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What did ‘Cornell 7' tell police? Chi Phi members gave different accounts of night, ‘normal in the medieval times’
A Cornell student reported she was gangrape at a fraternity house in 2024. A probe revealed the accused denying wrongdoing, with some asserting consent.
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Following a Cornell University student's report of sexual assault at an on-campus fraternity gathering, university officials conducted interviews with the majority of the men she identified as perpetrators regarding their conduct during the incident.
These responses, previously undisclosed to the public, were documented in hundreds of pages of confidential investigative records, as per NY Times.
A woman, identified as Jane Doe in litigation initiated in September, has claimed that she was administered substances following an evening of excessive alcohol consumption and subjected to multiple instances of sexual assault at Cornell's Chi Phi fraternity residence in October 2024. Subsequently, she withdrew from the institution and initiated legal action against Cornell, the fraternity organization, seven of its members, and her sorority.
No criminal charges filed against Cornell 7
No criminal charges have been filed against any of the men involved. Throughout Cornell's investigative process, all parties denied culpability. Four men acknowledged engaging in sexual contact with the woman but asserted that the encounters were mutually consensual, whereas the remaining accused refuted any involvement in sexual activity.
Jane Doe shared with investigators that she had consumed amount of alcohol and was given huge quantity of drugs, which left her in an extremely intoxicated state. She described being sexually assaulted multiple times by men she had little to no prior connection with. When speaking with a police investigator three weeks after the incident, she expressed her certainty that she had been raped.
What did ‘Cornell 7' tell police?
In contrast, most of the men involved provided statements to university investigators stating that Jane Doe did not seem to display obvious signs of severe intoxication.
They claimed to investigators that the woman had consented to the encounter. According to their statements, she allegedly said, "we're all consenting adults here," and made a reference suggesting that group sexual activity was "normal in medieval times."
Diego Sarabia, one of the seven men under investigation, told authorities that Jane Doe had made a statement along the lines of "This was normal in the medieval times."
Matthew Ingalls shared with investigators that he had approached Jane Doe to ask whether she'd be interested in participating in a threesome involving himself and his fraternity colleague, Jonathan Newell.
Newell stated that he believed Ingalls had obtained consent before extending the invitation to him for the threesome and mentioned that both he and Ingalls had used ketamine, smoked marijuana, and consumed significant amounts of alcohol.
Winston Lee, another person facing accusations, noted that Jane Doe and the people around her “weren’t slurring their speech” and appeared to be acting normally.
Gillio Lopes claimed he had a "pretty solid recollection" even after consuming 3 beers and 3 mixed drinks.
Lopes asserts that Jane Doe was the one who started the sexual contact with him, and that he hadn't consented and he left feeling "uncomfortable" around 2 AM.
Lee supported Lopes' account that Jane Doe initiated sexual contact without getting his permission first, though he did acknowledge snorting a line of ketamine off her body.
Following a period of reflection regarding the purported intimate interaction, Lee subsequently stated that he had solicited Jane Doe's explicit consent before she allegedly replied, “We are all consenting adults here.”
Scott Kretzschmar, whose legal counsel asserted that he had not engaged in any sexual conduct during that evening, informed investigators that upon seeing the explicit message in the Snapchat group conversation and later entering the room, he perceived that Jane Doe did not demonstrate signs of intoxication.
“We were just checking out to see if everything was OK, and it was ... And if she wasn’t, I’d like to think that I would have helped out and did something about it,” he said.
Scott Norris told investigators that after entering the room, Jane Doe “was conversational with people.”
In her police interview, Jane Doe called Kretzschmar and Norris “more like voyeurs than anything.”
NY Governor hires Attorney General Letitia James
Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has executed an executive order designating State Attorney General Letitia James in the capacity of special prosecutor to supervise the investigative proceedings.
Hochul expressed concerns that the recently disclosed information prompted inquiries regarding the investigation executed by the Cornell Police Department and the prosecutorial determination by Tompkins County officials to refrain from filing charges against the seven defendants.
