▶ Watch Video: Jane Doe’s attorney speaks to CBS News about Cornell rape investigation
New details are emerging in the case of a former Cornell University student who claims she was drugged and gang-raped for multiple hours inside a fraternity house in October 2024.
The woman — identified only as Jane Doe, who was 20 at the time of the alleged incident — recently filed a civil lawsuit against seven then-Chi Phi fraternity members and the university, claiming they failed to protect her and prevent the alleged assault. While Cornell conducted an internal investigation, and expelled or suspended several of the men, no criminal charges were brought against the accused at the time.
The Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office confirmed on Monday, Sept. 28, that it was reopening the criminal investigation amid pressure from the community. The DA said the woman’s sworn statement from November 2024 was different from what she alleges in the civil lawsuit, while her attorney claims investigators never followed up on her allegations.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Oct. 1 signed an executive order appointing New York Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor in the case. Hochul said James will “investigate the incident and, if warranted, prosecute any offenses arising from the investigation and present evidence to a grand jury.”
Here is what we know about the case so far:
Claims against Cornell
In the lawsuit against the university and the then-fraternity members, the woman alleges she visited a friend at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house while she was already intoxicated, and alleges that two fraternity members pressured her into taking what they said was ketamine. She alleges they then sexually assaulted her.
According to the suit, on the night in question at around 1:42 a.m., one fraternity member sent a crude message to a Chi Phi Snapchat group chat suggesting that a woman upstairs was available for sex. The woman alleges more men entered the room and the assaults continued until 5:45 a.m.
The complaint says the woman filed a report with the university’s police department three weeks after the alleged rapes.
“Once she was emotionally ready, she went to the University police and bravely shared what had occurred to her. She went to the police because she believed that she was the victim of a crime,” her attorney, Thomas Giuffra, said in a statement to CBS News.
“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.
Cornell conducted an internal review of the allegations after she filed the report with campus police. Giuffra told CBS News New York that two of the fraternity members were expelled, while five others received lesser sanctions including suspensions, workshops and writing essays.
“Not one of these guys was arrested. Not one. That I can tell you for a fact,” Giuffra told CBS News New York, adding that the woman dropped out of the school after the alleged assault.
Cornell disputed the idea that some of the accused only had to write essays for punishment.
“None of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement,” the university said.
Cornell President Michael I. Kotlikoff specified in a Sept. 29 meeting with the student government that two of the accused were expelled, two suspended for at least two semesters, one had already graduated before any punishment could be handed down, and two were found not to be responsible for sexual misconduct.
The lawsuit accuses Cornell and the other defendants of breach of contract, negligence and violations of state law. She is seeking monetary damages, including compensatory and punitive damages. The lawsuit does not specify how much she is seeking.
Exclusive report on Jane Doe campus police interview transcript
According to a transcript of the alleged victim’s interview with campus police, obtained by CBS News New York’s Mahsa Saeidi from a source, Jane Doe distinguished the initial sexual activity from what she says happened later in the night.
She described drinking and using drugs the night of the alleged rape, and said she had gaps in her memory, according to the transcript.
When asked whether she was OK with the initial encounter, she said, “Yeah, as much as I can be because, again, I was super drunk when I got there … But I was pretty OK with all of this.”
When describing what happened later in the night, the transcript says Jane Doe said, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”
The interview began on Nov. 14, 2024 — more than three weeks after the alleged gang rape — and continued the next day.
The transcript was used as the basis for the alleged victim’s written statement, and it shows the investigator read her account back to her word by word and gave her a chance to clarify or correct the record.
On the second day of the interview, Jane Doe reviewed the revised six-page statement. The transcript shows her adviser asked if she wanted her and another adviser to review the statement.
In the statement, obtained by CBS News, she detailed what she said happened the night of the alleged rape. She described being “pretty incapacitated” and things becoming a blur.
She recalled “multiple men” coming into the room at some point when she was naked.
“I had become extremely uncomfortable with how this night was turning out, so my thought was, if I do ketamine again, maybe I will pass out. My thought was that if I passed out and these men have sex with me, then they could have been charged with rape at this point,” she said in the statement.
Later, she described two people walking in and saying they were “shutting it down,” which caused “the group of men” to scatter.
She then described sexual encounters. “I remember being totally disgusted at the situation, and I felt very tired and intoxicated,” she said, adding, “I would say that it was the most intoxicated I’ve ever been in my life. I felt like I was unable to make any decisions because of how intoxicated I was.”
Before signing, the transcript shows Jane Doe said, “I’m very confident about this.”
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told CBS News on Sept. 29 that he was never provided the full transcripts of those initial interviews Jane Doe conducted with Cornell police.
He said the sworn statement submitted to his office in November 2024 made no mention of the statements that were made in the transcript obtained by CBS News New York — specifically Doe telling school investigators, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”
“I never saw it, never heard it until tonight,” Van Houten said in the interview. “If it exists, I will get it. You can be sure of that.”
He added, “If that kind of thing was omitted from a statement, if it is true, it needs to be fully investigated by someone outside of Cornell.”
