Dani’s Magnificent, Sad Artwork Drawn While Confined in Room

In General

The sketches below are prosecution exhibits in the case of the US v. Keith Alan Raniere.

They are the work of a young woman known to us as Daniela [or Dani], now 33, and sketched by her while she was imprisoned – confined to an unlocked room in Clifton Park, New York, when she was 24 -25 years old.  She was imprisoned at the command of Raniere, though he denies it, and claims she went there voluntarily.

Long before Dani testified in court this past week – and several years before Raniere was indicted – Dani called me from Mexico. I never met her when I served as a publicist for NXIVM.

I had written about her confinement in Frank Report – and she called to ask me to take down her full name because she had left Nxivm and started a new life and, in the town in Mexico where she worked, no one knew of her Nxivm past.

I took her name off the posts, and she told me of her captivity. I found her to be intelligent, with hardly a trace of a Mexican accent. She spoke nearly flawless English and she told me her stunning story – which was, it seems, exactly what she told the jury this past week.

During her days of testimony, the prosecution entered into evidence some of her artwork.  She had nothing in the room but a pencil and paper. Her only clothes, the clothes on her back. She had no television, no radio, no music, no books, [though she pilfered a couple of books at one time and read and reread them].

Her food was delivered by her family. Her father [who aligned with Raniere to help keep her captive for “her own good”] made many of her meals. Her family would deliver them to her – by placing the meals outside her door and knocking. She would wait a moment for them to leave then she would retrieve her meals.

Dani had nothing to look forward to, day after day, with no change, no variance. No one came to see her for months. She had no human contact.

She would spend hours thinking of what her next meal was. If became a fascination to wonder what was next. She had no control. She did not put orders in or pick from a menu. It was up to her family to decide and, one imagines, it was low-calorie diet [For Raniere likes his slaves slender].

Dani would be elated if she got what she hoped for in a meal, and deeply despondent when she got less than what she expected.  She described her room as “four walls.” There was an adjoining bathroom to which she had access. She was allowed soap and shampoo [She would read and reread the shampoo bottle just to read words – just to see words printed.] She had her bed and her pencil and paper – the purpose of these writing instruments was to write to Keith – confessions of adoring love for him and statements seeking atonement for her grave ethical breach – her secret ethical breach, that neither Keith nor she shared with others. [Keith depended on that secrecy. Keith, the liar, made it out that Dani was a thief and this was her ethical breach].

Her ethical breach was that she wanted another man other than Raniere and she kissed him too. Dani refused to be part of his harem. She said that if Keith could have other women [he had dozens], she could have another man.

When I spoke to her, long before the trial, I took away that the reason Dani stayed in a room for 23 months was that she was not going to be a member of his harem.

There may be a thousand reasons why she stayed as long as she did. There are gray lines of coercion, and brainwashing, versus free will to leave anytime – for the door was unlocked and, in the end, she chose the day she left her room.

Dani spent one month shy of two years in confinement in a room in Clifton Park, with her family living below her, supporting her confinement, based on their belief in the rightness and brilliance of Keith Raniere.

She got out in early 2012. She spent from age 16 to age 25 in the grip of Raniere, then she escaped.

Her artwork is fascinating. It is beautiful in its own right, but against the backdrop of a woman imprisoned both physically and mentally by the gruesome Raniere and his minions – with the aid of her own family – they take on the character of real pathos and sorrow, loneliness and despair.  They are striking as art. The suffering revealed in her art reflects, at least to me, the conflict between the mind and the heart.

Dani confronted Raniere when she left her room. He was playing volleyball and when he saw her, he ran and hid and had his minions escort Dani out of the arena. That was the last time she saw him – in February 2012 – until she came again in May of 2019 to a Brooklyn courtroom.

Here, it was his turn to be escorted into the courtroom by US Marshals and he had to finally face her – and this time, he couldn’t run away.

Sketches by Dani while she was confined in a room.

 

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26 commentsOn Dani’s Magnificent, Sad Artwork Drawn While Confined in Room

  • her art speaks volumes ….

  • Thank you for sharing. I clearly see and appreciate Dani’s art. Her tourmented mind is beautifully portrayed through these pieces.

  • Wow. Great artwork.

    Very moving stuff.

    I’d just like to take this opportunity to say (again) just how much of a hero Dani is, especially relative to everybody else in NXIVM who are selfish cowards — people like Toni and Barb.

    I hate to rehash old issues (okay, I actually enjoy it) but Frank, Claviger and Heidi have attempted to bestow great honors upon Toni and Barb Bouchey.

    Frank has attempted to lionize these 2 ladies, painting them both as an example of women who did the right thing in the face of evil.

    But as I see it, these 2 ladies never did the right thing UNTIL they were demoted on his totem pole of hotties, being relegated to Concubine status.

    Only when their relationship with Keith had FIZZLED OUT did they finally leave him and run for greener pastures.

    A true HERO doesn’t wait until things have fizzled out before doing the right thing and leaving a godless monster like Keith.

    I therefore have ZERO respect for these ladies. In my view, they are no better than Nancy Salzman.

    Lauren is a LOVELY and DECENT woman who did the right thing. She testified in open court. She is a hero in my view. She’s also a hottie who looks 30 even though she’s 42.

    If she can only get her huge nosed fixed, with plastic surgery, she’ll finally be able to land a good husband. If not, she’ll likely be single forever.

