TRUE CRIME FRIDAY: THE CORNELL 7

Ninetoes (as well a the staff of Memento Mori Ink) is appalled by the sexual assault at Cornell University, and here are the facts you need to know!

Hey there, true crime lovers! It is your favorite investigator, Ninetoes, coming to you from Ninetoes HQ, and I am on the beat with The Incident at Cornell University. I have my notebook in hand and coffee in my system, so let’s get to it!

Going to college is often a high school senior’s dream. They send out applications to their dream school in hopes of being accepted. When their dream school sends the letter of acceptance, the dream has come true; life could not get any better, and the feeling is like latching on to a shooting star. I am sure that is exactly how Jane Doe felt when she got her acceptance letter from an Ivy League school, Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Little did she know, her dream would turn into a nightmare.

On October 19, 2024, the then 20-year-old Jane Doe began her evening at Cornell’s Tri Delta house. Here, she drank some liquor before she went to a Tri-Delta National’s Alpha Beta Chapter event hosted at Moonies Bar & Nightclub. At the nightclub, her hand was marked as her being underage, yet she was still served alcoholic beverages. Keep that in mind: Moonies Bar & Nightclub served alcohol to a minor.

At around 11:00 p.m., Jane Doe left Moonies and stopped at the Lot 10 bar. From here, she went to the Chi Phi National’s Xi chapter house, alone, at the invitation of her friend, Matthew Ingalls.  Here, she met her friend Ingalls, who suggested they have a threesome with another friend. Ms. Doe was too intoxicated to consent. That did not stop Ingalls from bringing her to his room. Ingalls and his friend, Johnathan Newell, pressured her to snort ketamine and then gave her marijuana and some high-proof rum.

Ingalls then had her perform oral sex on him while Newell engaged in vaginal intercourse. During the act, Newell slapped her buttocks several times (she noticed the bruising the next day). At this point, Gillio Lopes joined in and started kissing Jane Doe while Newell groped her. Lopes and Newell placed Ms. Doe on the bed and continued their sexual assault.

At 1:42 a.m., Newell sent a message out to the Chi Phi members on their Snapchat titled “Chi Phi Activities” encouraging members to come upstairs. The message said, “Free pussy in alum pu”. Winston Lee, Diego Sabria, Scott Norris, and Scott Kretzschmar joined in the assault. Ms. Doe’s phone was on the other side of the room. She said she “felt as if there was no way for her to escape this room full of predatory fraternity men.” She was then forced to snort more ketamine off of Newell’s erect penis. While she was on her back, the seven rapists then poured ketamine on her body and snorted it off.

At one point, she was taken into another room, forced to snort more ketamine, and was assaulted by Ingalls and Lee. With all of the drugs in her system, Ms. Doe was totally incapacitated. By the time it was over, the assault lasted until 5:45 a.m. Ms. Doe was totally incapacitated and woke up later on October 20, 2024.

The punishment  administered by Cornell University was as follows: two students were expelled, and the other five had to write an essay. Yes, you read that correctly. For committing sexual assault on an incapacitated student, the punishment basically boiled down to a slap on the wrist. It should also be noted that the Xi chapter of Chi Phi was immediately suspended from campus, and it remains barred.

No arrests were made as the Thompkins County district attorney found insufficient evidence to file criminal charges. As it stands now. Ms. Doe has filed a lawsuit against Cornell University and the seven Chi Phi fraternity members. The suit claims that the university and the seven members failed to protect Ms. Doe from the assault.

Now, as the incident at Cornell University is breaking nationwide as a result of the lawsuit, it feels like new details are coming out hourly. I am doing my best to keep you up to date as I possibly can.

Close to three weeks passed since the incident on October 19, 2024, and Jane Doe went to the campus police on November 8, 2024. She did not speak with anyone beyond the person who took her statement. There was no follow-up. The campus police failed to obtain key pieces of evidence, including the group chat mentioned in the complaint.

Cornell University conducted an investigation. Two of the aggressors were expelled. That being said, the university claims essays were NOT done in lieu of proper punishment.

The Snapchat invite for the sexual assault went to 57 members of Chi Phi. Five came to partake. That means 52 members stayed silent while this went on. No one called the police. No one went to intervene. No one lifted a finger to help Jane Doe.

In her statement to Cornell University Police, Jane Doe said: “I had become extremely uncomfortable with how this night was turning out, so my thought was, if I do ketamine again, maybe I will pass out.” She also stated, “My thought was that if these men had sex with me, then they could be charged with rape…” She went on to say “…I do remember that both X and X were asking me to have sex so many times, that I finally gave in…to me it felt like coercion…they should have known how intoxicated I was based on how I was slurring my words.”

This statement was turned over to the Thompkins County District Attorney, Matthew Van Houten. Charges were not filed because it was not clear if Jane Doe consented or not. In her six-page statement, she did not mention a rape claim. However, in November 2024, during an interview with Cornell Police, Jane Doe said, “I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped.” The seven men charged have denied that a rape occurred and that the act was consensual. One of the men said he was “genuinely concerned and wanted to investigate what’s going on.”

 Jane Doe had also asked for the remainder of her tuition after the sexual assault because she wanted to leave. Cornell University denied her request, requiring her to remain enrolled for the rest of the term. According to reports, Jane Doe DID leave Cornell University after the sexual assaults.

Further digging has brought up a disturbing fact. Between the years 2018 and 2024, over 1200 incidents of sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, and stalking were reported to Cornell University’s Title IX office. Of those cases, only seven resulted in expulsion.

Darren “Ninetoes” Perdue is a book and media reviewer. When he is not reading, he is watching true crime shows, cooking for his family, or working on a plan for universal domination. If you see him on his porch, say hi. He does not bite…much.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing, nor do the views or opinions of Crystal Lake necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or its staff. Thank you for understanding.