HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Lauren Estrada Munson was 13 years old when her best friend's father began sexually abusing her. More than a decade later, she found the courage to come forward — and her abuser is now behind bars.
"It was years later that I realized that it was actually abuse," Munson told I-Team Reporter Kylie McGivern.
Watch full report from Kylie McGivern
Grooming, manipulation, and abuse by a man she and her family trusted, she said.
“He would say things like, you're so special, you're wise beyond your years, you have the body of a 20-year-old, I have the body of a 20-year-old," Munson said. "Trying to justify it.”
But looking back at a photo from that time, "I just looked at it and started crying. Because I saw myself at that age and what I looked like, and I knew what was going on when I was at that moment in time — and nobody else knew. And I was like, I looked like I was 20? No I didn’t.”
Derek Zitko was 40 years old when the abuse began. He was a father, a husband, a church leader, a soccer coach, later a foster parent, and a now retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel.
On January 14, Zitko pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 8 years in prison for lewd or lascivious battery and lewd lascivious molestation.
Munson told the I-Team she is sharing her story publicly to encourage other survivors to come forward, even if years have passed.
"There was so much weighing on this secret," she said. "That is not my burden. And it never was. And it was his."
The catalyst to come forward
Since Munson was a teenager, she said she “basically never spoke to him again until two years ago when he messaged me on Facebook."
The message from Zitko came after his daughter, who was a bridesmaid in Munson's wedding, shared that Munson was pregnant.
"There is nothing like being pregnant with a girl and revisiting those emotions. It was enough to make me do all of this," Munson said.
The message, which was included in sealed court documents Munson provided to the I-Team, read: "...CONGRATULATIONS! I am SO HAPPY for you! You will be an amazing mama."
Munson responded: "My number one goal as a mom is to make sure that my kids never meet somebody like you. Please don’t ever message me again. You don’t deserve to have any part of my life or information about my children.”"
"I was just like... angry. Something just changed inside of me. Literally inside of me. Because of my daughter," Munson told the I-Team. "Mama Bear' was now who I am."
Munson said the abuse went on for "several months."
Munson said, while reading Zitko's message, she thought of her daughter and any future children.
"I want them to know that they're safe telling me if something bad happens. And that is what my mom has said my whole life," she said.
Munson said she knew she had to tell her mom about the secret she had carried for more than a decade.
“She just said over and over again, it's not your fault. You're so brave. I'm so glad you told me," Munson said.
She then asked her mom to tell her dad.
“I will never forget how he responded to me in the morning when I woke up," Munson said. “He just stood up and gave me the biggest hug and said, it's not your burden anymore. And he said, 'I take it from you, it's mine now.' And I could just feel the weight, gone."
Watch Lauren recount telling her parents about the abuse
Munson said it was her family's support and her dad's question — "What if you're not the only one?" — that propelled her to take action.
“Me and my husband went to the police station and I said, 'I want to file a police report.'”
'I want to file a police report'
Going to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Munson said it was the first time she had every told anybody the whole story.
"All the details, didn't leave a single thing out," she said.
Munson said she was 12 years old the summer of 2012, when the Zitko Family moved into their neighborhood and quickly became friends. She turned 13 that August.
"My family had just decided that they were going to be homeschooling all four of us kids for the first time. And, lo and behold, this family of also four kids, moves into the neighborhood and they are all also home schooled. And so our parents started chatting about what this is going to look like for us," Munson said.
Munson said, looking back as an adult, she "can see certain things."
“Their whole family came over to our house on a Sunday to watch, you know, the football games. And I specifically remember my dad not being home because Derek was sitting in the spot on the couch where my dad always sits," Munson said. "And around everybody, so all eight kids, both moms, it was me and Derek laying on the couch together like how a daughter would lay with her dad. And that was the first thing I can remember of — getting acquainted with, like, some sort of physical touch. In a public setting. So it seemed innocent around all of the families, like it was out in public."
The Spring Break after the Zitkos moved in, both families traveled to the mountains and stayed in a cabin. Every night, she said, they would watch a movie. Then one night, it was just the two of them.
"Everybody had gone to sleep. And he had kind of brought me over to his lap at that point," Munson said of Zitko. "And I remember him saying, 'I feel like I just want to kiss you right now.' And then he did. And it wasn't just like a peck on the cheek or on the forehead."
In body camera footage of Munson giving her report to HCSO, which she provided to the I-Team, Munson told the deputy, "It's pretty sad, because like in high school, people always ask like, who was your first kiss?"
Wiping away tears, she said, "He took that from me."
Communication continued after the trip, Munson said, through game apps.
“He would say, you know, find a spot in your backyard, because we were surrounded by woods, where, you know, you can lay a blanket down and bring some pillows so that we can have more privacy," Munson said. "And he would say, you know, if anybody asks what I'm doing up at 3-4 a.m., I’ll just say, I'm going for a run.”