    • You live in Bizarro world

    • Lauren, lovely and decent?
      She was, in effect, Dani’s jailer.
      On Keith’s orders she kept Dani’s id from her.
      Lauren never lifted a hand to save Dani and she could have.
      Lauren is no hero. She cried only for herself in court because her cruel nature came to light.
      You have a strange standard of heroism.

    • You obviously never met Lauren and don’t have a clue about her true nature. She is a narcissistic evil greedy bitch with an ugly big nose. Also she was promiscuous when she arrived at ESP long ago and screwed every new man that walked through the door that would have her.

      She was sent to live with Barbara Jeskey to cure her promiscuity. Haha that was probably when Keith screwed her. I don’t put much stock in the truthfulness of Lauren’s testimony. She is a pathological lier.

      Lauren is a Nancy clone. Her sister Michelle I believe to be different, a kinder person more like her dad. Michelle was greatly influenced and manipulated by Nancy and Lauren. I hope she is doing well.

  • I don’t know what Dani’s financial circumstances are right now, but has anyone given any thought to a “Go Fund Me” page? Same question for Kristin Keeffe. I would love to support these brave women.

    • I was thinking the same thing.

    • Not to discourage such a generous idea, but I think she really came out on top. She’s got a good job. Travels around a lot for work. She’s bright so she’s a success.
      Question for anyone who knows— some victims stand to get some money from Clare or NXIVM. Is Dani one of these? She should be.

  • Hopefully Raniere will be served meals not of his choice and nothing much else to do for the remainder of his natural life and then be in hell for eternity.

  • Girl Scout Cookies

    love this, especially the personal note about the “book report”

  • Frank,

    I enjoyed reading your narrative of Dani’s story.

    ******

    “Sometimes I want to hide my thoughts from myself”, (Dani)……

    ……I think this one quote sums up the desperation and melancholy Dani must have felt.

    The mental torture she endured is unbelievable.
    Dani must have questioned her own sanity so many times.

    Everyone you know turning on you.

    I am still amazed at her tenaciousness.

    • her tenacity is called THE HUMAN SPIRIT we all have it just some of us dont remember quite how to tap in

  • This is good reporting Frank. Thank you

  • I’m impressed with Dani. I hope that she knows that people all over the world are listening to her and we all respect her and wish the very best for the rest of her life. She had a rough past but the future is hers to live out and be something amazing. Dani’s artwork is very good and it clearly reflects a heart of gold. I hope she never looks back because she is an incredibly brave and wonderful person who needs to be free from this past forever.

    Frank, never met you but we are all grateful for your sacrifice and your tenacity to continue writing these blogs and teaching the world about this nightmare.

  • Some people in these positions off themselves. Thank god she didn’t.

  • Completely moving…Dani your artwork brings tears to my eyes. Thank you for your vulnerability.

  • Wow. Wow. Wow.

  • good catch in fact intuitively or not she did all 4 monkeys

    {most are never taught the 4th monkey FEAR NO EVIL} funny that

    {hes the one hold his penis .. we are told this is a gag but it isnt}

  • Dani you are an artist and a wonderful, beautiful Being!

    For all the “Danis” of this world:

    ” As you turn your focus on healing, many of you become stuck waiting for closure. We understand you wish to wrap up a phase or experience, but holding on for closure to come from someone can be a faulty practice. We will explain why.

    Your healing is a self guided process. Waiting for closure to come from another is placing your healing in the hands of someone else. It is giving your power away.

    Worse, it is placing your healing in the hands of a person who has already hurt you and proven they haven’t been able to see you in your truth and worth. So, now your healing becomes dependant upon another person’s healing and growth and there is no guarantee when or if that person will achieve what is necessary to offer you the acknowledgment you seek.

    If someone has hurt you to the point where you need closure it is highly unlikely they have the wisdom or vantage point to give you what you need for healing. It is not that they have some secret wellspring of love and awareness that they have been withholding from you, it is more likely that they simply do not have it to give at this time in their incarnation. Looking for healing from them would be much like looking to a hot stove for comfort after you have burned yourself.

    So what do you do? Please understand you need nothing outside of yourself to get the closure you are seeking. The most beautiful wrapping up of an old issue or wound comes through your own self love and the recognition that you deserve much better. It is assuming the role of your own loving parent, guide, and best friend.

    The healing and gift you are looking for in all this is the realization that you are no longer in line with the energies that allowed you to be hurt in the first place and that those energies have nothing more to offer you. That is using your experience as a springboard for something much better that honours you and celebrates who you are.

    Closure is the willing withdrawal of your energetic attachment to what hurt you in the first place, and then lovingly guiding yourself onto an entirely new line of potential where your full healing exists and occurs through your own empowerment. And the beautiful thing about all of this is you can choose that right now to move forward with the love, respect, and support you deserved all along. ~Archangel Gabriel through Shelley Young”

  • Frank, one correction: I believe these sketches were done in the period just before Dani was forced to go in the room. They are a powerful representation of just how badly Raniere and some of his inner circle had systematically broken her down.

    Dani’s strength, intelligence and courage have been an inspiration to me. Every day she is living the life Raniere never wanted her to have.

    Thank you, Frank, for treating her story with dignity. Your extensive and largely accurate coverage of her testimony gave her an additional measure of justice. She gave a lot of consideration before choosing the forum in which to tell her truths. I think you will agree it was a wise choice.

  • Impressive Dani

    Esto es para ti, Dani. Con amor y respeto y deseando simplemente, felicidad para siempre !!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfISNlnN0bI

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