Cornell sexual assault case: New details emerge as AG Letitia James takes over probe
Snapchat messages exchanged during a sexual assault at Cornell University in 2024 included a photograph of then-student Jane Doe inside the Chi Phi fraternity house, according to images of the messages obtained by CNN. Doe returned home after the alleged assault on October 19, 2024, and told her two roommates that she had consumed ketamine and had sex with multiple men, according to the Times’ review of the Title IX files. When asked about the later part of the night, she said: “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped. Doe made a more explicit accusation of rape during a November 2024 interview with campus police.
The revelations come as new details emerge about the alleged gang rape of Doe at the fraternity house, including what she told campus police weeks after the incident. Cornell University said Thursday that it supports the governor’s decision. What the Snapchat messages show The Snapchat messages were exchanged during the alleged assault in a group chat titled “Chi Phi Actives”, according to images of the conversation obtained by CNN. The records, obtained by The New York Times and corroborated by Doe’s attorney, include interviews with Doe, her friends and six of the seven men she accused, as well as a transcript of her original police interviews, according to the Times. Giuffra, told CNN Thursday. One roommate said Doe did not use the words “rape” or “assault” at that point. Another roommate said she could not remember Doe saying yes to anything that occurred, while a second roommate said Doe appeared to be “in shock” and was “not really understanding the gravity of what she was saying. The following day, Doe reportedly spoke with her sorority big sister, who later told investigators that “what she was going through is that she had not yet processed what had happened. In a message to one of them, she reportedly said “non of the sexual stuff was illegal. Doe’s attorney said she later came to terms with what had happened and went to a health professional a few days after the incident. What Doe told campus police Doe, who is identified as Jane Doe in a civil lawsuit, told Cornell University police during a two-day interview in November 2024 that she could say with “100% confidence” that she was raped, according to a transcript obtained by CBS News. The transcript records Doe saying she was “completely and totally incapacitated” and describing sexual encounters that she said became coercive after she had consumed alcohol and drugs. At one point, she said she had been physically hit and had pushed away unwanted touching. She also told investigators that she had said she was uncomfortable, that she was tired and, on some occasions, no. She also said she did not remember the end of the night and did not know how many people had sex with her while she was in that state. Van Houten told CNN that his office never received the transcript of that interview.
James will have the authority to investigate the incident and, if warranted, prosecute any offenses and present evidence to a grand jury. The messages included a photograph of Doe inside a room at the fraternity house. The latest disclosures also include hundreds of pages of emails, text messages, photographs and interviews from Cornell’s formal Title IX investigation. The records shed new light on how Doe initially understood the night’s events, how she discussed them with her roommates and how she communicated with some of the men before reporting the allegations to university police. “Ms. Doe’s internal processing went from denial, to shame and ultimately acceptance that she had been raped by people that she thought were her friends,” her attorney, Thomas P. “Her reactions were a textbook reaction to trauma. Doe also communicated with at least two of the men she later accused of sexual assault. When investigators asked whether she eventually gave in after becoming exhausted from dealing with the men, she responded: “Yes. It was coercion.
Because Snapchat messages can disappear quickly, a source close to the case told CNN that a more thorough criminal investigation might have recovered additional photographs or videos.
The messages, shared in a group chat titled “Chi Phi Actives”, have raised questions about whether additional photographs or videos from the night could have been recovered through a more extensive criminal investigation, according to a source close to the case. New York State Attorney General Letitia James will now take over the case as special prosecutor, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced Thursday, saying she had “lost faith” in the Tompkins County district attorney’s ability to oversee it. “New information has raised serious questions about how this case was handled, and I’ve lost faith in the Tompkins County DA’s ability to fairly oversee it,” Hochul said in a statement. New details from Title IX records Questions over the initial investigation Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has repeatedly told CNN that his office received no more than the Snapchat messages and a six-page investigative report before deciding not to bring charges. The report said Doe recounted being hit and feeling emotionally coerced into sexual activity while intoxicated.
“The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued. The governor’s decision to appoint James as special prosecutor comes as questions remain about the initial investigation and what information was available to the county district attorney’s office when it decided not to pursue charges. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.