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In the Headlines: The Cornell 7 · Deadly Divas True Crime Podcast

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, True Crime Divas and Dudes.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Tina here with another episode of In the Headlines from your favorite true crime podcast, Deadly Divas.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sarah will be back for our usual Friday episodes.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to start this one off with some transparency.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I host a true crime podcast, and I like learning about true crime.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: But there are some cases that are just so truly upsetting and demoralizing that I struggle to cover them.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And this is one of those.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: But we need to talk about it because if we don't talk about things like this, we cannot prevent them from happening in the future.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we have got to discuss the Cornell 7.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before I get into the details, I need to give a major trigger warning.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: This episode contains allegations of rape, gang rape, sexual assault, drugging, coercion, and incapacitation.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very grim one and it is very upsetting.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: So please listen at your own discretion.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: In October of 2024, an alleged sexual assault occurred at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: But honestly, the words alleged sexual assault don't even begin to describe the depravity of what Jane Doe says happened to her.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Jane Doe, a former Cornell student, alleges that she was drugged and gang raped by multiple fraternity members.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Seven former Cornell students are implicated.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And during this alleged assault, someone sent a message into a fraternity Snapchat group that said, Free pussy upstairs.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: According to the lawsuit, that message was referring to Jane Doe.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, almost two years later, the criminal investigation has been reopened.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: The seven men named in the lawsuit have not been convicted, and as of right now, none have been criminally charged in connection with the incident.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Everything I'm about to describe comes from Jane Doe's civil complaint along with other public records and statements.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So with that said, let's go back to October 19th, 2024.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Jane Doe was 20 years old at the time and attending Cornell University.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: That night she'd been drinking before attending a private Tri-Delta sorority event at Mooney's Bar and Nightclub.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: She was under 21.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: The lawsuit says that her hands were marked to indicate that, and yet she was still served alcohol.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Mooney's disputes that and says bartenders were instructed to serve only guests wearing 21 and over wristbands.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Jane later stopped at another bar before eventually heading alone towards the Chi-Phi fraternity house.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: By the time she arrived, she was already intoxicated.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: She was going there to see Matthew Ingalls, someone she considered a friend.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: According to Jane's lawsuit, once she got inside, Ingalls suggested that she have a threesome with him and another fraternity brother, Jonathan Newell.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Jane says she refused.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Soon afterward, she says Ingalls and Newell began passing around a plastic bag containing a white powder.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: They told her it was ketamine.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And for those who may not know, ketamine is a disassociative anesthetic that can cause heavy impairment, sedation, and disorientation.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Jane says that she had never taken ketamine before.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: She alleges the men pressured her to snort it and she initially resisted, but they kept pushing until she eventually gave in.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: She says she was also given marijuana and high-proof rum.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: So according to Jane, she arrived already intoxicated and then was given ketamine, marijuana, and more alcohol.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And shortly after that, she says the sexual assault began.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Jane alleges Ingalls and Newell began engaging in sexual activity with her without her consent.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: According to the complaint, Newell had vaginal intercourse with her while Ingalls performed oral sex.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Jane alleges Newell repeatedly slapped her buttocks hard enough that she had bruising the next day.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Another fraternity member, Gilio Lopez, later allegedly joined them.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Jane says Lopez kissed her while Newell groped her from behind.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: She alleges Lopez and Newell then put her onto a bed and continued sexual activity without her consent.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then at 1 42 a.m., according to the lawsuit, Newell sent a message to a Snapchat group called Cai Fi Actives.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: The group was used by members of the fraternity chapter.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: The message said, free pussy upstairs.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this message is not hearsay.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: The lawsuit includes a screenshot.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And think about what Jane alleges was happening while that message was being sent.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: She says that she was upstairs, intoxicated, under the influence of ketamine, and already being sexually assaulted.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And meanwhile, somebody allegedly sends a message into a fraternity group chat essentially advertising free access to her body.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like somebody is announcing free beer upstairs.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Except the thing being offered is her, a human freaking being.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: This piece in particular just makes me physically ill.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: And to make matters worse, according to the lawsuit, people responded to the message.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: One account reportedly wrote, This is crazy work.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Another allegedly responded with, like, you can just walk in and whip it out.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And Jane says more fraternity members began coming into the room.