Key facts
- New York prosecutors reopened a criminal investigation into an alleged gang-rape at Cornell University.
- Text messages reportedly exchanged by a defendant and the alleged victim were published by CBS News.
- The alleged assault occurred in October 2024 at a campus fraternity house.
- The woman claims she was drugged and repeatedly raped by multiple men.
- In one text, a defendant apologized for "how things went down" and cited intoxication.
- The alleged victim stated in a text that "non[e] of the sexual stuff was illegal."
New York prosecutors have reopened a criminal investigation into an alleged gang-rape at Cornell University following the publication of text messages that appear to shed new light on the incident. The alleged assault occurred in October 2024 at the university's Chi Phi fraternity house, with the female student claiming she was drugged and assaulted by multiple men over seven hours.
Excerpts of text messages, obtained by CBS News, reportedly show one male defendant apologizing for "how things went down" and admitting his memory was "kinda fuzzy" due to intoxication. He and another male expressed regret for being too intoxicated to intervene before events escalated. The woman, who has since left Cornell, replied that her memory was "super clouded too" and that "non[e] of the sexual stuff was illegal." She also suggested they smoke together again, but "leave out the extra 5 billion men and ketamine."
A civil lawsuit filed in September alleges seven men – Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris, and Scott Kretzschmar – assaulted her. Cornell expelled two defendants, while five others were allowed to continue their studies after completing educational requirements or serving short suspensions. No arrests or charges were made initially.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten stated on Monday that his office reopened the investigation due to allegations "dramatically different" from the victim's initial sworn statement in November 2024. Van Houten defended the prior decision not to seek charges, asserting that the victim's statement described voluntary drug use and sexual conduct, and that his office could not have based its decision on a civil lawsuit filed nearly two years later.
CBS also reported on a video of Snapchat messages from the night of the alleged assault, with one message allegedly stating "free pussy upstairs" and a subsequent response of "Shop still open? Yea." Attorney Thomas Giuffra, representing the woman, confirmed his client exchanged texts with a defendant but could not verify the authenticity of the screenshots seen by CBS. He stated Doe was traumatized, intoxicated to incapacity, and sought answers from the defendant.
Further details from Van Houten included a summary of the woman's six-page statement to Cornell University police, where she admitted willingness to have sex with two members before others joined. She alleged being plied with alcohol, marijuana, and ketamine, being "slapped" multiple times, and feeling unable to escape a room full of "predatory, fraternity men." Defendants Kretzschmar and Norris denied involvement. TMZ reported that defendant Sarabia was fired from his job at Wells Fargo.