Reports on what Cornell’s Jane Doe initially told investigators prompt fresh questions in newly reopened investigation

Reports of comments made by Jane Doe to Cornell University police in 2024 when she first went to school officials with allegations she was gang raped are raising new questions about what law enforcement knew at the time.

CNN affiliate WCBS and ABC News reported they have obtained documents that detail comments made by Doe to investigators regarding the night of October 19, 2024, when she was allegedly assaulted by multiple members of the school’s Chi Phi fraternity.

She told police she was okay with an initial encounter, but that later in the night she did not consent and believed she was raped, WCBS reported, citing the documents. She also described being physically hit, the outlet reported.

The revelations raise new questions as to why law enforcement did not file criminal charges at the time of the incident and what the district attorney’s office was aware of regarding the assault allegations, as calls grow for answers in light of Doe’s civil lawsuit filed this month.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said his office will be investigating the reported statements “fully.”

As investigators reopen the case, here are the key questions that remain:

WCBS reports it obtained a transcript of Doe’s interview with Cornell University police in November 2024, weeks after the alleged rape, and ABC News reports it obtained a six-page written statement signed by Doe to Cornell University Police at the time.

Doe described to Cornell police that she was heavily intoxicated on the night of the alleged rape, according to the WCBS and ABC reports, citing documents.

The transcripts detail how she told police she was “pretty OK” with the initial sexual activity but did not consent to what occurred later in the night, according to WCBS.

In the statement, Doe said she consented to some sexual acts but repeatedly refused some, including a foursome proposed by one of the fraternity brothers, according to ABC. She described thinking that if she passed out and the men had sex with her, they could be charged with “rape,” the only reference of rape mentioned in the document, ABC reported.

In transcripts with police, Doe also described being physically hit, according to WCBS.

She reportedly spoke to Cornell police on November 14 and 15, more than three weeks after the alleged gang rape. A campus police investigator led the questioning, with a Title IX investigator, a victim advocate, and Doe’s adviser also reportedly in the room for the first day of the interview, WCBS reported. CNN has reached out to Doe’s attorney.

In a statement to CNN, Van Houten said his office was not provided the transcript and “will be investigating this fully and determining the truth.”

“I will be looking into whether this is true and the specific circumstances of this allegation. I was not provided the transcript and the specific statement that has been attributed to Doe was not included in the written statement that I received from Cornell PD,” he told CNN.

When asked about Van Houten’s response to the reports, a spokesperson for Cornell said: “The Cornell University Police Department investigated the matter in 2024 and shared all investigatory information with the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office, which is the established protocol if the department believes it is possible a crime has occurred,” repeating a statement made in an FAQs post the university released Tuesday night.

The revelations put new scrutiny on why law enforcement did not file criminal charges when the incident happened.

Van Houten told CNN earlier this week that the woman had not provided university police with the same information as what was alleged in the civil complaint released earlier this month.

In a statement on Monday, Van Houten declined to release the full and complete original six-page statement signed by Doe to Cornell University police, due to privacy concerns. But he and his office did release a handful of excerpts, where she described the events of that night. The DA described those excerpts as “facts from Jane Doe’s statement that were relevant.”

That 2024 statement had “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual,” Van Houten said Monday, adding that her 2026 lawsuit “omits any reference that Jane Doe consented to the sexual contact.”

The district attorney says it was this statement that determined no charges should be filed, adding “Multiple prosecutors and criminal investigators reviewed Jane Doe’s statement and correctly determined the alleged facts as set forth in the statement do not constitute a crime.”

Doe’s attorney, Thomas P. Giuffra, told CNN on Monday the Cornell police report prepared after Doe gave her statement “is not materially different” from her statements in the lawsuit filed this month.

“The legal complaint is much more detailed and lengthy because I took the time to meet with Ms. Doe multiple times and learn the specific facts of what had occurred,” Giuffra said.

CNN has not seen Doe’s original six-page written statement or the transcript of her interview with Cornell police. CNN has asked Doe’s attorney and Cornell University police for a copy of her complete 2024 police statement and the transcript.

Doe reported the incident to Cornell University police on November 8, 2024, according to the complaint.

She was “traumatized, numb and unable to function or accept the horror of what had happened” in the days after the October 2024 assault, Giuffra told CNN. Doe reported the alleged assaults to police “once she was emotionally ready.”

Cornell said Tuesday its police department investigated the incident in 2024, and “and shared all investigatory information with the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office, which is the established protocol if the department believes it is possible a crime has occurred.”

