Authorities have reopened a criminal investigation into allegations that a Cornell University student was raped by multiple men at a fraternity house, after newly disclosed messages and investigative documents shed further light on the case.
The student, referred to as Jane Doe, has filed a civil lawsuit against seven former Chi Phi fraternity members, Cornell University and others. Prosecutors initially brought no charges, but Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten confirmed on September 28 that the criminal inquiry had been reopened.
The allegations concern events at the fraternity’s house in Ithaca, New York, during the early hours of October 20, 2024. The Chi Phi chapter was suspended, while the seven men later named in the lawsuit were temporarily suspended by Cornell.
What Jane Doe says happened at Cornell
Jane Doe said she had been drinking vodka at a sorority house before travelling to a bar with the chapter’s house mother at about 8.30pm on October 19. She later went to another bar before arriving alone at the Chi Phi house at about 11pm to meet a friend.
She told investigators that she initially consented to sexual activity with two men she knew. Asked about that encounter during a November 14 interview, she said: “Yeah, as much as I can be because, again, I was super drunk when I got there. … But I was pretty OK with all of this.”
She alleged that the situation later changed, with men encouraging her to take ketamine and multiple men forcing sex on her. In a sworn statement, she said she had hoped that taking more of the drug might cause her to pass out.
Documents from Cornell’s Title IX investigation say she described hiding under bed covers as more men entered the room. “I was like literally cornered,” she said. “I’m a naked woman and they are getting in bed with me. And I was like, what the [expletive] is happening?”
She said she lost consciousness at about 5.45am. In her police interview, she said she had gaps in her memory, did not know how many people had sex with her and did not remember the end of the night “where I was raped”. She also alleged that she was hit “very, very hard”.
Messages and reports after the alleged assault
A message sent in the fraternity’s Snapchat group at 1.42am described a woman upstairs as available for “free” sex, according to a screenshot included in the lawsuit. When one member later asked, “Shop still open?”, another replied: “Yea.”
In messages exchanged several days later, one of the defendants apologised for “how things went down”. He said his memory was “kinda fuzzy” and that he and another fraternity member regretted being too intoxicated to “shut it down and kick people out before it got way out of hand”.
Jane Doe replied that her memory was “super clouded too” and said everyone had been heavily intoxicated. She wrote that “non(e) of the sexual stuff was illegal”, said she had enjoyed being with two of the men and later suggested they smoke together again, “but like leave out the extra 5 billion men and ketamine”.
She told a friend on October 23 that the incident was “RUINING my life temporarily” and that she could do little but “sleep and cry all day”. About a week after the alleged assault, she said she saw online comments referring to a sophomore having been gang raped. “And that’s kind of when I came to the realization that I had been gang raped,” she later told investigators.
On November 3, she wrote to two Chi Phi members that “90% of what happened that night was not consensual”. Another message described her feeling “like a sex doll/worker”.
Police report and Cornell disciplinary action
Jane Doe visited Cornell Health on October 22 to seek treatment for a urinary tract infection and was tested for sexually transmitted diseases, her lawyer Thomas P. Giuffra said. He said she told a healthcare professional that she had contracted the infection in a “traumatic way”, but was advised only to speak with someone.
Giuffra said she was not immediately referred for a rape kit. She underwent a sexual-assault forensic examination at an Ithaca hospital on November 7, more than two weeks after the alleged incident. He said potential DNA evidence was no longer available by then.
She reported the alleged gang rape to Cornell University Police on November 8, after encouragement from friends. During an interview six days later, she told investigators: “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”
The university conducted an internal review and hearings. Cornell said two of the men were expelled, two were suspended for at least two semesters, one had graduated before disciplinary action could be imposed, and two were found not responsible for sexual misconduct.
Jane Doe’s lawyer said she later dropped out of Cornell. Her lawsuit, filed on September 16, 2026, names the seven former fraternity members, Cornell, Chi Phi and others.
Criminal investigation reopened
Van Houten said he had not seen the transcript of Jane Doe’s police interview before it was brought to his attention. “I never saw it, never heard it until tonight,” he said.
He added: “If that kind of thing was omitted from a statement, if it is true, it needs to be fully investigated by someone outside of Cornell.”
Cornell said its police department had shared Jane Doe’s sworn six-page statement and the Snapchat screenshot with the district attorney’s office.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Cornell had agreed to appoint outside counsel for an independent investigation. She also appointed state Attorney General Letitia James to serve as special prosecutor in the case.
