The allegations from a former Cornell University student who says she was drugged and gang-raped at the school in 2024 has led to widespread condemnation for the school and investigators.The case is also raising questions about how police handled the initial investigation.Earlier this month, the woman, known as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit detailing allegations against seven men she said assaulted her.Prosecutors have subsequently reopened the investigation.Details in the lawsuit differed from a statement Doe provided to Cornell University Police following the alleged attack in 2024, according to excerpts shared by Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten.
The 2024 statement is central to why his office did not pursue criminal charges two years ago, he said.Van Houten said that Doe's 2024 statement "did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped" and "described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual."There are, however, several instances in Doe's statement shared by Van Houten where she says she could not remember certain details, did not consent to certain activities and was increasingly intoxicated as the night continued.Van Houten told NPR member station WSKG in an interview that Doe's statement was taken by "an experienced investigator" trained in sexual abuse investigations "over an extended period of time." Cornell University Police did not respond to questions about details of the length, time and place of the interview or other details of the manner of questioning before publication.Trauma researchers and advocates for sexual assault victims say an initial statement like Doe's often cannot be taken at face value and more investigating needs to be done.Gaps and inconsistencies in an assault survivor's police statement are often a product of a victim's trauma and of how officers question them – not evidence that she's unreliable, according to Dave Thompson, a certified fore...