Heather Ainsworth/AP

Alleged gang rape at Cornell turns spotlight on campus sexual assault

It’s unclear how extensive that initial police investigation was, but Doe’s attorney says he believes it was inadequate.

“It is challenging for me to understand how a thorough criminal investigation could have been conducted when she never spoke with anyone other than the officer who took her original complaint,” Giuffra said.

“Other than her initial contact with Cornell police, she was not contacted by investigators from the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office or any investigators trained in interviewing rape survivors,” Giuffra said in a release.

During a contentious interview Monday, CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed Van Houten on why there wasn’t a more expansive investigation from law enforcement or the DA’s office after the initial report was made in 2024.

“We can’t change what happened in the past as much as the community is outraged,” Van Houten said.

The district attorney also told Tapper that his team did not initially see the screenshots of a Snapchat group chat between Chi Pi members, which Van Houten said were “completely vulgar and disgusting, but they had nothing to do with her consent.”

“They were not part of our initial analysis, but I understand that Cornell had them, and they sent them to our team,” he said.

The university said Tuesday that Cornell police gave the DA the Snapchat screenshots in November 2024, along with the rest of the evidence it gathered.

Giuffra’s characterization also raised questions as to why the nearby Ithaca Police Department was not involved in the investigation.

IPD said Monday that it was “disturbed” to hear about the 2024 allegations, but noted it was not reported to the agency. The department said it only learned about the alleged incident recently through the media.

The October 2024 incident occurred in Cornell police’s jurisdiction, according to the school, saying “the Cornell University Police Department is a sworn law enforcement agency and performs the same functions as municipal police, but on Cornell property.”

Doe’s attorney has said Cornell expelled two of the seven accused students while the others received lesser punishments, including suspensions, workshops or written assignments.

But Cornell has countered that claim, saying there was a range of sanctions for the accused students, including suspensions and expulsions. “None of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement,” the university said.

The university has declined to confirm the individual disciplinary outcomes, citing federal student privacy law. The school said violations of university policy “could lead to sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion,” adding, “We will respond in detail through the legal process.”

Those sanctions came after the university conducted a monthslong formal Title IX investigation, separate from the criminal proceeding by law enforcement, and a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days, the school said .

The school also said it had closed the chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024, and that the chapter remains barred from campus.

It is unclear if any of the accused men are still Cornell students.

Doe’s lawsuit faults Cornell for failing to properly discipline them after the assault, “all the while sheltering them from speaking to law enforcement, and silencing victims.”

Cornell pointed to university resources available to survivors, adding, “individuals found responsible (for sexual misconduct) through our processes are held accountable.”

“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” Cornell said in an earlier release. “A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault.”

But the lawsuit claims Cornell’s “conduct was so outrageous, shocking, despicable, and contemptible that it exceeds the reasonable bounds of decency as measured by what the average member of the community would tolerate and demonstrates an utter disregard for the consequences that would follow.”

The complaint is seeking a jury trial to determine monetary damages.

Doe has not been identified. It is common for New York courts to permit alleged sexual assault survivors to use pseudonyms when their privacy interests and risk of further harm outweigh the presumption of an open proceeding.

Doe was 20 years old on October 19, 2024, the day of the incident, according to the complaint. Her attorney has said she is from a small town, and it was her dream to go to Cornell – which she no longer attends.

Help is available : For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on online.rainn.org .

CNN’s Hanna Park, Holly Yan, Linh Tran, Chris Boyette, Cindy Von Quednow and Jeff Winter contributed to this report.

据报道，简·多伊 (Jane Doe) 于 2024 年首次向康奈尔大学警方报案称自己遭到轮奸，当时她向学校官员提出了相关指控。这些报道引发了人们对执法部门当时掌握了多少信息的新疑问。

CNN 附属电视台 WCBS 和 ABC 新闻报道称，他们已获得文件，详细记录了 Doe 向调查人员提供的关于 2024 年 10 月 19 日晚的证词，据称当晚她遭到学校 Chi Phi 兄弟会多名成员的袭击。

据WCBS报道，根据相关文件，她告诉警方，她最初与对方接触时并无异议，但当晚晚些时候她并未同意，并认为自己遭到强奸。该媒体还报道称，她描述了自己遭到殴打的情况。

这些披露引发了新的疑问：为什么执法部门在事发当时没有提起刑事诉讼？以及地方检察官办公室对袭击指控了解多少？随着 Doe 本月提起民事诉讼，要求给出答案的呼声越来越高。

