Duke lacrosse rape hoax
The Duke lacrosse rape hoax was a widely reported 2006 criminal case hoax in Durham, North Carolina, United States, in which three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The three students were David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann. The accuser, Crystal Mangum, a student at North Carolina Central University and part-time striptease dancer, alleged that the rape occurred at the Durham residence of two of the team's captains, where she had worked on March 13, 2006. Investigation and resolution of the case sparked public discussion of racism, sexual violence, media bias, and due process on campuses. The former lead prosecutor, Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong, ultimately resigned in disgrace, and was disbarred and briefly imprisoned for violating ethics standards. In December 2024, Mangum admitted to fabricating the assault and falsely testifying.
On April 11, 2007, North Carolina attorney general Roy Cooper dropped all charges, declaring the three lacrosse players "innocent" and victims of a "tragic rush to accuse". Cooper described Nifong as a "rogue prosecutor"; he withdrew from the case in January 2007 after the North Carolina State Bar filed ethics charges against him. In June 2007, Nifong was disbarred for "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation", making him the first prosecutor in North Carolina disbarred for trial conduct. Nifong served one day in jail for lying about sharing DNA tests ; he had not given results to the defense team. The lab director said it was a misunderstanding and Nifong claimed it was due to weak memory. DNA analysis did not show evidence from any of the accused men; Mangum was not charged for her false allegations.
Cooper noted several inconsistencies between Mangum's accounts of the evening and the alibis offered by Seligmann and Finnerty, which were supported by forensic evidence. The Durham Police Department was strongly criticized for violating their own policies by: allowing Nifong to act as the de facto head of the investigation; using an unreliable suspect-only photo identification procedure with Mangum; pursuing the case despite vast discrepancies in notes taken by Investigator Benjamin Himan and Sergeant Mark Gottlieb; and distributing a poster that appeared to presume the suspects' guilt shortly after the allegations were made public. The three students brought a civil lawsuit against Duke University, which was settled with the university paying approximately US$20 million to each claimant. The students also sought further unspecified damages and called for criminal justice reform laws in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the City of Durham and its police department.
Timeline of events
Events at the house
In March 2006, Crystal Mangum, a student at North Carolina Central University, had been working part-time as a stripper. Although Mangum claimed that she had only recently taken up stripping, further investigating revealed that she had worked at strip clubs since at least 2002, during which time she was arrested for attempting to run over a police officer in a taxi she had stolen. The incident report stated that she had been lap dancing at a strip club that evening.On March 13, 2006, the lacrosse team held a party at 610 North Buchanan Boulevard, a house owned by Duke University and used as the off-campus residence of the lacrosse team's captains. The team intended for the party to be compensation for having to remain on campus during spring break, due to their competition schedule, and alcohol was consumed. Several players were unaware that strippers had been hired, and only after their arrival were they asked to contribute to the strippers' fees.
A team captain contacted Allure, an escort service, and requested two white strippers. However, the two women who had arrived, Mangum and Kim Mera Roberts, were black and biracial, respectively. Before arriving at the party, Mangum, by her own admission, had consumed alcohol and Flexeril. Mangum and Roberts traveled to the party separately. Roberts drove herself and arrived first, and Mangum was later dropped off by a man.
According to the team captains, while the strippers were dancing, a player asked if the women had any sex toys. Roberts responded by asking if the player's penis was too small. The player brandished a broomstick and suggested that she "use this ". At this exchange, the women stopped their performance, and left the living room, shutting themselves in the main bathroom of the house. While the women were still in the bathroom, players Seligmann and Finnerty left the house. When the women eventually came out, Mangum began roaming around the yard, half-dressed and shouting.
According to Mangum, the women were coaxed back into the house with an apology, at which point they were separated. She later asserted that she was dragged into a bathroom and raped, beaten, and choked for a half hour. Later, police received a 9-1-1 call from a woman complaining that white men had gathered outside of the house where the party took place, had called her racial slurs, and threatened to sodomize her with a broomstick.
