Cornell University police gathered witness statements and anonymous tips during the initial weeks of an alleged gang rape investigation two years ago, but the local prosecutor did not review that additional information before deciding against filing charges. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten stated that his decision to forgo charges relied solely on the accuser’s initial six-page statement provided to law enforcement. According to police records obtained by NBC News, investigators documented witness interviews and other investigative steps regarding the alleged incident involving a 20-year-old female student, referred to as Jane Doe, who reported being sexually assaulted over several hours at the Chi Phi fraternity house between October 19 and 20, 2024, while under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, and ketamine. Jane Doe filed a lawsuit last month against Cornell University and seven Chi Phi fraternity brothers. Van Houten, university officials, and police have faced intense scrutiny over their handling of the case. Jane Doe’s attorney argued that authorities failed her by neglecting to conduct a thorough investigation and prejudging the situation based on her early statement indicating she initially consented to parts of the evening. New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the appointment of Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to evaluate whether criminal charges are warranted. On November 25, 2024, a campus police investigator informed Van Houten’s office about ongoing interviews. An investigator in the district attorney’s office responded that multiple attorneys had read Jane Doe’s statement and agreed that criminal charges would not be pursued. Defending his decision, Van Houten maintained that Jane Doe’s statement did not allege criminality and asserted there was nothing to review from those discussions because the flagged interviews involved fraternity members declining to speak on the advice of counsel. Van Houten did not address whether he was informed about additional fraternity member interviews or caller tips. Police records also indicated that authorities examined fragments of a Snapchat thread where a group member allegedly announced “free p—-” in the alumni room where the incident began. Van Houten noted that no material was directly obtained by campus police from Snapchat initially, and subsequent data returned from five Snapchat accounts yielded only three snaps mentioning the incident, which investigators concluded were not criminal in nature. Cornell police notified Jane Doe of the district attorney’s decision nearly two months later, on January 21, 2025. Van Houten stated his office had no role in the timing of that notification. Thomas Giuffra, the attorney representing Jane Doe, stated he learned of the delay from media inquiries and emphasized that his client believed the investigation was ongoing during that two-month window.
Source: nbcnews.com