Munson said Zitko then sent her his email address to communicate.
"A lot of it was on his email from his SoCom email at MacDill Air Force Base," she said. "Detailed, explicit."
Munson estimated there were hundreds of emails.
“Two or three ended up not getting deleted. And that was what I had to take with me to my police report," Munson said.
In her report, she also explained that when she would have sleepovers with her friend at the Zitko family's home, "He would say at this time, usually like a 1 or 2 in the morning, come into my bedroom, wake me up, we'll go into the closet of his master bedroom, and… that's where — that's where it escalated even further."
Munson told the I-Team it was visibly difficult for the deputy taking her report to listen to the details.
“But he did a great job, and he made me feel like, really comfortable in speaking," she said. "I'm really thankful for him. And for believing me."
In the body camera video, the deputy can be heard saying, "I'm going to be very professional with you and try to keep all my emotions out of this, OK, but — not your fault. You did nothing wrong. I want you to know that, OK? You were a kid. Just a kid."
'I just got him to confess'
Detectives then arranged a recorded phone call between Munson and Zitko.
These are some excerpts from that 30-minute phone call, where Muson told Zitko, "Lately I've just been thinking about, like, maybe needing to go to therapy and stuff like that, but I don't want to have to go to therapy if, like, I can just talk to you and figure things out myself."
MUNSON: "I guess the big one is like, why me? Why did You choose me?"
ZITKO: "I — I didn't, I didn't choose you. Which, uh, well, here' s — here' s what I say, listen, based on, based on our ages, um, I take fault for everything. I do take fault for everything. Um, but I, but that said, I — I felt like, I felt like we chose each other."
"That's just the kind of language that he's always used," Munson told the I-Team. "It's just the manipulation of it all."
When Munson described the sexual activity, Zitko said, "It never should have happened," and that "It never was intentional."
MUNSON: "I don' t know how you can say it wasn t intentional. Like it was just a one time thing though. Like, it was multiple, multiple times."
ZITKO: "I know, but that's what I'm saying. One time on the track, like, it's like what, uh, you were there, like, you opened the door, you know, like, it's like, like a craving."
MUNSON: "How am I supposed to know that I'm the only one and that you're not having sex with any other kids?"
ZITKO: "Oh, I would — Lauren, because you're not any other kid. Because it wasn't intentional. Because you — you're unique."
"That was basically a confession that they needed," Munson said. "All the detectives threw their hands up and they were like, 'YES.'"
Munson said she remembers putting her head in her hands.
"Just that same weight of like — it’s gone," she said. "I just got him to confess to that, and now something's going to be done about it."
'It was in my control'
Detectives then met up with Zitko at an Einstein Bagels parking lot, where he admitted some of the inappropriate behavior.
A recording of the interaction was included in court records Munson provided the I-Team.
"...things that shouldn't have ever happened," Zitko said. "I'm ashamed, I'm deeply ashamed of those."
ZITKO: "It was in my control."
DETECTIVE: "It was in your control?"
ZITKO: "It was just — "
DETECTIVE: "Ok. So you could have stopped it?"
ZITKO: "Of course, I'm the adult, right?"
Zitko later turned himself in.
State Attorney applauds survivor's courage
Hillsborough County State Attorney Suzy Lopez praised Munson's bravery in coming forward.
"Thanks, Lauren," Lopez said. "Thank you for speaking out and speaking up and speaking on behalf of so many 13, 14-year-old girls who are going through the same thing right now. You've given them a voice. You gave yourself, your 13-year-old self a voice, and I'm so incredibly proud and I'm honored that my team was able to get justice for you."
Lopez acknowledged that not every case ends in a conviction, especially in delayed-report cases where physical evidence may not be available.
"We want survivors to know it's okay to come forward, and we're going to walk them through that process," Lopez said. "We're going to do our best, working with our law enforcement partners, to build the best case that we possibly can."
Message of hope
Munson told the I-Team she hopes her story will encourage other survivors to speak out.
"They say the truth will set you free, and that is exactly how it's been for me," she said. "You can come out the other end. And I just think a big part of that healing process is verbalizing what happened."
Zitko's attorney has not responded to requests for comment.
Hillsborough State Attorney's Office unveils new online toolkit for crime victims
Help is available for survivors through Hillsborough County's Victim Toolkit, which includes information on victim advocates, court and community resources, the state's victim compensation fund and answers to frequently asked questions.
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Kylie McGivern works tirelessly to get results for the people of Tampa Bay. Her reporting has exposed flaws in Florida’s corrections system and unemployment process. Reach out to Kylie and our I-Team if you need help holding state leaders accountable.
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