For the first time, the woman who created national news and sparked discussions about race, class, and college athlete privilege in 2006 by falsely accusing three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her has acknowledged in public that she made up the tale.
In an interview with the Let’s Talk with Kat podcast, Black woman Crystal Mangum acknowledged that she made up a tale about the white players at a party where she was recruited as a stripper because she desired approval from others rather than from God.
“I falsely testified against them by saying they raped me when they didn’t, and that was wrong,” Mangum, 46, said in the interview that was made public on Monday.
Recorded last month, the conversation took place at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, where Mangum is being held after killing her partner with a knife in 2011.
Mangum’s claim was exposed by legal scrutiny, which in 2007 found the former Duke athletes not guilty. Following an investigation that produced no DNA, witnesses, or other evidence to support Mangum’s accusations, the state attorney general’s office came to the conclusion that there was no reliable proof of an attack.
One of the former players’ attorneys at the time, Jim Cooney, told The Associated Press that Mangum’s accusations caused a massive cyclone of devastation for all those involved, including the men who were charged. According to Cooney, the national media falsely demonized them as rapists with racist motivations.
Because of his wrongdoing and deceit, Mangum’s Durham prosecutor was disbarred. At the time, Mangum was not charged with fabricating false claims by the prosecution.
After suing Duke University for handling the rape claims, the former lacrosse players reached an undisclosed settlement in 2007.
“I hope the three falsely accused men will forgive me,” Mangum, who was found guilty of second-degree murder in 2013 and could be released from jail as early as 2026, said the podcast interviewer.
She told me, “I want them to know that I love them, and they didn’t deserve that.”
According to podcaster Kat DePasquale of Durham, she reached out to Mangum because she was interested in the case that had garnered so much publicity, and Mangum replied that she wanted to speak.
Cooney noted that although Mangum’s apology was heartfelt and a positive start, it is ultimately up to the three former lacrosse players to decide whether or not to forgive her.
Cooney stated that the three men’s deaths would always be mentioned in their obituaries and personal histories.
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