The Cornell University student who alleged in a lawsuit that she was gang-raped and plied with drugs at a fraternity house in 2024 described the hourslong incident to police in a sworn statement, according to the document, which was obtained by NBC News.
uncertain
which → allege → News
Jane Doe told police in part that she had agreed to an initial sexual encounter with two of the men, described being encouraged to take drugs and said she did not remember some parts of the night.
asserted
she → tell → night
“I would say that it was the most intoxicated I’ve ever been in my life,” she told police about how she was feeling later in the evening.
asserted
she → say → evening
“I felt like I was unable to make any decisions because of how intoxicated I was.”
asserted
I → feel → decisions
Jane Doe voluntarily gave the sworn statement to Cornell University police on Nov. 14, 2024, 26 days after the alleged assault.
asserted
Doe → give → assault
In it, she detailed the night of Oct. 19 to 20, when she initially agreed to a threesome, but she said that she felt increasingly incapacitated as the night went on, that she had gaps in her memory and that at one point she was “extremely uncomfortable.”
asserted
she → detail → point
“Adding to my feelings of isolation was the fact that my phone was across the room and I felt like I couldn’t get to it, as well as I didn’t have any form of payment to order an Uber to get out of the situation I was in,” she told police.
asserted
she → add → police
The former student’s lawsuit, filed Sept. 16, has sparked national furor over the university’s and the district attorney’s handling of the case.
asserted
lawsuit → file → case
It has prompted the DA to take a fresh look after his office previously determined there was “insufficient evidence to support criminal charges” when the case was reviewed in 2024.
asserted
case → prompt → 2024
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten released a lengthy statement Monday, which included parts of Doe’s sworn statement to Cornell police in November 2024, and defended his initial decision not to pursue criminal charges.
asserted
which → release → charges
His statement did not include details in which Doe referred to how, at one point, she felt the most incapacitated she had ever felt in her life, nor how she felt she could not leave the room.
uncertain
she → include → room
The lawsuit alleges she was sexually assaulted, raped and pressured to snort ketamine after a night of heavy drinking.
asserted
she → allege → drinking
Her complaint names seven Chi Phi fraternity brothers who she claims sexually assaulted her.
uncertain
she → name → her
Her statement to police mirrored many of the allegations in the lawsuit.
asserted
statement → mirror → lawsuit
She described drinking sometime after 6:30 p.m., going to two different Ithaca bars and finally going to the Chi Phi fraternity house around 10:30 or 11 p.m. to meet a friend.
asserted
She → describe → friend
There, a friend asked whether she was interested in a threesome, which she said she agreed to.
asserted
she → ask → which
Later, another man knocked on the door of the room they were in, and she let him in because, she said, she was told it was probably the man whose room they were in.
asserted
they → knock → room
She engaged in a sexual encounter with the third man, the statement said.
asserted
statement → engage → man
“I don’t remember much of this threesome,” she told police.
asserted
she → remember → police
While Doe did not remember having sex with the third man, she recalled hearing two men “say something about ‘having a turn.’”
asserted
men → remember → turn
That, she told police, made her realize the men were “using me without caring about what I was getting out of the situation.”
asserted
I → tell → situation
At one point, “multiple men walked into the room,” and, she told police, “I was instantly horrified.”
asserted
I → walk → police
She ran across the room to hide under the covers of another bed, the statement said, which she said felt like the only option because they were standing between her and the exit.
asserted
they → run → her
The lawsuit says multiple other men entered the room after one fraternity member sent a message to a group chat, a screenshot of which was included in the suit, that said there was “free p----” available upstairs where Doe was.
asserted
Doe → say → suit
Doe described her level of intoxication after four more men entered the room and said the night “really becomes a blur for me at that point.”
After one of the men started to kiss her, she told police, she quickly backed away, and she described feeling dissociation.
“I was starting to become completely numb to the whole situation,” she said in the statement.
asserted
she → describe → statement
She said she had taken ketamine earlier in the evening and was offered it again.
asserted
she → say → it
Doe had never taken the drug before, according to the lawsuit.
uncertain
Doe → take → lawsuit
Her thought, she told police, was that “if I do Ketamine again maybe I will pass out.
asserted
I → tell → Ketamine
My thought was that if I passed out and these men had sex with me, then they could be charged with Rape.”
uncertain
they → pass → Rape
Doe described realizing the next day that what happened to her the previous evening was being talked about on campus.
asserted
happened → describe → campus
“It was made clear to me by several friends that the members of Chi Phi were bragging,” she told police.
asserted
she → make → police
She added that “it was now obvious that everyone knew it was me that this had happened to.”
asserted
this → add → that
In her statement, she stressed instances of turning men down repeatedly, expressing discomfort and feeling coerced.
asserted
she → stress → discomfort
Doe also spoke about an alleged encounter after she was ushered upstairs to what she believed was the fraternity president’s office, where, she said, two men “were asking me to have sex so many times that I finally gave in.”
asserted
I → speak → sex
“To me, that felt like coercion,” she said.
asserted
she → feel → coercion
“Also, I felt like due to my intoxication, they should have known how intoxicated I was based on how I was slurring my words.”
asserted
I → feel → words
In a transcript of her interview with campus police on Nov. 14, Doe is also alleged to have said, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped,” CBS News reported Wednesday.
asserted
News → allege → confidence
NBC News has not seen the full transcript of that interview.
asserted
News → see → interview
Van Houten told NBC News on Wednesday that the specific allegation was not in the written statement his office received from Cornell police in November 2024 when they were assessing whether or not to bring charges.
asserted
they → tell → charges
Cornell has said its campus police department “shared all investigatory information” with the DA’s office.
asserted
department → say → office
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