Cornell University initially said its police department provided the results of the school’s investigation to the DA. However, in an FAQ published on its website regarding the allegations, the university said in an Oct. 1 update that it “shared the victim’s sworn statement and the Snapchat screenshot with the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office, which is the established protocol if the department believes it is possible a crime has occurred.”
Jane Doe’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, remarked to CBS News, “What more did (Van Houten) need to do a thorough investigation and prosecute? He had a woman who told an officer she was raped and a group chat inviting sexual assaults. The failure to do anything is shocking.
“Neither I nor Ms. Doe have any confidence in DA Houten’s ability to handle this investigation and prosecution. He seems more interested in protecting his reputation as opposed to seeking justice as is his duty as the District Attorney.”
Title IX investigation transcripts
CBS News New York obtained transcripts of Cornell’s Title IX investigation, distributed to the parties in January 2025, from a source. The documents are part of the record but do not include the Title IX panel’s hearing minutes, reasoning or final findings.
The records offer a closer look at how Jane Doe described what she says happened to her that night and in the days that followed, as well as how people around her remembered it. They include interviews with Doe, six of the seven men named in Doe’s bombshell civil lawsuit, and 20 witnesses.
One roommate recalls Doe saying “Oh my goodness, isn’t that crazy?” the morning after the alleged incident at Cornell’s Chi Phi house in October 2024. The roommate said Doe was laughing as she recounted it, but seemed to be in shock. The roommate said Doe did not call it rape or assault that next morning.
A second roommate said Jane Doe did tell her “I wasn’t comfortable.”
About a week later, that second roommate said she heard Doe tell one of the men, “You had penetrative sex with me. I had so much ketamine, my eyes were crossed, and you still had sex with me.”
In her Title IX interview in November, Doe said she didn’t show “excitement and enthusiasm, which is kinda the basis of consent.” She said she told the men she was tired and didn’t want to continue, and that she was sometimes encouraged to take more substances.
The men, now accused of rape and assault, also gave their accounts.
One said he asked Jane Doe if he could take ketamine from her body. He said she agreed.
Another, Scott Kretzschmar, said he was in the room for “tops, five minutes,” did not see her naked, and did not do drugs. Kretzschmar told a Title IX investigator he asked Doe if she was OK. He said her response was “I’m good” and that “she didn’t seem inebriated at all.”
The allegation against Kretzschmar is that he snorted ketamine from Doe’s body, something his attorney Jeremy Saland denies.
Cornell said its Title IX process lasted months, included a hearing before a panel of trained faculty and staff, and resulted in sanctions, including expulsions and suspensions.
“After investigation, and pursuant to federal law, the matter was sent to a hearing where a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days,” Cornell’s statement said. “The complainant and respondents had the opportunity to testify and present evidence.”
Cornell’s response and internal investigation
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Sept. 30 that Cornell has agreed to bring in outside counsel for an independent investigation. “I want answers. And I want accountability,” she wrote on X.
Cornell said on Oct. 6 that former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates will oversee a broad review of the university’s handling of sexual misconduct claims, including Jane Doe’s allegations.
The fraternity chapter was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus.
“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” Cornell said. “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.”
The Ithaca Police Department told CBS News New York that the alleged incident was never reported to them.
Cornell said in a statement that Ithaca police were not involved initially because the “established protocol” when the school’s police department believes a crime may have been committed is to share the investigation with the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office.
“The Cornell University Police Department is a sworn law enforcement agency and performs the same functions as municipal police, but on Cornell property. This incident occurred in Cornell’s jurisdiction,” the school said.
Former Cornell University police chief Anthony Bellamy, who is now deputy chief at the Ithaca Police Department, told CBS News he has no comment.
Van Houten told CBS News that the DA’s office didn’t have access to Cornell’s Title IX records on the alleged incident, and that he’s asking Jane Doe’s attorney to provide those documents.
He also said “we don’t have any indication” campus police at the time interviewed the seven then-fraternity brothers accused in the lawsuit.
Snapchat and text messages
CBS News New York exclusively obtained additional video of the fraternity’s group Snapchat conversation from the night the woman alleges the incident occurred.
A message sent to the group at 1:42 a.m. suggested in crude language that a woman was available for sex.
“Shop still open?” one fraternity brother wrote later.
The response was “Yea.”
Screenshots of a separate text exchange, also reported exclusively by CBS News New York, show what a source describes as messages sent two days later between Jane Doe and one of the defendants now accused in the lawsuit.
The man started by apologizing for “how things went down.” He said his memory is “kinda fuzzy,” and that he and another man feel bad for being too intoxicated to “shut it down and kick people out before it got way out of hand.”
The woman in the text chain replied that her memory is “super clouded too,” and said they had all been heavily intoxicated.
She also wrote, “non(e) of the sexual stuff was illegal.” She said she liked being with him and another man. Later, she suggested they smoke together again, “but like leave out the extra 5 billion men and ketamine.”
The woman’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, confirmed she exchanged texts with this defendant shortly after the alleged assault, but he could not confirm whether these were the specific texts.
