Cornell fraternity Snapchat messages provide new details on alleged assault

Originally Published: 01 OCT 26 03:41 ET

Updated: 01 OCT 26 17:59 ET

By Jake Tapper, Isa Mudannayake, Danya Gainor, Jason Carroll, Gloria Pazmino, Alex Stambaugh, Jeff Winter, CNN

(CNN) — Snapchat messages exchanged during the alleged assault at Cornell University include a photo of then-student Jane Doe in a room at the fraternity house, according to images of the chain obtained by CNN.

The messages are among the new details that have come to light this week about the alleged gang rape, including what Doe told campus police about the alleged assault and how she grappled with what happened in the weeks that followed.

In the three weeks between when the former Cornell University student was allegedly gang raped at a fraternity house to her describing the night to campus police, Doe appeared to wrestle with shame and her stance had evolved on whether an assault took place, according to records obtained exclusively by the New York Times and corroborated by Doe’s attorney.

In an article published Thursday, the Times cited documents from the university’s formal Title IX investigation that shed new light on how Doe initially viewed the night’s events, discussed them with her roommates and communicated with some of the men before she reported her allegations to university police.

“Ms. Doe’s internal processing went from denial, to shame and ultimately acceptance that she had been raped by people that she thought were her friends,” her attorney, Thomas P. Giuffra, told CNN Thursday. “Her reactions were a textbook reaction to trauma.”

The revelations come after details emerged this week from Doe’s signed police statement, in which she recounted being hit and feeling emotionally coerced into sexual activity while intoxicated.

She also made a more explicit accusation of rape in a November 2024 interview with campus police – the transcript of which Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told CNN his office never received before deciding not to bring charges in the case that has now sparked national outrage.

Van Houten has repeatedly told CNN that his office never received more than the six-page investigative report and the Snapchat.

CNN has not seen the Title IX filings, which are generally confidential and restricted to the parties involved.

Cornell has said police followed protocol and shared “all investigatory information” with the DA. But many questions remain about the initial investigation and what the county district attorney knew about the allegations. Here’s what we know:

Snapchat messages included victim photo

Snapchat messages from a group chat titled “Chi Phi Actives” include a photo of Doe in a room at the fraternity house during the time when messages were being exchanged, according to images of the chain obtained by CNN.

The conversations taking place on the fast-erasing messaging app suggest other photos or videos might have been recovered had there been a more thorough criminal investigation, according to a source close to the case.

CNN has previously reported messages in the group chat that stated “free p*ssy” upstairs and asked, “Shop still open?”

Additional images of messages obtained by CNN include a reference to one member “laying rn,” and other members asking, “are you guys at least naked?” and stating, “Like you can walk in and whip it out rn.”

What the cache of documents reveal

Cornell’s investigation yielded hundreds of pages of emails, text messages, photos andinterviews with Doe, her friends and six of the seven men she accused, according to the Times. The files also included an extensive transcript of the original police interviews with Doe, the Times reported.

After the alleged gang rape at Chi Phi fraternity that began on October 19, 2024, Doe recounted the night’s events to her roommates without identifying herself as a rape victim, the Times reported, citing the files.

The following narrative comes from the Times’ review of the Title IX files it obtained:

Doe reportedly told her two roommates the day she returned home that she had consumed ketamine and had sex with multiple men. One roommate told investigators that Jane Doe did not use the word “rape” or “assault” yet.

One roommate said she could not remember Doe saying yes to anything that occurred while another roommate said it appeared Doe was “in shock,” the roommate told investigators, “not really understanding the gravity of what she was saying.”

The next day, Doe reportedly spoke with her sorority big sister, who later told investigators “what she was going through is that she had not yet processed what had happened.”

Doe had also communicated with at least two of the men she later accused of sexual assault, according to the Times.

One reportedly sent Doe a text message which said: “I just wanted to apologize for how things went down the other night.” The sender said he and another male who was allegedly involved felt terrible and too under the influence of drugs and alcohol to “shut it down and kick people out before it got way out of hand.”

Doe replied to the man reassuringly, the Times reported, saying “non of the sexual stuff was illegal.”

But once she came to terms with what happened, she went to a health professional a few days after the incident, Doe’s attorney told CNN. Giuffra said what happened next marks another failure in the system.

Attorney lambasts Cornell Health

A few days after the incident, Doe went to Cornell Health to get treated for a urinary tract infection and to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases, her attorney said.

“Ms. Doe disclosed to the treating health care professional that she contracted the UTI in a ‘traumatic way,’” Giuffra said about the October 22 visit.

