On Saturday, the National Mall appeared to bloom with butterflies. They were everywhere, on shirts and lapels, pinned to jackets and tucked into flowers resting on the ground near a stage, with the White House in the background.
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One year after the death of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, hundreds of people gathered to honor her life and legacy at the Butterfly Vigil, named for her love of butterflies. Those in attendance included family members, survivors, supporters and a member of Congress.
Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin told WTOP that Giuffre, a prominent survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex‑trafficking operation, carried “a lot of pain and a lot of anguish” throughout her life.
“She grew up with just unspeakable abuse,” Raskin said. “Her name will not be forgotten, and the names of a lot of her abusers and victimizers, the people who took advantage, will go down in history as villains, and she will be a hero.”
Speakers on stage called for accountability for sexual abuse by powerful figures and spoke about Giuffre’s courage and how it inspired others to come forward.
“Virginia means everything to the survivor community,” said Dani Bensky, an Epstein survivor. “Not just Epstein and Maxwell survivors, survivors as a whole. She is the reason I came forward.”
Bensky said watching both Giuffre and fellow survivor Maria Farmer helped reshape how she viewed herself.
“They changed the word ‘victim’ for me,” she said. “I felt a sense of community, even without knowing them yet. And when I stepped out of that courthouse, I said my name. It was almost like I felt her spirit with me, pushing us along.”
Near the end of the ceremony, Giuffre’s brothers and sisters‑in‑law addressed the crowd, many of whom held butterflies in their hands.
“I want you to know you changed the world, Sis, you really did,” her brother Sky Roberts said from the stage. “You continue to teach the world that it’s OK to wear your scars with pride, to show that the ugly people and ugly things that exist don’t define who you are. You do.”
After the vigil, Giuffre’s older brother, Daniel Wilson told WTOP the family didn’t have time to grieve when she died by suicide in Australia, more than 10,000 miles away.
He said the gathering marked an important step in the family’s healing.
“The women standing up there with us today, we’ve gotten really close,” Wilson said. “They call it trauma bonding, and it’s easy to love people who hold her in the same regard that I do.”
Along with family members, survivor sisters and organizers, people from across the region came to honor the memory of the mother of three.
Linda, who traveled from North Beach, Maryland, stood near the stage, choking back tears.
Julie, from Gambrills, Maryland, said Giuffre paved the way by telling her story again and again, even when people didn’t believe her.
“They threatened her life and her family,” Julie said. “She was so courageous. She endured so much. She deserves to be honored and remembered — and she’s an example of how to fight for what’s right, no matter what.”
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