Crystal Mangum Admits to Making Up Claims She Was Raped by Duke Lacrosse Players

Duke lacrosse player Collin Finnerty listens during a press conference held after charges were dropped against Finnerty and two other Duke University lacrosse players, in a 2007 file photograph. Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Crystal Mangum, a former exotic dancer who in 2006 accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her, acknowledged for the first time in a new interview that she made up the accusations.

Mangum had said in 2006 that the players—David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann—raped her in a house near Duke’s campus during a team party at which she performed.

“They took me into my home ... and they trusted me, that I wouldn’t betray their trust. And I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t, and that was wrong,” Mangum said on a podcast episode released on Dec. 11.

The players were arrested and charged with rape and other crimes. Then-Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong, who led the prosecution of the players, said that a sexual assault definitely took place. Then-North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped the charges after taking over the case and concluding the students were innocent.

Nifong was disbarred for withholding evidence from defense lawyers.

Former Duke University President Richard Brodhead, who canceled the rest of the lacrosse season and suspended the players, said later that officials presumed the students were innocent and trusted the legal system to work but that they failed to contact the players and their families or make clear that the allegations may not have been true.

“We did not get it right, causing the families to feel abandoned when they most needed support,” he said at the time. “This was a mistake. I take responsibility for it, and I apologize.”

Evans, Finnerty, and Seligmann filed a lawsuit against both Brodhead and the university, ultimately reaching an undisclosed settlement.

Mangum, 42, was never charged in relation to the accusations she leveled against the players. She has been serving a prison sentence for second-degree murder after killing her boyfriend.

Mangum, who said in a 2008 book that she was assaulted, said in the new interview that she “made up a story that wasn’t true” because she “wanted validation from people and not from God.”

Mangum said she reads the Bible every day, relies on her faith, and is hopeful the players can forgive her.

“I hope that they can forgive me ... and I hope that they can heal and trust God and know that God loves them and that God is loving them through me, letting them know that they’re valuable,” she said, adding that the players did not deserve to be falsely accused.

Katerena DePasquale, who hosts the podcast that released the interview, said in a statement that her goal was to see a person “navigating an imperfect system.”

She said that Mangum “shared something significant and vulnerable, despite the risks involved,” and called her courageous.