“Ms. Doe’s disclosure warranted further inquiry, including a rape kit, consultation of medical professionals trained to deal with rape cases and a physical exam to document her injuries,” her attorney said. “Inexplicably, all the medical professional did was to advise Ms. Doe to ‘speak with somebody.’”

CNN asked the university for comment on Giuffra’s claims against Cornell Health. “At this time, we have no new information” beyond Cornell’s previous statements about the case, a Cornell spokesperson said Thursday.

Giuffra said Cornell Health failed to act during a critical window for obtaining evidence.

“Timing is vital for rape kits because DNA evidence is lost over time,” the attorney said. “Critically, two days after the assault, a rape kit would likely have revealed DNA which would have been significant information for a criminal investigation. However this was not offered or suggested.”

‘I am glad it was leaked’

Doe’s attorney said he doesn’t know whether the trove of details from the Title IX investigation was ever given to Cornell police.

“I believe that the information was not, because what is contained in the proceedings is evidence of several crimes being committed with excellent supporting evidence,” Giuffra said in a statement to CNN.

Giuffra said his office did not give the documents to the Times – but he’s grateful someone did.

“There are strict privacy policies in Title IX proceedings and access to these documents are limited to school officials, involved parties and their lawyers,” Giuffra said in his statement. “I want it to be clear that we were not responsible for leaking these documents.”

But “frankly, I am glad it was leaked,” he said. “It just shows how badly this whole tragedy was handled from all sides. Even medical providers did not do the right thing.”

Report details how Doe came to understand the night as assault

In the weeks after the alleged gang rape, interviews with Doe, her roommates and her sorority big sister describe a 20-year-old sophomore realizing the severity of the night’s events and understanding them as an alleged assault, according to the Times.

The documents reportedly detail how rumors about the alleged gang rape led her to fear reputational damage and left her humiliated.

It was an evolution of thought complicated by Doe’s history as a sexual assault survivor, the Times reports, citing the documents. In the six-page summary signed by Doe to police, she described having a prior “traumatic experience” regarding sexual intercourse.

After the alleged rape, Doe saw comments on an online forum about Greek life about Chi Phi brothers drugging and gang raping a sophomore, which she later told investigators: “That’s the first time I had ever heard the narrative change that I wasn’t a whore and that I was assaulted,” the Times reported.

On Nov. 3, Doe texted one of the men, explicitly saying that what happened on that October night was not consensual. According to the Times, she wrote: “let’s be clear that 90% of what happened that night was not consensual. i was given more key than i can remember,” using a shorthand for ketamine, “and i know that i told u i felt uncomfortable and i didn’t know anyone in the room.”

Before going to campus police, Doe reportedly collected evidence, including photos of the bruises on her body allegedly caused by one of the men hitting her. She also had not washed the dress to save as potential evidence, the Times reports.

On Nov. 7, Doe went to an emergency room in Ithaca, where Cornell is located, and requested a rape kit, the Times reported, citing the documents.

What Doe told Cornell police in 2024

In a 2024 statement to Cornell police, obtained by CNN from a source familiar with the investigation, Doe recounted arriving at the Chi Phi fraternity house and dancing with one person who asked if she would be interested in participating in a threesome. Doe told police she was “pretty ok” with aspects of an initial encounter, but that later in the night she did not consent to other sexual activities, according to the six-page statement.

“I felt like I was unable to make any decisions because of how intoxicated I was,” she said in the statement. Doe said she felt like her overall intoxication level at one point was about an “8 out of 10” — which she said was the most intoxicated she had been in her life.

She described being “pretty incapacitated,” feeling uncomfortable, swatting one man’s hand away several times and being “horrified” as more men entered the room they were in. She said she “finally gave in” to one later encounter after she was asked “to have sex so many times,” according to the statement.

“To me that felt like coercion,” she said in the statement. “Also, I felt like due to my intoxication, they should have known how intoxicated I was based on how I was slurring my words.”

Frat member advised Doe to avoid Halloween party, source says

Cornell’s internal investigation revealed Doe planned to return to the fraternity house the following week for a Halloween party, according to two sources familiar with the school’s Title IX investigation.

But a fraternity official spoke with Doe before the party and advised her not to go, one of the sources told CNN. The source said fraternity members, Doe’s friends and Doe herself mentioned this in their testimonies during Cornell’s investigation.

“It was all part of her processing what had happened. She was still in the denial stage,” her attorney said. “She could not accept what happened to her.:

In the following days, Doe reported the October incident to Cornell police, according to her lawsuit.

‘I can say with 100% confidence I was raped’

Doe made a more explicit accusation of rape in a separate document, according to CNN affiliate WCBS. The station obtained a transcript of a November 2024 interview with campus police from a source.

