Editor’s warning: Some of the details in this story are graphic.
Chi Phi fraternity members shared a photo of the alleged victim in the Cornell University gang rape on Snapchat the night of the alleged assault, according to social media images obtained by CBS News.
In the photo, obtained through Jane Doe’s attorney, she appears to be smiling with another man.
The photo was shared in a Snapchat group with dozens of Chi Phi fraternity brothers on the night Jane Doe was allegedly assaulted at the Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell in October 2024.
Just before the photo was sent, one man wrote, “Like you can walk in and whip it out.”
Right after the photo, someone in the chat asked, “Shop still open?” Another responded, “Yeah.”
The alleged victim in the case, identified only as a then-20-year-old Jane Doe, has sued seven Cornell students and the university.
Two of the accused in the case 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, Cornell President Michael I. Kotlikoff said on Sept. 29. No one was arrested.
Two of those accused have denied responsibility through their lawyers. Others have not shared statements.
The Tompkins County, New York, district attorney who decided not to press charges announced last month he was reopening the case in the wake of the lawsuit. Then on Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to replace Van Houten amid criticism over how the case was handled.
CBS News has obtained the findings of Cornell University’s monthslong Title IX investigation into what happened that night. At a university hearing in May 2025, the then-sophomore said she “felt like bait” on the night of the alleged attack. She added, “I felt like lions around me. It just was a totally debilitating place to be in.”
According to the report, she told campus investigators she took the drug ketamine and described it as feeling like the “lights are on, but nobody’s home. Your brain is not functioning at its proper level.”
CBS News New York also obtained hundreds of pages of interviews with Jane Doe, 20 witnesses and six of the seven men named in the lawsuit. In them, the men and Jane Doe share conflicting accounts of what happened.
Some of those men stated Jane Doe didn’t appear to be intoxicated and that she gave consent. But Jane Doe describes a night that turned to horror, with multiple men coming in and out the room, stating at one point she felt “cornered,” saying she “was a sex doll for all intents and purposes.”
Later that night, she said was ushered into a closet by two of the men, calling it the worst experience she had the whole night, saying, “It was just raping.” She said she was in and out of consciousness.
According to the Title IX investigation, one student who had been at the frat house the night of the alleged assault said she got a call the next day from one of the accused men who asked her to make sure a friend of hers didn’t “say anything that she thinks might’ve happened last night.”
In the days after the alleged assault, Jane Doe said three men apologized to her.
According to a transcript of her interview with campus investigators, she said she collected evidence, including the dress she wore that night. Two days after the alleged sexual assault, she went to a campus clinic to treat a urinary tract infection, according to her lawsuit.
Her attorney says she told doctors it was contracted in a “traumatic way,” and instead of being referred for a rape kit, she was advised to “speak with somebody.”
On Thursday night in a fiery town hall, Cornell students demanded change.
“Survivors need to know that when they come forward with their stories, somebody will listen and a broader institution will act upon it. Through this event, we have witnessed the complete opposite,” said Jane Wang of the Cornell American Civil Liberties Union chapter.
