The woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her in 2006, causing national headlines and sparking debates about race, class, and college athlete privilege, has publicly admitted for the first time that she made up the story.
Crystal Mangum, a Black woman, admitted in an interview with the “Let’s Talk with Kat” podcast that she “made up a story that wasn’t true” about the white players who attended a party where she was hired to perform as a stripper “because I wanted validation from people and not from God.”
Mangum, 46, stated in the Monday-released interview, “I falsely testified against them by saying they raped me when they didn’t, and that was wrong.”
The interview was recorded last month at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, where Mangum is incarcerated for fatally stabbing her boyfriend in 2011.
Legal scrutiny unraveled Mangum’s story, declaring the former Duke players innocent in 2007. The state attorney general’s office concluded that there was no credible evidence of an attack, and its investigation turned up no DNA, witnesses, or other evidence to back up Mangum’s claims.
Jim Cooney, one of the former players’ lawyers at the time, told The Associated Press that Mangum’s allegations created a “enormous tornado of destruction” for countless people involved, including the accused men. “National media wrongfully vilified them as ‘racially motivated rapists,'” Cooney said.
Mangum’s Durham prosecutor faced disbarment due to his lying and misconduct. Prosecutors at the time declined to file charges against Mangum for making false accusations.
The former lacrosse players reached an undisclosed settlement in 2007 after suing Duke University over the handling of the rape allegations.
Mangum, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2013 and could be released from prison as early as 2026, told the podcast interviewer that she hopes the three falsely accused men will forgive her.
“I want them to know that I love them, and they didn’t deserve that,” she told me.
Kat DePasquale, a Durham-based podcaster, said she contacted Mangum because she was curious about the case that had received so much attention, and Mangum responded by saying she wanted to talk.
Cooney described Mangum’s apology as sincere and “a good first step,” but he said the decision to forgive her is ultimately up to the three former lacrosse players.
“It’s going to be in their obituaries and personal biographies forever,” Cooney said of the three men.
