Nearly 20 years after a shocking alleged sex scandal revolving around the Duke University men’s lacrosse program and the events at an off-campus party, the accuser behind the story that rocked the sports world has finally come forward.
Today, she’s admitted that she fabricated the entire story.
During an interview on the independent media outlet “Let’s Talk with Kat”, former stripper and current murder convict Crystal Mangum confessed to lying about being raped by Duke Lacrosse players.
“I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t and that was wrong, and I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me,” Mangum said speaking from prison.
“[I] made up a story that wasn’t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God.”
More than 18 years after the Duke lacrosse allegations, Crystal Mangum admits that she made it all up.
"I testified falsely against [the lacrosse players] by saying that they raped me when they didn't…I made up a story that wasn't true…I hope that they can forgive me." pic.twitter.com/3yMjbQTQXH— KC Johnson (@kcjohnson9) December 12, 2024
Mangum, who is serving a prison sentence for murdering her boyfriend, falsely accused three Duke players — David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann — of raping her while she was performing at a team party in March 2006.
The players she accused were arrested, igniting a national controversy and conversations about racism.
The allegations even resulted in the team having to cancel a game against Georgetown.
Former Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong, who served as the lead prosecutor in the case, said in a March 2006 interview with CBS News that “there’s no doubt a sexual assault took place” and that it was “racially motivated.”
Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann were all found innocent of the crimes. However, the players were excoriated, blamed, and retaliated against by professors and members of the Duke University community.
“The information that I have does lead me to conclude that a rape did occur,” Nifong said. “The circumstances of the rape indicated a deep racial motivation for some of the things that were done. It makes a crime that is by its nature one of the most offensive and invasive even more so.”
Nifong was later disbarred on June 16, 2007, by the North Carolina State Bar for lying in court and withholding DNA evidence which ultimately absolved the defendants of responsibility for Mangum’s allegations.
Mangum was not prosecuted for perjury due to questions about her mental health.
“She may have actually believed the many different stories that she has been telling,” former North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said at the time.
Mangum can not be prosecuted for perjury now because the statute of limitations on perjury charges in North Carolina only lasts around two years.
Mangum went on to publish a 2008 book titled “Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story.” In the book, she said that “something” happened that night.
“I will never say that nothing at all happened that night,” she wrote.
According to Fox News, Mangum was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder and two counts of larceny in March 2011.
One year prior, she was convicted on misdemeanor charges after setting a fire that nearly torched her home with her three children inside, according to the outlet.
In a videotaped police interrogation, she told officers she got into a confrontation with her boyfriend at the time, not Daye, and burned his clothes, smashed his car windshield and threatened to stab him.