KOBE BRYANT SAGA A blonde's brush with fame leads to mystery, confusion

The sexual assault accusation has soiled Bryant's squeaky-clean image.
By TRACY CONNORAND DAN LUZADDER
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
EAGLE, Colo. -- The Vail Valley in Colorado is a playground for the wealthy and well-known, and the teen-agers who live there year-round make a sport out of sighting celebrities.
For a 19-year-old college student working the concierge desk at the Lodge & amp; Spa at Cordillera, meeting L.A. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant should have been a thrill.
"I can see her talking to him and wanting to meet him and all that, and coming back to tell her friends who she met," one of her pals, Casey Strickler, said.
But the young woman's brush with superstardom on a Monday night in late June didn't end with an autograph and a cool anecdote.
Instead, it led to an accusation of sexual assault that, at best, will soil Bryant's squeaky-clean image and, at worst, could put him behind bars.
It was a nagging pain in his right knee that brought Bryant to the Rocky Mountains.
After the NBA season ended, he decided to have arthroscopic surgery at the Steadman Clinic in Vail and chose to stay at Cordillera, an elegant resort in the hills.
On June 30, Bryant left behind his wife of two years, Vanessa, and their 6-month-old daughter, Natalia, and hopped a flight out of Southern California.
Pretty aggressive
By all accounts, he was his usual genial self when he arrived at the lodge, chatting up hotel staffers as he settled in.
He was charming, possibly even flirtatious, with the young concierge, a University of Northern Colorado freshman working there for the summer.
She was a blonde ex-cheerleader who liked to compose jazz, but saw herself as a singer.
"She's good at music. She wants to pursue singing, but she's a pretty average student," said her friend Stephanie Morris.
She made up for her average talent and looks, Morris said, by being "pretty aggressive."
For instance, she attempted to jump start her singing ambition by trying out for "American Idol" last fall, although she didn't make it past the first round.
Late that evening, the 6-foot-6 Bryant called the hotel desk, reportedly asking for room service, and the teen went to his room.
What happened next is in dispute.
The girl claims Kobe held her against her will and sexually assaulted her. Bryant's high-powered legal team says he's completely innocent.
Few facts known
What's clear is there was some kind of commotion in the room, a ruckus loud enough that another hotel guest complained to management.
Lodge staffers went to investigate, and Bryant's accuser emerged from the room shaken up, a worker told the Denver Post.
Bryant didn't seem rattled by the episode, workers said.
On July 1, he kept his appointment for surgery at the Steadman clinic. His accuser, meanwhile, was filing a complaint with the Eagle County sheriff's office.
She was taken to a hospital, where a forensic "rape kit" was prepared and sent to the state Bureau of Investigation for analysis.
Two sheriff's deputies began interviewing witnesses and examining "physical evidence" at the lodge, officials said. At around 11 p.m., they finally spoke to Bryant.
Not long after, the cops drove Bryant to the Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, about 50 miles away, to collect DNA samples.
By the time he left the hospital around 4 a.m. July 2, there were cracks in his calm demeanor.
With a towel shrouding his head and face, he dove into the back of a taxi his "nervous and anxious" bodyguards had taken to Valley View, the cabbie later told reporters.
He didn't return to the lodge. Instead, the group headed to the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs.
Arrest warrant
When Bryant left Colorado on a 7:15 p.m. flight that night, the allegations against him were still a closely guarded secret. Then on July 3, Sheriff Joseph Hoy decided he would pursue an arrest warrant for Bryant -- and called Bryant to give him the news.
The next day, cops sidestepped cautious county prosecutors and got a judge to sign a warrant. Bryant then got a call from Pamela Mackey, a Denver lawyer he retained.
"You need to come and turn yourself in right now," she told him.
Bryant, described as distraught, flew back to Colorado with his wife in a private plane that evening to surrender.
Cops took his mug shot and fingerprints and then sprung him on $25,000 bond. It took less than an hour, and the Bryants flew straight home.
Last Sunday, the sheriff's office announced his surrender.
Prosecutors said they will decide this week whether to formally charge Bryant, 24, with felony sexual assault or some other crime.
The athlete's accuser, who lives with her parents in a modest house on a quiet cul de sac, hasn't spoken publicly about what happened.
Those who know her can't imagine she would fabricate such a damaging story. And those who know Bryant can't believe the charges are true.
Strickler, who hasn't talked to her friend since the incident, hasn't made up her mind.
"I don't know what the truth is, but I'm sure it will come out eventually," she said.