Woman Admits She ‘Made Up’ Story Of Duke University Lacrosse Players Raping Her Almost 20 Years Ago - WTF!

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

A woman is now coming forward to claim she lied about her rape at the hands of three Duke University lacrosse players nearly two decades ago. Are you effing kidding us right now??

Crystal Mangum — a then 28-year-old stripper and student at North Carolina Central University — told police she was hired to perform at a Duke lacrosse team party on March 13, 2006. According to her statement to law enforcement, the night took a horrific turn as she was sexually assaulted by three men in a bathroom at the house. Court records obtained by WRAL stated Mangum was raped, sodomized, and beaten for 30 minutes in the early morning hours of March 14, 2006. Then-Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong charged Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans with first-degree rape, kidnapping, and sexual assault.

It was a shocking story that captured the nation’s attention. But for the wrong reasons…

As the investigation into the claims unfolded, inconsistencies in her stories started to emerge. Then-Attorney General Roy Cooper said on 60 Minutes a year later that Mangum’s stories kept changing as his investigators talked to her, including when it came to the timing of the alleged assault and how many people were involved. He noted one account of the incident contradicted the account she gave Nifong, saying:

“She was suspended in mid air and was being assaulted by all three of them in the bathroom. And I’ve been in that bathroom and it was very difficult for me to see how that could have occurred.”

None of the students’ DNA was found on or inside her body. And soon, Cooper shared, all these contradictions and lack of credible evidence against the three men started to point “to the fact that this attack did not occur.” Eventually, Cooper declared Seligmann, Finnerty, and Evans innocent of the charges and dismissed the case.

Nifong was disbarred in 2007 for unethical conduct as he withheld evidence that would have cleared the men and made inflammatory statements to the public. Meanwhile, Duke Chronicle reports that Mangum was never prosecuted for perjury after the charges against the lacrosse players were dropped. Per the Associated Press, her mental stability was questioned. Investigators reportedly thought “she may have actually believed the many different stories that she has been telling” at the time.

While prosecutors believed she falsely accused Seligmann, Finnerty, and Evans of rape, Mangum never owned up to making up the allegations — until now. The former exotic dancer, who is currently incarcerated at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women for second-degree murder of her boyfriend in 2013, confessed on the Let’s Talk with Kat podcast that she lied. All this time, none of it was true. It wasn’t even a delusion. It was a lie.

On the episode, which dropped on Wednesday, she told host Katerena DePasquale she has no regrets and “everything happens to get everybody to the point where they are, it’s all to show God’s love and his forgiveness.” Mangum then dropped the bombshell:

“I’m a living witness of God’s forgiveness. That night, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and Dave Evans, they took me into their home and they trusted. The Bible says that you shouldn’t do harm to your neighbor that lives trustingly beside you, and they were my brothers and they trusted me that I wouldn’t betray their trust and I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t. And that was wrong, and I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me.”

What the f**k…

Mangum then said she “made up a story that wasn’t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God,” adding:

“I didn’t need to seek validation from him because I already had it, I just didn’t know it, and I hurt my brothers. I want them to know that I love them and they didn’t deserve that and I hope they can forgive me. And I hope they can heal and trust God and know that God loves them.”

According to the Duke Chronicle, while responding to DePasquale’s interview request, Mangum expressed how she was “not proud” of her actions:

“It’s been on my heart to do a public apology concerning the Duke lacrosse case. I actually lied about the incident to the public, my family, my friends and to God about it, and I’m not proud about it.”

Wow…

Does Mangum even realize the ramifications her actions have had? The harm? Like, actually? Because we don’t think she does. If she did, she would be apologizing to a lot more than just the three guys, who she put through hell all those years ago. She would be begging for the forgiveness of real victims as well. See, Mangum made things a lot harder for women who were actually assaulted moving forward. We all know there are men who don’t believe any women who come forward. They’ll use her admission as more proof for their belief that many — if not all — rape accusations are lies. It’s infuriating.

And what’s even more upsetting? There most likely won’t be any consequences for Mangum. The statute of limitations on perjury charges is generally only two years, according to North Carolina law. That means she can no longer be prosecuted for what she did — no matter how much she just hurt all victims.

You can watch the podcast episode HERE. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments (below).

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.

[Image via Let’s Talk with Kat/Instagram]