“I can say with 100% confidence I was raped,” Doe said in the transcript, according to WCBS.

CNN has not seen the transcript and has asked Cornell for a copy but has not heard back. The transcript is a separate document from the six-page statement that was submitted by the university.

Beyond alleged emotional pressure, Doe told police in the statement she was physically hit and remembered feeling hurt. “One hit in particular sent a sharp pain through me,” she said. The student also described noticing bruising on her body the following day.

Doe also said she “had become extremely uncomfortable with how this night was turning out” and thought, “if I passed out and the men had sex with me, then they could be charged with Rape,” the statement reads.

Doe told police she remembered consuming a “heavy amount” of ketamine, smoking marijuana and having “various things” poured on her body. She said she initially agreed to having drugs consumed off her body while feeling “extremely tired” but “couldn’t tell what they were pouring on me.”

Doe reported the alleged incident to Cornell police on November 8, 2024, weeks after the alleged assault, according to a civil complaint filed last month. In the days following the alleged incident, she was “traumatized, numb and unable to function or accept the horror of what had happened,” her attorney told CNN.

DA’s office says it never received the transcript

Van Houten told CNN his office was not given the interview transcript before deciding no charges should be filed in the investigation.

Van Houten told CNN on Wednesday morning that the university had still not provided his office with the transcript. CNN had also reached out to Van Houten about whether it received the Title IX filings.

The DA said it was Doe’s six-page statement that determined no charges should be filed, adding, “Multiple prosecutors and criminal investigators reviewed Jane Doe’s statement and correctly determined the alleged facts as set forth in the statement do not constitute a crime.”

Van Houten said he learned of the more explicit allegation made in the interview when he was contacted by WCBS on Tuesday evening and said his office will be investigating the reported statements “fully.”

When reached by CNN about the DA’s comments, a Cornell University spokesperson did not specifically address the transcript but said it “shared all investigatory information” with the DA’s office.

The university likely did not break any laws if it did neglect to share all relevant documents with the DA, said former prosecutor Gary Galperin. But he said not sharing all documents would violate “all principles of what’s logical and decent.”

The DA’s comments Wednesday raised new questions about what law enforcement knew in the weeks after the alleged assault and why no criminal charges were filed.

“It is a case that, clearly, just on the face of her statement, is so complex and so nuanced,” former Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah said

“If you’re an investigator trying to get at the truth, as this DA office should have been, they should have sought more information,” she added.

Van Houten canceled his scheduled appearance on CNN Wednesday evening, saying, “At this time I need to shift my focus to the investigation and to pursuing the additional evidence that has recently come to light.”

He said his office will keep the public informed of developments in the investigation and any action of the Tompkins County Grand Jury.

What’s changed, and what hasn’t

After Doe’s allegations, “Cornell established the Presidential Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault, comprising faculty, staff, and students, in early 2025,” the university said.

“Our goal is not simply to respond appropriately when sexual misconduct is reported, but to build a community in which sexual violence is prevented, people feel safe coming forward, those who do are supported, and individuals found responsible are held accountable.”

But some Cornell students who were on campus in 2024 said the university’s response hasn’t been enough.

“The main problem I see in the university’s response … is the lack of ownership,” said Hayden Watkins, executive vice president of the Cornell Student Assembly.

He also said the school’s task force on campus sexual assault is not representative.

“There’s been very little student voice throughout this entire process,” Watkins said. “That task force included roughly 20 individuals, but only two people were undergraduate students.”

Scrutiny grows nationwide

The unfolding details of Jane Doe’s case have sparked renewed attention to the ongoing topic of sexual assault awareness and prevention on college campuses.

Doe’s attorney has said Cornell expelled two of the seven accused students while the others received lesser punishments, including suspensions, workshops or written assignments.

Cornell has countered that claim, saying “none of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Cornell has agreed to an outside investigation to “determine whether Cornell met every obligation to protect its students and pursue justice,” she told CNN. The university confirmed that it agreed to the investigation and declined to provide further details.

The Chi Phi national fraternity said Wednesday that it condemns sexual assault and drug and alcohol abuse, and three days after Doe filed a police report, the fraternity chapter “voted unanimously to remove the accused members from its rolls” and “recommended that our national fraternity permanently expel them,” which it said the fraternity’s Grand Council did in a subsequent meeting.

“These actions went beyond anything the law or Cornell University required of us,” the fraternity added in the statement.

The school also said it had closed that chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024, and that the chapter remains barred from campus.

It is unclear if any of the accused men are still Cornell students.

Help is available: For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on online.rainn.org.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.