Murderous stripper at center of Duke lacrosse rape scandal finally admits she made it all up, begs for forgiveness

A North Carolina Central University student who moonlighted as a stripper falsely accused members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team — David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann — in 2006 of rape and kidnapping, derailing their lives.

Although the trio were exonerated, their accuser, Crystal Mangum — who faced no accountability for her allegations — refused to correct the record. After 18 years, Mangum, now a convicted murderer, has finally admitted that she made it all up.

"The Bible says you shouldn't do harm to your neighbors that live trustingly beside you," Mangum said in a recent interview with Katerena DePasquale of "Let's Talk with Kat." "They were my brothers, 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."

In the wake of Mangum's accusations about a supposed incident on March 13, 2006, there were vigils and protests; campus chants of "hey, hey, ho, ho ... all rape has got to go"; and demands at other institutions for a change to a "culture that tacitly condones sexual violence."

The liberal media feasted upon the scandal, blasting Duke students' supposed "white privilege," denouncing the "thuggish tendencies" of lacrosse players, and in many cases playing up the supposed race angle. Not only were the accused white and the accuser black, but Mangum told authorities that members of the lacrosse team also taunted her with racial epithets.

The Guardian's Washington correspondent, for instance, wrote, "It had all the ugliness of the Old South in an institution that prides itself on being a pillar of the New South: a brutal collision of race, sex, and class at one of America's most prestigious universities."

Worried about significant reputational damage, then-Duke President Richard Brodhead formed a council of advisers and multiple committees to examine the lacrosse team, the university's response to the incident, and campus culture. The Duke lacrosse team ultimately suspended its season.

'I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me.'

Evidence quickly mounted indicating that Evans, Finnerty, and Seligman had been traduced and that scores of other players had been unfairly smeared.

Evans, formerly the co-captain of the lacrosse team and an honors student, told CBS News in 2006, "This woman has destroyed everything I worked for in my life. She's put it on hold. She's destroyed two other families, and she's brought shame on a great university. And worst of all, she's split apart a community and a nation on facts that just didn't happen and a lie that should have never been told."

"Your whole life you try to, you know, stay on the right path and to do the right things. And someone can come along and take it all away. Just by going like that. Just by pointing their finger. That's all it takes," said Seligmann.

North Carolina's then-Attorney General Roy Cooper announced in April 2007 that after months of investigations, it was clear "these cases were the result of a tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations."

"Based on the significant inconsistencies between the evidence and the various accounts given by the accusing witness, we believe these three individuals are innocent of these charges," said Cooper. "We approached this case with the understanding that rape and sexual assault victims often have some inconsistencies in their account of a traumatic event. However, in this case, the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred in that house on that night."

The falsely accused men subsequently and successfully sued Brodhead and Duke University for an undisclosed settlement.

The fallout was not limited to the university that sacrificed far more than a lacrosse season, the police department that bungled the case, and the media that helped bring tensions to a boil.

Accused of withholding DNA results from the players' attorneys, lying to the court, and making misleading statements about the young men, Mike Nifong, the Democratic Durham County district attorney who led the prosecution, resigned in disgrace. He was later found in criminal contempt of court, briefly jailed, and disbarred.

'I'm not proud about it.'

Mangum, on the other hand, avoided consequence, at least for this case. Cooper did not prosecute her for perjury, suggesting "she may actually believe the many different stories that she has been telling" and that "it's in the best interest of justice not to bring charges."

"I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me and made up a story that wasn't true because I wanted validation from people and not from God," Mangum recently told DePasquale. "That was wrong. God already loved me for who I was."

"I hurt my brothers," continued Mangum. "I hope that they can forgive me. And I want them to know that I love them, and they didn't deserve it."

The Duke Chronicle reported that the interview was conducted at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women.

Years after being found guilty of contributing to the abuse of minors, Mangum murdered her boyfriend, Reginald Daye, with a kitchen knife in 2011. She was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years in prison.

After DePasquale requested to speak with Mangum, the convict reportedly signaled her desire to apologize with regard to the Duke lacrosse case, writing back, "I actually lied about the incident to the public, my family, my friends and to God about it, and I'm not proud about it."

The Chronicle indicated it did not receive responses to its requests for comment from the university administration, Brodhead, or the lacrosse team's former head coach Mike Pressler.

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