Cornell Fraternity Brother Claims He’s the Real Victim of Jane Doe

A Cornell University fraternity brother accused of sexually assaulting a fellow student last fall has suggested that was abused by her, according to a new report.The disclosure is contained in newly surfaced records that suggest the fraternity spent weeks working to contain the scandal rather than confront it.The men named in the civil suit — including Matthew Ingalls, who allegedly invited the accuser to the Chi Phi house the night of the incident — have denied any wrongdoing, and no criminal charges have been filed against them. Their attorneys have pointed to Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten’s own finding of insufficient evidence as proof the men were wrongly dragged through a public ordeal. Text messages, phone recordings, and internal school documents obtained by ABC News paint a different picture of the fraternity’s early response: One focused less on the allegations themselves and more on keeping the accuser, referred to as Jane Doe, “not upset about the situation.”During Cornell’s investigation into the incident, Mr. Ingalls said he was too intoxicated to have consented to sex and claimed that Ms. Doe assaulted him, according to school records reviewed by ABC. Those records also show a chapter scrambling the moment it learned of its suspension. “F—-,” one brother wrote in a group chat, “Should I call [Jane]?” Chi Phi’s then-president told him to wait.The accuser’s own account of the October 2024 encounter shifted in the weeks that followed. In a recorded phone call the day before she reported the incident to Cornell police on November 8, Ms. Doe told Mr. Ingalls, “The only way for me to heal is to know what happened. That’s why I’m trying to just piece it together, you know, like, I’m just, like, confused,” according to a recording.Later in the same call, she was more direct: “What y’all did would be classified as gang rape.” Mr. Ingalls disputed her characterization, responding, “It’s possible that both of us, like, remember this, and it’s not true.”Investigators also found that Mr. Ingalls had pushed a witness to “submit new evidence” on his behalf, telling her, “Even if [Jane Doe] found out, it doesn’t matter; if the evidence is convincing enough to let us go, then it’s proof she lied,” per the records.Cornell’s own investigation, carried out between November 2024 and May 2025, led to two expulsions and several suspensions. The university has since hired an outside law firm to review how administrators handled the case.A second report, published by NBC News, focuses not on the fraternity but on the Cornell University Police Department’s handling of the case. An anonymous student told NBC she gave investigators leads connected to the alleged assault, including a Chi Phi Snapchat message referencing “free p—-” sent from the room where the incident reportedly occurred. She said she came away feeling her tip “wasn’t handled” appropriately.Police records cited by NBC indicate that investigators gathered numerous witness statements and anonymous tips but never passed that information along to local prosecutors for a charging decision. Mr. Van Houten has said fraternity members declined interviews on their attorneys’ advice and that he ultimately lacked sufficient evidence of criminality to bring charges — a decision that has drawn sharp criticism.That criticism appears to have reached the governor’s office. Last week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul removed Mr. Van Houten from the case and named state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor. The move has already drawn scrutiny of its own: Ms. James previously expressed support for Ms. Doe in a Facebook post, leading at least one defense attorney to call for her recusal. Ms. James has not addressed the post directly, saying only that her investigation will follow “the facts and the law.”

Cornell Fraternity Brother Claims He’s the Real Victim of Jane Doe

Cornell Fraternity Brother Claims He’s the Real Victim of Jane Doe

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