'I was begging for help': Ulster County shooting victim claims attack was instigated by person still at large

“I just feel very hopeless and depressed. I've been begging for help,” says Jessica Cesana.

The 35-year-old was shot in the outside of the thigh in her Port Ewen home in 2022.

Police arrested Corey Marshall for the shooting; he pleaded guilty to assault earlier this year.

Cesana says Marshall was once her boyfriend, whom she had known since high school. She claims someone else posing as her instigated the crime in alleged text messages with him.

“They were getting these messages from a fake number that they just assumed was from me because he thinks that's who he was,” Cesana says. “All this time I told them there was no contact. I don't know why he did that.”

No one else has been charged in this case.

Cesana says she provided police with evidence of online harassment and threats against her, including alleged Facebook posts by one person about the crime that said, “This is what the {expletive} gets out of it. I don't know why she thought she wouldn't get burned playing with the devil, but she played with the wrong family.”

Another post read: “Too bad it didn't kill her. Hopefully she won't be able to walk for the rest of her life.”

The Ulster County Sheriff's Office said it could not comment on the investigation until after Marshall's sentencing on Thursday.

The public prosecutor's office did not respond to our requests for information about this case.

Cesana says the shooting left her with permanent nerve damage in her leg.