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: She says she tried to cover her naked body with blankets.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: She also alleges that Diego Sarabia entered, grabbed her face and kissed her, and that she pushed him away.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Her phone was across the room, and she says that she felt completely trapped.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And she was.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: According to the complaint, at one point all seven men named in the lawsuit were present.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Jane alleges that she was made to take ketamine multiple times throughout the night.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: She says that lines of ketamine were poured onto her body and the men snorted the drug directly off of her skin.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: She says that multiple men sexually assaulted her.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually, according to the complaint, she was taken into another room where she says the assault continued.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: She says this began at about one in the morning, and it continued until about 5 45 a.m.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: She endured five hours of hell.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, she says she lost consciousness.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: When Jane regained awareness later that morning, she eventually made her way back to her sorority house.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And according to her lawsuit, she soon learned that what had happened to her inside Kai Fi was already becoming known around campus.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Her friends encouraged her to report it, but she did not immediately go to the police.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: She waited until November 8th, almost three weeks later, when she says she felt emotionally ready to make the report.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: She went to Cornell University Police, and that same day, Cornell temporarily suspended the Kai Fi chapter.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Temporary suspicions were also issued to the seven students who would later be named in lawsuit.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And from here, two separate processes began.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Cornell started its own university disciplinary investigation, and police and prosecutors handled the criminal side.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Those two processes would end very differently.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Cornell publicly acknowledged the allegations later that month.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: By January of 2025, the university had opened a formal investigation.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: The case eventually went before a hearing panel made up of trained faculty and staff.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Jane and the accused students were able to present testimony and evidence, and there were punishments.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Cornell says the process resulted in suspensions and expulsions.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Jane's attorney says two of the seven men were expelled, which immediately raises the question, what happened to the other five?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: According to Jane's attorney, they received lesser sanctions that included things like suspensions, workshops, and essays.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Cornell has not publicly identified exactly which student received which punishment, citing federal student privacy laws.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the Ci-Fi chapter itself was shut down and remains barred from campus.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And get ready, y'all, because this is where people are absolutely furious, and rightfully so.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: We have got to talk about those essays.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: According to Jane's lawsuit, the accused students were given the opportunity to submit essays to Cornell in an effort to mitigate their conduct before punishment was decided.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, when you hear allegations of a woman being drugged and gang raped, and then hear the words write an essay, your first reaction is probably, are you fucking kidding me?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it should be.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: But this part does need some clarification, just from a legal standing.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: A narrative started spreading online that Cornell basically punished these men by making them write essays and then sent them on their way.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: But Cornell says that is not accurate.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: The university says the essays were mitigation statements submitted as part of the disciplinary process and that no student was allowed to write an essay as the sole consequence for their involvement.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Cornell says temporary suspensions and other restrictions were imposed while the investigation was underway, and the hearing panel later handed down final sanctions that included both suspensions and expulsions.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: But here's why people are still pissed, myself included.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: According to Jane Doe's attorney, only two of the seven men were ultimately expelled, meaning five men accused in this case apparently received punishments short of permanent expulsion.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we don't know that all five simply wrote essays and walked away, and Cornell says that characterization is false.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Some reportedly received suspensions, others may have been required to attend workshops or complete other sanctions.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: But the question people are asking is still understandable.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: If Cornell's own disciplinary process found conduct serious enough to expel two students, what exactly did it find regarding the other five?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And why were they not expelled too?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Cornell will not publicly disclose those individual findings or sanctions.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that lack of transparency is a huge reason this has caused so much outrage.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because from the outside looking in, we know there were seven men named in Jane Doe's allegations.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: We know Cornell held a lengthy internal process.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: We know two were reportedly expelled, and we know five were not.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: What we don't know is exactly what Cornell concluded each of those five men did, or why the university decided something less than expulsion was appropriate in each case.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: So now that I've given you the official on-the-record information, blah, blah, blah, I'm gonna give you my opinion.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, Cornell is gonna say everything was on the up and up and these men were punished appropriately.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're covering their own asses.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Something is very clearly wrong here.