ITHACA, N.Y. — A nearly two-year-old sexual-assault case involving members of a Cornell University fraternity is back under criminal investigation after a former student filed a sweeping lawsuit alleging she was drugged and raped by multiple men inside the Chi Phi fraternity house.
No arrests have been made and no criminal charges have been filed.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has confirmed that his office is reopening the 2024 investigation and intends to present evidence to a grand jury. Van Houten told CBS News he hopes the case can be presented within approximately 45 days.
The development comes after the former Cornell student, identified publicly only as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit on September 14 against Cornell University, fraternity organizations and seven current or former students.
The accusations are serious. But the case also contains sharply competing versions of what happened that night — including statements, messages and evidence that prosecutors say will now receive another examination.
The Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. A former student alleges she was sexually assaulted inside the house in October 2024.
What the lawsuit alleges
Doe was 20 years old when she visited the Chi Phi house in October 2024, according to her lawsuit.
The complaint alleges that she arrived already intoxicated and that two fraternity members subsequently pressured her into taking a substance represented to her as ketamine. She alleges multiple men then sexually assaulted her over a period lasting into the early morning.
A fraternity Snapchat conversation has become one of the most closely scrutinized pieces of evidence.
CBS News obtained video of messages from a Chi Phi group chat. At approximately 1:42 a.m., one message suggested that a woman upstairs was available for sex. Later messages included one fraternity member asking whether the “shop” was still open and receiving an affirmative response.
The district attorney described the messages as vulgar and disturbing, but said the central criminal question remains whether the sexual activity was consensual under New York law.
Doe alleges the assaults continued until approximately 5:45 a.m.
Her original police statement is now a major issue
Doe reported the incident to Cornell University Police several weeks later.
Van Houten says the statement she gave investigators in November 2024 differs substantially from the allegations now contained in her civil lawsuit. According to the DA, the original statement did not describe her being unknowingly drugged or allege that every sexual encounter that evening was nonconsensual.
But newly reported portions of the actual police-interview transcript add important context.
CBS News reports that Doe described some earlier sexual activity as consensual or something she was initially comfortable with. However, while describing what happened later that night, she told campus police that she was certain she had been raped. She also described significant gaps in her memory and said she had been heavily intoxicated.
Her attorney, Thomas Giuffra, disputes the suggestion that her original account is fundamentally inconsistent with the lawsuit. He argues that investigators failed to adequately follow up with her and says interviewing a traumatized sexual-assault complainant requires specialized training.
Van Houten has acknowledged that his office relied on Cornell University Police’s investigation in 2024 rather than conducting an independent investigation of its own.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has reopened the criminal investigation and says the evidence will be presented to a grand jury.
Newly surfaced text messages complicate the picture
Another development emerged this week when CBS News obtained screenshots described by a source as text messages exchanged between Doe and one of the defendants two days after the alleged assault.
According to CBS’s reporting, the man apologized for how the night had unfolded and reportedly said his memory was fuzzy and that he and another person regretted being too intoxicated to stop the situation before it got out of control.
The messages attributed to Doe are also significant.
She reportedly said her own memory was extremely clouded, acknowledged that those involved had been heavily intoxicated and wrote that the sexual activity had not been illegal. She also expressed willingness to see the man again while making a remark about excluding the additional men and ketamine.
Doe’s attorney confirmed that she exchanged messages with one of the defendants shortly after the incident, although he told CBS he could not authenticate the specific screenshots presented to him.
Giuffra argues that Doe was traumatized, in denial and attempting to learn what had happened during portions of the evening she could not remember. He says the messages should be understood in that context.
That evidence is now likely to become important to both prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Defendants deny the allegations
At least several of the men named in the lawsuit have publicly denied wrongdoing.
Attorney Jeremy Saland, representing defendant Scott Kretzschmar, has said his client never sexually assaulted or touched Doe. Saland also says a hair-follicle test showed no ketamine in his client’s system, although CBS reported it has not independently examined that test.
Attorney Andrew Miltenberg, representing defendant Gillio Lopes, has likewise said his client “unequivocally denies” the allegations and argues that the evidence rather than accusations should determine the outcome.
Those denials matter. The seven men named in the civil case have not been convicted of rape, and none has been criminally charged in connection with these allegations as of September 30.
Governor calls for outside review of Cornell
The controversy has now reached the governor’s office.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called for an independent outside review of Cornell’s handling of the allegations, saying there are questions surrounding the university’s prevention, reporting and response systems.
Cornell says it supports prosecutors’ decision to reopen the criminal investigation and maintains that consequential disciplinary action was taken following its own investigation.
What happens next
The criminal case is now essentially starting a new chapter.
Van Houten says a senior prosecutor with experience handling sex crimes is preparing the matter for presentation to a Tompkins County grand jury. Doe may testify, and prosecutors say the grand jury can consider newly obtained evidence as well as evidence from the original investigation.
Original article
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