Details emerge in case of former Cornell student alleging rape by frat members

New details are emerging in the case of a former Cornell University student who claims she was allegedly 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, no criminal charges were brought against the accused at the time.

The Tompkins County District Attorney's Office confirmed Monday that it will be reopening the criminal investigation amid pressure from the community and will bring the evidence to a grand jury. 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.

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 asserted to 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.

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.

Cornell's response and internal investigation

Cornell said it conducted a thorough Title IX investigation into the former student's allegations over several months.

"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."

The university said the hearing panel issued a range of sanctions against the accused students, which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell. 

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 New York that the alleged incident was never reported to them.

Criminal investigation is being reopened

The Tompkins County District Attorney's Office confirmed on Sept. 28 that it will reopen the criminal investigation after being "asked by the community to revisit the decision whether to pursue criminal charges" against the then-fraternity members.

District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said the allegations made in the civil lawsuit are 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 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."

Giuffra, the woman's attorney, disputes that she spoke with DA investigators 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 was never spoke with anyone other than the officer who took her original complaint."

Van Houten said he was never contacted by her attorneys to inform him that the original statement was inaccurate nor to ask him to reconsider his office's decision to not pursue criminal charges.

"Rather, I reached out to Jane Doe's attorneys after the lawsuit was filed to understand the discrepancy between the original statement and the lawsuit's allegations and the proper path forward in light of the lawsuit's allegations," he said.

Van Houten said he has begun the process of reopening the investigation, including speaking with Jane Doe and her attorneys.

"Once we determine the appropriate charges, the case will be prosecuted in the most objective and impartial means available — by testimony to the Tompkins County Grand Jury," he said.

"The Grand Jury will be able to consider the testimony of Jane Doe as well as any new evidence raised by the allegations of the civil complaint. Upon a vote by the Grand Jury to indict any or all of the individuals involved, this office will prosecute the charges zealously and to the fullest extent of the law," the DA's statement continued.

Giuffra told CBS News they welcome the reopening of the criminal investigation, saying it was "a step in the right direction, albeit a late one."

"However, I hope that the DA will recognize the need to thoroughly present and investigate the case and develop what leads they can notwithstanding the delays," he added. "My client and I would be very disappointed if it is a half-hearted effort."

Cornell said it supports the district attorney's decision to reopen the case.

A defendant denies 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.

CBS News has reached out to the other defendants named in the civil lawsuit.

Lilia Luciano, Kinjal Patel and Mahsa Saeidi contributed to this report.