Some of the party attendees expressed displeasure that the strippers had delivered a very short performance, despite being paid several hundred dollars apiece to perform. The team captain who had hired the strippers tried to convince the women to go back inside and complete the performance. Both women returned inside, but upon being approached by the player who had earlier brandished the broomstick, again refused to perform, and once again locked themselves in the bathroom. By this point, a number of the party guests had left. House residents, including Evans, asked the remaining guests to leave because they were concerned that the noise would cause neighbors to complain to police. When the strippers left the bathroom, and the house, for the second time, a resident locked the door so they could not return.
Around 1:00a.m., while attempting to leave the party, Mangum and Roberts called the partygoers "short dick white boys", and jeered about "how he couldn't get it on his own and had to pay for it". One player responded, "We asked for whites, not niggers." Mangum and Roberts departed in Roberts's car. Roberts called 9-1-1 and reported that she had just come from 610 North Buchanan, and a "white guy" had yelled "nigger" at her from near the East Campus wall. The party ended shortly thereafter and everyone, including the residents, left the house. Police returned to the house later, as a result of Roberts' complaint, but did not receive an answer at the door; a neighbor confirmed that an earlier party had ended.
After departure
As Roberts drove away with Mangum, the two women began to argue. Roberts stopped the car and attempted to push Mangum out. When that failed, Roberts drove Mangum to a nearby Kroger supermarket, went inside, and told a female security guard that a woman was refusing to leave her car. The guard walked to the car and asked Mangum to leave, but Mangum remained in the vehicle. The guard later said she had not smelled alcohol on Mangum's breath, but thought she might have been under the influence of other drugs. At 1:22a.m., the guard called 9-1-1 to report that Mangum was refusing to leave a vehicle that did not belong to her. Police arrived, removed Mangum from the car, and questioned her.As Mangum had no identification, would not talk to police, was having difficulty walking, and seemed severely impaired, police took her to Durham Center Access, a mental-health and substance-abuse facility, for involuntary commitment. During the admission process, she claimed that she had been raped prior to her arrival.
Mangum was transferred to Duke University Medical Center. Examination of her skin, arms, and legs revealed no swelling, no abnormalities, and three small cuts on her right knee and right heel. When asked, she specifically, and repeatedly, denied receiving any physical blows by hands. Further examination showed no tenderness in the back, chest, and neck. There was, however, diffuse swelling of her vagina. Mangum later claimed that she had performed using a vibrator, for a couple in a hotel room, shortly before the lacrosse team party. This activity, or a yeast infection, could have caused the swelling. Investigators did not note any other injuries in the rest of the report.
McFadyen e-mail
A couple of hours after the party ended, Ryan McFadyen, a member of the lacrosse team, sent an e-mail to other players saying that he planned to have some strippers over, kill them, and cut off their skin while wearing his Duke-issue spandex and ejaculating.The e-mail began:
To whom it may concern, tomorrow night, after tonights show, ive decided to have some strippers over to edens 2c. all are welcome.. however there will be no nudity. I plan on killing the bitches as soon as the walk in and proceding to cut their skin off while cumming in my duke issue spandex.. all in besides arch and tack please respond
Some of the players suggested the e-mail was intended as humorous irony. Administrators asserted the e-mail was in imitation of Patrick Bateman, the protagonist in the Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho, which was read and lectured upon in more than one Duke class, as evidenced by the e-mail responses from other players. One wrote, "I'll bring the Phil Collins," a reference to the American Psycho book and film. Police released the McFadyen e-mail but refused to release the following e-mail exchanges, leaving the impression that the McFadyen e-mail was intended as a serious threat. McFadyen thereafter received a thousand death threats in one week.
The e-mail led many people to assume guilt on the part of the players. McFadyen was not charged with any crime, but he was temporarily suspended from Duke, with the university citing safety concerns. He was invited back to Duke to continue his studies later that summer.