汤普金斯县地方检察官马修·范·豪顿表示，他的办公室将“全面”调查报道中的言论。

随着调查人员重启此案，以下是仍然存在的关键问题：

WCBS 报道称，他们获得了 2024 年 11 月，也就是在涉嫌强奸案发生几周后，Doe 接受康奈尔大学警方讯问的笔录；ABC 新闻报道称，他们获得了 Doe 当时向康奈尔大学警方签署的一份六页书面声明。

据 WCBS 和 ABC 报道，根据文件显示，Doe 向康奈尔警方描述，在被指控强奸的当晚，她处于严重醉酒状态。

据 WCBS 报道，笔录详细记录了她如何告诉警方，她对最初的性行为“还算可以”，但并不同意当晚晚些时候发生的事情。

据美国广播公司（ABC）报道，在声明中，简·多伊表示她同意了一些性行为，但多次拒绝了一些，包括一名兄弟会成员提出的四人性行为。她描述说，她当时的想法是，如果她昏迷过去，那些男人与她发生性关系，他们可能会被控“强奸”，这也是这份文件中唯一一次提到“强奸”一词。

据 WCBS 报道，在与警方的笔录中，Doe 还描述了自己遭到人身攻击的情况。

据报道，在被指控遭轮奸三周多后，她于11月14日和15日接受了康奈尔大学警方的问询。据WCBS报道，一名校园警察调查员主导了问询，第九条修正案调查员、一名受害者权益倡导者以及简·多伊的顾问据称也在第一天的问询中在场。CNN已联系简·多伊的律师。

范·豪顿在给 CNN 的一份声明中表示，他的办公室没有收到这份笔录，“将对此事进行全面调查，查明真相”。

“我会调查此事是否属实以及这项指控的具体情况。我没有收到笔录，而且据称是Doe所作的陈述也没有包含在我从康奈尔大学警察局收到的书面声明中，”他告诉CNN。

当被问及范·豪顿对这些报道的回应时，康奈尔大学的一位发言人表示：“康奈尔大学警察局于2024年对此事进行了调查，并将所有调查信息分享给了汤普金斯县地方检察官办公室，这是该部门认为可能发生犯罪行为时的既定程序。”该发言人重复了大学周二晚间发布的常见问题解答帖子中的声明。

这些披露使人们重新审视执法部门为何在事件发生时没有提起刑事诉讼。

范豪顿本周早些时候告诉 CNN，该女子并未向大学警方提供与本月早些时候发布的民事诉讼中指控的信息相同的信息。

周一，范·豪顿发表声明，以隐私为由，拒绝公布简·多伊向康奈尔大学警方签署的六页完整原始声明。但他和他的办公室公布了部分摘录，其中简·多伊描述了当晚发生的事情。地方检察官称这些摘录是“简·多伊声明中相关的事实”。

范·豪顿周一表示，2024 年的那份声明“将她参与吸毒和性行为描述为自愿、有意识和双方同意的”，并补充说，她在 2026 年提起的诉讼“完全没有提及简·多伊同意性接触”。

地方检察官表示，正是这份声明决定不提起诉讼，并补充说：“多名检察官和刑事调查人员审查了简·多伊的声明，并正确地认定声明中所述的所谓事实不构成犯罪。”

Doe的律师Thomas P. Giuffra周一告诉CNN，Doe作证后康奈尔警方准备的报告与她本月提起的诉讼中的陈述“没有实质性的不同”。

“这份法律诉状更加详细冗长，因为我花时间多次与约翰·多伊女士会面，了解了所发生事件的具体事实，”吉弗拉说。

CNN尚未看到Doe最初的六页书面声明，也未看到她接受康奈尔大学警方讯问的笔录。CNN已向Doe的律师和康奈尔大学警方索取她2024年的完整警方声明和笔录。

根据投诉，Doe 于 2024 年 11 月 8 日向康奈尔大学警方报案。

吉弗拉告诉CNN，在2024年10月遭受袭击后的几天里，她“受到了创伤，麻木不仁，无法正常生活，也无法接受所发生可怕的事情”。简·多伊“在情绪准备好之后”向警方报案称遭到袭击。

康奈尔大学周二表示，其警察部门对 2024 年发生的这起事件进行了调查，“并将所有调查信息分享给了汤普金斯县地方检察官办公室，这是该部门认为可能发生犯罪行为时的既定程序。”

