Phone calls, records suggest some Cornell students tried to contain rape allegations
ABC News · LC · trust 69/100
2:46 USA, New York, Finger Lakes Region, Ithaca, Cornell University, elevated view of McFaddin Hall, summer Walter Bibikow/Getty Images Some of the fraternity brothers later accused of sexual assault at Cornell University attempted to contain the allegations in the weeks following the incident, apparently worried about what would happen to their own reputations and futures on campus, according to text messages, phone calls, and other records reviewed by ABC News.
Students who later spoke to campus authorities described the efforts by some in Chi Phi as “damage control” to ensure the woman allegedly assaulted — now known as Jane Doe — was “not upset about the situation,” according to school records reviewed by ABC News.
The fraternity brothers’ efforts came as Jane Doe’s perception of what occurred that evening in October 2024 appeared to change from believing the sexual encounters were largely consensual to describing them in a phone call as a “gang rape.”
"The only way for me to heal is to know what happened," the woman, then a Cornell junior, told one of her alleged attackers, Matthew Ingalls, over the phone one day before she went to the Cornell University Police Department on Nov. 8, according to a recording of the call obtained by ABC News. “That's why I'm trying to just piece it together, you know, like I'm just like confused.”
Ingalls, according to police records of the incident, invited Jane Doe to the fraternity house. He has not responded to requests for comment but previously denied wrongdoing as have the other brothers named in a civil suit brought by Doe. Ingalls has not been charged with a crime.
During Cornell’s investigation, he said he was too intoxicated to consent and suggested that Jane Doe actually assaulted him, according to school records reviewed by ABC News.
The Oct. 19, 2024 incident at the Chi Phi house has led to a national outcry and brought renewed urgency to the American debate over sexual violence and what constitutes consent between adults when alcohol, drugs and pressure intersect.
ABC News has reviewed records from Cornell’s internal investigation — which began in November 2024 and lasted through May 2025 — as well as communications between the students at the center of the allegations that shed light on how Doe’s account of the incident evolved, as the men involved appeared to portray the story to seem more benign.
USA, New York, Finger Lakes Region, Ithaca, Cornell University, elevated view of McFaddin Hall, summer Walter Bibikow/Getty Images Jane Doe has described an evening that started casually when she went to visit her friend and his fraternity house. It soon would turn into a nightmare, she later told police, as a sexual encounter between Jane Doe and two men grew to include others all while she was plied with alcohol and drugs.
“They tried to contact [Jane] almost every day after it happened to, I guess, keep them on her good side and keep her happy and not upset about the situation,” Jane Doe’s friend later told campus authorities the following May, according to records reviewed by ABC News.
Those efforts apparently were unsuccessful. Jane Doe reported the incident to Cornell Police as a rape and the allegations triggered a response from the leadership of Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter, according to text messages obtained by ABC News.
“F—-,” one brother wrote in a group chat on Nov. 8, 2024. “Should I call [Jane]?”
“Wait a bit for me and [Executive Board] to figure out what we’re doing cuz there are a couple of other things going on,” the fraternity’s president wrote. “When was the last time you spoke to [Jane]?”
The same day that Jane Doe went to police, Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity was suspended, and the allegations triggered a monthslong investigation by Cornell University, which resulted in two men being expelled while others were suspended.
Cornell Police began investigating the incident in November 2024, memorializing her first report: "A female undergraduate student reported that she was recently raped by 8-10 men at the Chi Phi fraternity house.”
Prosecutors did not seek additional records of the incident beyond Jane Doe’s six-page statement to campus police and did not review the voluminous record of the internal probe.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said in a statement last week that Doe’s original statement suggested the sex and drug use was consensual.
Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul removed the local DA from the case and named state Attorney General Letitia James to take over the criminal investigation of the incident. Separately, Cornell has announced an outside law firm would be tapped this week to review the university’s handling of the allegations and subsequent investigation.
In the days immediately following the incident, Jane Doe stayed in touch with some of the men she later accused of assaulting her – at first sharing concerns about her reputation and physical health.
“I will also say this is f—--g RUINING my life temporarily. My reputation is destroyed and I’m utterly ashamed. I’m f—--g pissed cause this many people shouldn’t know and I feel like I know who some of the rats in the room were,” she wrote to Ingalls, who had invited her to the fraternity that night.
Within two days of reporting the incident to police, Jane Doe contacted Ingalls and two other men allegedly involved in the incident to get their assessment of what happened that evening. She said she had been to the emergency room and going through therapy in order to deal with the physical and psychological fallout. She recorded the phone calls and later provided them to Cornell University.
“If I just know what happened, then I can feel a little bit better and move on and maybe be able to stay at this school,” Doe told Ingalls, according to a recording of the call.
She mentioned that she had sustained physical harm from the episode, was struggling to finish the semester and could not understand how the events of…
Read the original at ABC News →
Open in TruthVane →