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Ex-Stripper Admits to Falsely Accusing Duke Lacrosse Players of Rape in 2006: "I Hope..."
Crystal Mangum is currently incarcerated after being convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of her boyfriend in 2013.
A former stripper who accused Duke lacrosse players of rape in March 2006 has since admitted it was all a lie.
Crystal Mangum made the shocking admission on a Dec. 11 episode of the Let's Talk with Kat podcast. In her conversation with host Katerena DePasquale, Mangum said that she lied about being sexually assaulted by Duke lacrosse team players Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evan on the night of March 13, 2006, leading to kidnapping, rape and sexual offense charges against the men — all of which were ultimately dropped — because she sought "validation."
"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,” Mangum said on the podcast. “[I] made up a story that wasn't true because I wanted validation from people and not from God.”
Mangum hopes that Seligmann, Finnerty, and Evan will find it in their hearts to forgive her as she now understands the error in her ways. "I want them to know that I love them and they didn’t deserve that," she said.
Since the statute of limitations on perjury charges is two years, Mangum is not expected to be charged, The Duke Chronicle reported.
Crystal Mangum's Sexual Assault Accusations Against Seligmann, Finnerty, and Evan
In March 2006, Mangum accused Seligmann, Finnerty, and Evan of sexually assaulting her at a Duke lacrosse team party held at an off-campus residence. In the early morning hours of March 14, 2006, Crystal, then a single mother attending North Carolina Central University in Durham, said she was attacked by three college students as they hurled racial slurs at her, according to the New York Times.
After filing a report with authorities, Mangum was shown photos of players from the lacrosse team, at which point she identified Seligmann, Finnerty, and Evan as the assailants, the N.Y. Times reported. The men were all charged with rape, sexual offense, and kidnapping, though the rape charge was dismissed in December 2006.
From the start, all three men maintained their innocence and accused Durham County district attorney Michael B. Nifong of mishandling the case.
Seligmann, Finnerty, and Evan's names were ultimately cleared a year after the accusations emerged when North Carolina’s attorney general, Roy A. Cooper, determined that there was insufficient evidence to support Mangum's claims.
"We believe that these cases were the result of a tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations,” Mr. Cooper said.
Cooper declined to press charges against Mangum for her role in the scandal, citing confidential reports about her mental health.
Nifong was disbarred in 2009 after the North Carolina Bar disciplinary committee found he committed multiple ethics violations, per an ABC News report.
Seligmann, Finnerty, and Evan sued former University President Richard Brodheads and Duke University for mishandling the case, per CNN. They settled the lawsuit against the University and Brodheads for an undisclosed amount, while a separate lawsuit against the City of Durham resulted in the city making a one-time grant of $50,000 to the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission.
What happened to Crystal Mangum?
Mangum once again made headlines when she was arrested for attempted murder and arson following a physical altercation with her boyfriend, Milton Walker, NBC News reported. She was convicted of child abuse, injury to personal property, and resisting a public officer, and sentenced to 88 days, though she was given credit for time already served while awaiting trial, according to WRAL.
Then, a year later, Mangum was arrested for the murder of her boyfriend, tradesman Reginald “Reggie” Daye. The 46-year-old man was stabbed in the stomach by Mangum in the heat of an argument, as detailed in an episode of Oxygen's Snapped. Though Daye survived the attack initially, he died in the hospital 10 days later.
Mangum was found guilty of second-degree murder in connection with Daye’s death and sentenced to 14 to 18 years behind bars. She's currently serving out her sentence at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, where she spoke to producers for the Oxygen series Snapped: Behind Bars.
In her interview on Snapped: Behinds Bars, Mangum said that she was not the aggressor in the fight with Daye, explaining that she stabbed him in self-defense. "I regret that he lost his life. I felt like I didn’t have any other choice," she said.
Mangum is scheduled to be released from prison in 2026, per the North Carolina Department of Corrections.