Heather Ainsworth/美联社

康奈尔大学疑似轮奸案将校园性侵问题推向风口浪尖

目前尚不清楚最初的警方调查范围有多广，但Doe的律师表示，他认为调查不够充分。

“我很难理解，在她除了最初受理她投诉的警官之外，从未与任何人交谈过的情况下，如何能进行彻底的刑事调查，”吉弗拉说。

“除了最初与康奈尔大学警方接触外，汤普金斯县地方检察官办公室的调查人员或任何受过采访强奸幸存者培训的调查人员都没有联系过她，”吉弗拉在一份声明中说。

在周一的一次激烈采访中，CNN 的杰克·塔珀追问范·豪顿，为什么在 2024 年最初的报告发布后，执法部门或地方检察官办公室没有进行更广泛的调查。

“尽管社区对此感到愤怒，但我们无法改变过去发生的事情，”范·豪顿说。

地方检察官还告诉塔珀，他的团队最初并没有看到 Chi Pi 成员之间的 Snapchat 群聊截图，范·豪顿说这些截图“完全粗俗不堪，令人作呕，但这与她的同意无关”。

“这些样本不在我们最初的分析范围内，但我了解到康奈尔大学掌握了这些样本，并将它们发送给了我们的团队，”他说。

周二，该大学表示，康奈尔大学警方于 2024 年 11 月向地方检察官提交了 Snapchat 截图以及收集到的其他证据。

吉弗拉的描述也引发了人们的疑问：为什么附近的伊萨卡警察局没有参与调查？

印第安纳波利斯警察局（IPD）周一表示，对2024年的指控感到“不安”，但指出该机构并未收到相关报告。该部门称，他们也是最近才通过媒体了解到这起事件。

据康奈尔大学称，2024 年 10 月发生的这起事件发生在康奈尔大学警察的管辖范围内，“康奈尔大学警察局是一个宣誓就职的执法机构，履行与市政警察相同的职能，但其管辖范围是康奈尔大学的校园。”

Doe 的律师表示，康奈尔大学开除了七名被指控学生中的两名，而其他学生则受到了较轻的处罚，包括停学、参加研讨会或完成书面作业。

但康奈尔大学反驳了这一说法，称校方对涉事学生采取了一系列处罚措施，包括停学和开除。“所有被指控的学生都没有因为参与此事而被剥夺撰写论文的机会，”校方表示。

校方以联邦学生隐私法为由，拒绝透露具体的处分结果。校方表示，违反校规“可能导致包括停学或开除在内的处分”，并补充道，“我们将通过法律程序详细回应。”

学校表示，这些制裁是在该大学进行了长达数月的正式第九条调查之后做出的，该调查独立于执法部门的刑事诉讼，一个由训练有素的教职员工组成的小组听取了多天的证据。

学校还表示，已于 2024 年关闭了 Chi Phi 兄弟会的分会，并且该分会仍然被禁止进入校园。

目前尚不清楚被告人中是否还有康奈尔大学的学生。

Doe 的诉讼指责康奈尔大学在袭击事件发生后未能对他们进行适当的惩戒，“同时还包庇他们，不让他们与执法部门交谈，并让受害者噤声”。

康奈尔指出，大学为幸存者提供了各种资源，并补充说：“通过我们的程序，被认定对性行为不端负有责任的个人将被追究责任。”

康奈尔大学此前在一份声明中表示：“任何关于学校没有对涉事人员施加相应惩罚的说法都是不实的。继续散布此案惩罚力度不足的错误说法是不负责任的，会让幸存者感到更不安全、更缺乏支持，并会助长性侵犯案件的瞒报现象。”

但诉讼称，康奈尔的“行为如此令人愤慨、震惊、卑鄙和可鄙，以至于超出了普通民众所能容忍的合理体面范围，并且完全无视由此产生的后果。”

该诉讼请求进行陪审团审判，以确定金钱赔偿金额。

原告Doe的身份尚未公开。在纽约，如果性侵案幸存者的隐私权和遭受进一步伤害的风险超过了公开审理的必要性，法院通常会允许她们使用化名。

根据诉状，案发当天（2024年10月19日），原告约翰·多伊年仅20岁。她的律师表示，多伊来自一个小镇，她一直梦想着能上康奈尔大学——但她现在已经不再就读该校了。

可以获得帮助：在美国，如需帮助，请拨打全国性侵犯热线 1-800-656-4673 或访问 online.rainn.org 进行 24/7 全天候聊天。

CNN的Hanna Park、Holly Yan、Linh Tran、Chris Boyette、Cindy Von Quednow和Jeff Winter对本报道亦有贡献。