight of what could have happened or how long it would take to heal — I was already emotionally fragile.”
Watts later learned about the alleged abuse Ransone went through himself.
“What’s especially hard for me with PJ’s passing is that he lived with that kind of violence. What I was spared, he endured in a different form, at an age where there is no emotional defense, and the self is still forming. I get the sense that PJ’s life was haunted by what happened to him then. This world is rarely gentle to people who are hurt, vulnerable, acting out,” she continued. “Over the years, I have thought of PJ from time to time. I wanted to reach out to him to let him know how grateful I was that he ran towards my screams. I didn’t. I regret that.”
Ransone died on Friday, December 19, at age 46 by suicide. He was previously outspoken about his past struggles with substance abuse, which emerged in the aftermath of childhood trauma. In 2021, Ransone posted a lengthy email via Instagram that he sent his alleged sexual abuser. He accused his former tutor, Timothy Rualo, who was then reportedly working at a school in Baltimore County, of sexually abusing him numerous times.
The actor recalled the abuse taking place over the course of six months in 1992 at his childhood home. The alleged abuse led to a “lifetime of shame and embarrassment” for Ransone. After getting sober in 2006, Ransone recalled being “ready to confront” his past.
Ransone reported the accusations to Baltimore County police in March 2020 but was allegedly told that prosecutors “had no interest in pursuing the matter any further.” The Baltimore County State’s Attorney Office ultimately did not bring charges following the police investigation.
Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger confirmed at the time that his office declined to charge Rualo. A spokesman for Baltimore County Public Schools, meanwhile, told The Post that Rualo remained employed by the district, where he has worked since 1992. Rualo, for his part, could not be contacted at the time.
Ransone later recalled how he “almost died a couple of times” at the height of his drug use before getting sober.
“One time, I actually did die and got brought back to life. Then I got arrested a few times. The last time I got arrested, I got out of jail and came home and got a couple of bundles of heroin and tried to get high but it didn’t work anymore. That was the scariest part. Drugs couldn’t silence the volume of noise in my head anymore,” he told The Fix in 2015. “I tried to kill myself a couple of times. Junkies are funny because we’re just so incompetent at everything that I couldn’t even pull that off successfully.”
He concluded: “I called a friend and I was, like, ‘I think I’m gonna kill myself or I’m gonna go to rehab.’ My friend was like, ‘Hey, why don’t you try rehab first.’ That’s what I did and that was in 2006 and I’ve been clean since.”
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
