Crystal Mangum Admits She Falsely Accused 3 Duke Lacrosse Players Of Rape In 2006

She came clean about her 2006 claims during an interview with Katerena DePasquale.

Crystal Mangum, a Durham woman who falsely accused three Duke men’s lacrosse team members of raping her back in 2006, has confessed to making the story up. During an interview on December 11, Mangum asked for the forgiveness of David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann for the false allegations.

Mangum made her shocking confession in an interview on Let’s Talk with Kat, hosted by Katerena DePasquale. It took place at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, as Mangum is currently in prison following being convicted of the second-degree murder of her then-boyfriend in 2013.

She told DePasquale, “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 continued, “I hope that [the players] can heal and trust God and know that God loves them and that God is loving them through me, letting them know that they’re valuable.”

She added that she doesn’t have any regrets about what happened or about what she said because at the time she “wanted validation from people and not from God [but] everything happens to get everybody to the point where they are, and it’s all to show God’s love and His forgiveness, His grace and His mercy.”

In 2006, Mangum’s false claims about the Duke players raping her led to widespread repercussions across the campus, although Evans, Finnerty, and Seligmann were eventually found innocent of the charges due to Mangum’s constantly changing story. At its core, Mangum alleged at the time that on March 13, 2006, the three players raped her at a team house party on 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. after paying for her and another “stripper” to attend.

The case was so big that outrage against the boys spread to the wider Durham, North Carolina community. Despite the case being dismissed years ago, the then-North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper did not pursue prosecuting Mangum for perjury, as at the time, he thought “she may have believed the many different stories that she has been telling.”

Now, the two-year statute of limitation for perjury has passed, and Mangum cannot be prosecuted for lying under oath, despite her recent admission.

Mangum expressed her desire to apologize to the Duke players that she accused when she responded to DePasquale requesting an interview.
According to The Chronicle, she wrote, “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.”