Giuffra said she was in denial and traumatized shortly after the alleged assaults. He said she was intoxicated to the point of incapacity that night and was trying to find out what happened.
He said she felt like she should not take an aggressive tone with this defendant if she wanted answers.
N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James appointed as special prosecutor
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order naming New York Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the case.
“Every New Yorker deserves to know that when they report a crime, it will be investigated fully and fairly, that they will be seen and heard,” James said at a news conference Friday, Oct. 2. “That is the promise of our justice system. I stand ready to lead a process guided by the facts and the law.”
Hocul said in a statement that she asked James to take over the case because “[n]ewly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation conducted by the Cornell Police Department and the decision by the Tompkins County District Attorney not to prosecute,” saying it had “undercut my faith, and the public’s faith, in the District Attorney’s ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time.”
A Cornell spokesperson said the university supports the decision to assign the case to James’ office.
The appointment comes less than a week after the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office said it would reopen the criminal investigation — a decision Cornell also said it supported.
Before James’ appointment, the DA, Matthew Van Houten, had told CBS News correspondent Lilia Luciano that he hoped they’d be able to bring the case to a grand jury “in the next 45 days,” adding, “I want to move fast.” He had said the grand jury could “consider the charges that were set out in the civil complaint, and they can consider other charges.”
In a statement earlier, Van Houten said the allegations made in the civil lawsuit were different from the sworn statement made by Jane Doe in November 2024. He said her 2024 statement “did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped” by multiple men.
“On the contrary, Jane Doe’s statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual,” Van Houten’s statement said. “My office obviously did not and could not have based our November 2024 decision on the allegations in a civil lawsuit that would not be filed until nearly two years later.”
He told CBS News, “I don’t see how more could have been done at the time, given that foundation of the case being her statement.”
Van Houten called the Snapchat message chain “disgusting, vulgar,” but said it “had nothing to do with the issue of consent, which is the legal issue.”
Cornell said the Cornell University Police Department provided a screenshot from Snapchat to the DA back in 2024, along with Jane Doe’s sworn statement.
Van Houten told CBS News the officer who took Jane Doe’s original statement was “an experienced investigator” who was “trained in trauma informed sexual assault cases,” and “not just somebody who was manning the desk.”
He had told CBS News: “We want to treat her with respect and with humanity and compassion and hear from her what’s changed since November of 2024. We want to sit down with her and talk through what she knows now and what she has processed over that time so that we can put all of the evidence before the grand jury and let the grand jury decide.”
Giuffra, the woman’s attorney, said she was not contacted by investigators from the DA’s office after she made her report to Cornell’s university police.
“Interviewing a survivor is a challenging process that takes a lot of time and experience. It is never easy for a survivor to share details of an assault with a stranger. Trust must be developed and a lot of time spent learning the facts and engaging with the survivor,” he said. “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 told CBS News they welcomed the reopening of the criminal investigation, saying it was “a step in the right direction, albeit a late one.”
Defendants deny accusations
The lawsuit identifies one of the accused then-fraternity members as Scott Kretzchmar, who allegedly sent two responses in the Snapchat group.
His defense attorney, Jeremy Saland, acknowledged to CBS News that the messages were inappropriate but said they are not evidence of sexual assault.
“This is a situation where there was an ugly Snapchat — ugly, period. … But that doesn’t make my client a rapist, and it certainly doesn’t make anyone a sex offender,” Saland said.
Saland said Kretzchmar briefly entered the room where the woman was, in response to the message “that many people have seen,” and said he did not touch her “in any way, shape or form” and left in a matter of minutes.
“She was not incoherent but in fact was coherent and again left that room without touching her or having any physical interaction with her whatsoever,” Saland said.
The attorney said the university found Kretzchmar was not responsible for anything that the woman alleges in her complaint.
As for the accusation of ketamine use, Saland said Kretzchmar took a hair follicle test that determined he had no ketamine in his system.
“We certainly would present evidence of the hair follicle test which demonstrably and scientifically shows that he did not ingest ketamine as alleged by the complainant,” he said.
Saland said that while no one has contacted him about a renewed investigation, “we welcome the opportunity.”
“We are available to present exonerating evidence. I just hope the right thing is eventually done, this case is closed, and my client can live his life and not be subject to this selfish, repugnant, vile claim by this woman about him,” he added.
Andrew Miltenberg, an attorney representing Gillio Lopes, another then-fraternity member accused in the civil lawsuit, told CBS News New York that his client “unequivocally denies the allegations against him.”
“Cornell previously investigated these allegations. The allegations now being made publicly differ from what was reported and investigated during that process,” Miltenberg said. “These are serious accusations, but accusations are not proof. Mr. Lopes should be judged on the evidence, not prejudged based on allegations made in a lawsuit or repeated in the media. We will address these issues through the appropriate legal process.”
CBS News has reached out to the other defendants named in the civil lawsuit.
Mahsa Saeidi, Lilia Luciano and Kinjal Patel contributed to this report.
