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Police Find No Evidence of Rape at University of Virginia Fraternity - New York Times




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Police Say No Evidence of Rape at UVA



Police Say No Evidence of Rape at UVA



Timothy Longo, the Charlottesville police chief, said that the investigation into claims of gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity had been suspended because of a lack of evidence.


Video by Reuters on March 23, 2015. Photo by Melody Robbins/Associated Press.


CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The police here said Monday that they had found “no substantive basis” to support a Rolling Stone magazine article depicting a horrific gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house and that a four-month review had identified serious discrepancies in the account by a woman identified as Jackie, who refused to cooperate with their investigation.


After a review of records and roughly 70 interviews, Police Chief Timothy J. Longo Sr. said at a crowded news conference here, his investigators found “no evidence” that a party even took place at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity on Sept. 28, 2012, when the rape was said to have occurred. Instead, he said, there was a formal that night at the house’s sister sorority, making it highly unlikely that the fraternity would have had a party on the same night.



Despite “numerous attempts,” he said, his officers were unable to track down the man Jackie had identified as her date that night. And several interviews contradicted her version of events. The chief said he was suspending, but not closing, the investigation, and he left open the possibility that some kind of assault might have occurred, saying additional information could still come to light.




The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. Steve Helber/Associated Press

“We’re not able to conclude to any substantive degree that an incident occurred at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, or any other fraternity house, for that matter,” Chief Longo said. “That doesn’t mean something terrible didn’t happen to Jackie on the evening of Sept. 28, 2012. We’re just not able to gather sufficient facts to determine what that is.”


The announcement was yet another turn in a case that has shaken the university, as well as the worlds of journalism and advocates working to prevent sexual assault, since the publication in November of the 9,000-word Rolling Stone article, “A Rape on Campus.” The article, which was quickly discredited, set off a national debate about sexual assault on campus — and the fraternity culture more broadly — and painted one of the nation’s oldest and most elite public institutions as a place where parties took precedence over learning. And it came after an academic year of almost nonstop turmoil.


Reaction on Monday was swift.


The fraternity said it was “now exploring its legal options to address the extensive damage caused by Rolling Stone,” which it said had “recklessly and prejudicially thrust the brothers of Phi Kappa Psi into the center of a national debate.”


The magazine has commissioned its own external review, being led by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Rolling Stone’s managing editor, Will Dana, said Sunday that the results would be published in the next few weeks.


Some students took to the social media app Yik Yak to denounce Jackie and demand that she be prosecuted, or expelled from the university, which has a strict honor code. Spencer Gorsch, a second-year student from Charlottesville, said in an interview that Jackie should perhaps face prosecution.


“It does sound like she was very distraught and something may have happened, but I think that what she did was unacceptable on both a personal and a social level,” he said, “and that she greatly harmed our society by doing what she did because now it is much harder for a true rape victim — whether or not Jackie is a true rape victim — to now come out.”


Some saw a more complex picture, saying that the uproar over the story and the steps that the university had taken since in an effort to change its culture had, in the end, raised awareness and probably done the school, and the nation, some good.


“Something happened to her, I think,” said Janie Nelson, a first-year student from Richmond. “I don’t know what, but she’s obviously had some issues. I don’t think there’s a reason to charge her for anything. Even if the article wasn’t completely true, it still brought a good point in the community and has still been important to making it a better place.”


The Rolling Stone article, which shattered the university’s genteel image of itself, exploded here at a time when campuses around the country were already under scrutiny from the Obama administration over their handling of sexual violence. In Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe convened a task force to combat sexual violence at the state’s colleges and universities last August, several months before the Rolling Stone article appeared.


Virginia’s attorney general, Mark R. Herring, chairman of the task force, said Monday that it would issue a report in the next few weeks. “We know that sexual violence is a real problem on college campuses,” Mr. Herring said, adding, “This issue will not, and should not, be pushed back into the shadows.”


After the article appeared, the university’s president, Teresa A. Sullivan , briefly suspended fraternity activities, then imposed tough new restrictions on campus Greek life. Beer kegs are no longer permitted during parties, security workers must be present, and at least three fraternity members in attendance must be sober.


During his news conference on Monday, and in a separate written statement issued by his department, Chief Longo said the Charlottesville police first learned of Jackie in April 2014, after an officer met with her in the company of an associate dean of students, Nicole P. Eramo, who handles sexual assault matters. One day earlier, Jackie told Dean Eramo of the rape allegation and at that time reported a separate, unrelated physical assault. But she did not want to pursue a police complaint, the chief said.


After the Rolling Stone article appeared, a detective reached out to Jackie, suspecting that she was the woman he had previously interviewed. “Since that time, despite numerous attempts to gain her cooperation, ‘Jackie’ has provided no information whatsoever to investigators,” the department’s statement said.


During the course of the ensuing police investigation, the chief said, investigators interviewed nine of the 14 members who were living at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house in September 2012; none said they knew Jackie. The authorities also sent questionnaires to other fraternity members; 19 were returned, and none of the respondents said they knew Jackie or had any knowledge of an assault having occurred at the fraternity house.


A review of bank records for the fraternity revealed no expenditures for a party. The police also found a photograph time-stamped Sept. 28, 2012. It showed two men in an otherwise empty entrance hall, the chief said.


Investigators also interviewed two of Jackie’s friends, both men, whom Jackie had said met with her after the assault occurred. But both contradicted her version of events, the chief said, adding, “They don’t recall any physical injuries.” And while both said they were told by Jackie that she had gone out on the night of Sept. 28, 2012, with a person named Haven Monahan — identified in the Rolling Stone article as “Drew” — the police were unable to track Mr. Monahan down.


Many of the story’s details had already been contradicted, particularly by The Washington Post.


Despite the findings, the chief dismissed suggestions that Jackie had completely fabricated her account. “There’s a difference between a false allegation and something that happened that may be different than something that is reported in the article,” the chief said. “All I can tell you is there is no substantive basis to conclude what is described in the article happened that night.”


The last few months have been especially trying ones here.


In September, Hannah Graham, a second-year student, disappeared and was later found dead. Three students committed suicide last fall, one in October, one in November and one in December. On Monday, dozens of black flags advocating suicide awareness were flying on the Lawn, the main quadrangle designed by Thomas Jefferson, the university’s founder.


And just last week, the campus, known to students as the Grounds, erupted in protest over police treatment of a third-year student, Martese Johnson, an African-American who was bloodied during an arrest by Virginia’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agents. The university’s Black Student Alliance met Sunday night to discuss ways to change the university’s culture.


Amid the turmoil, it was hard for many students to see anything positive emerging. Many said Monday that they simply wanted life to return to normal.


“It’s really frustrating,” said Marcus Leibowitz, a fourth-year student. “We know we live in a good community, but these bad incidents keep on happening.”




Owen Robinson reported from Charlottesville, and Sheryl Gay Stolberg from Washington.



A version of this article appears in print on March 24, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Story of Rape Keeps Falling Apart.











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