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Cornell dropped the ball in a way that is totally inexcusable.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the facts, look at the evidence.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, there's a lot that we don't know, but there's also a lot that we do know, and that paints a very damning picture.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, for almost two years, that was basically where this case stayed.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Cornell had investigated, students had been quote unquote disciplined, the fraternity had been removed, but nobody was arrested, nobody was indicted, nobody was ever even criminally charged.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And nationally, the case pretty much disappeared, which is crazy.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that in and of itself is a crime, in my opinion, that this young woman was allegedly gang raped by seven male students at Cornell University.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this should have been front page, and we don't hear about it until two years later?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Come on.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: So on September 14th, 2026, Jane Doe filed a 101-page civil lawsuit.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: She sued the seven men.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: She also named Cornell University, multiple chi-fi entities, Tri-Delta organizations, Mooney's Bar and Nightclub, and others.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: The lawsuit accuses the student defendants of claims including sexual assault, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: It also alleges negligence and other failures by several of the institutions involved.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: And this is when the case really exploded.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Suddenly, people who'd never heard about what allegedly happened inside that fraternity house, myself included, were seeing the details laid out publicly for the first time.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: The ketamine, the five-hour sexual assault, the evidence, like the Snapchat screenshot and the replies, those stupid fucking essays, and the fact that despite all of this, nobody had ever been criminally charged, which immediately raises a huge question.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Why the fuck not?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where the district attorney and Jane Doe's attorney tell two very different stories.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten says prosecutors reviewed the case in 2024 and did not believe the evidence supported criminal charges.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: More importantly, he says the allegations in Jane Doe's 2026 lawsuit are dramatically different from the statement she gave Cornell Police back in 2024.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: According to Van Houten, Jane's original statement did not say that she'd been unknowingly or forcibly drugged.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: He says it also didn't describe the sexual activity as non-consensual in the same way the lawsuit does now.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: So from the DA's perspective, prosecutors made their decision based on the information they had at the time.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: But Jane's attorney, Thomas Giaofra, says that explanation leaves out something massive.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: He says the DA's office never personally even interviewed Jane.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: He says she made her initial report to Cornell Police, but there was never a proper follow-up interview with prosecutors or a specially trained sex crimes investigator.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, the DA says the story we received in 2024 did not describe the crime being alleged now.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Jane's attorney says you never properly investigated her account in the first place.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: The DA also says his office did not have that group chat when prosecutors originally reviewed the case.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: But Jane's attorney says the authorities were supplied with it.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of a big deal.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because if police had a screenshot saying free pussy upstairs in 2024, but prosecutors never saw it, somebody needs to explain exactly how and why that happened.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And this has actually caused a big uproar on campus at Cornell, as it should.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: The editorial board of the Cornell Daily Sun, the university's independent student newspaper, published an editorial naming all seven defendants.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And they referenced something Cornell itself had written back in 2024.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Only those who perpetrate sexual violence benefit from its concealment.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: The editorial board then addressed the defendants directly.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: We know who you are, and we refuse to let you benefit from this university's concealment.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that is obviously the student newspaper's position, not a judicial finding, but it tells you exactly how angry that community is.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And they have a right to know for their own safety.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: How did something this serious allegedly happen in 2024 and we're only now hearing the full story?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we literally go here.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hello?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So far, at least two of the seven men have publicly responded to the allegations.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Scott Kretschmer's attorney, Jeremy Salland, completely denies the sexual assault allegations against his client.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: He says Scott saw the Snapchat message and briefly entered the room, but never sexually assaulted Jane and never touched her.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Saland also says his client underwent a hair follicle test that did not show ketamine use.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: His position is essentially that participating in or seeing an offensive Snapchat conversation does not prove his client sexually assaulted anyone.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Scott Norris has also responded.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: He denies participating in sexual activity or drug use.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: But he acknowledges that he participated in the Snapchat conversation and briefly entered the room.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: He says he entered when the alleged misconduct was not happening and says Cornell didn't find him responsible for the more serious sexual and drug-related allegations.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is my opinion, but that sounds like a bunch of horse shit to me.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And even if it is true, like y'all didn't stop it?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: You went in, you saw this girl being sexually assaulted by multiple men and you did nothing.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: You went in because you were curious about the free pussy message and then just walked out.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Give me a fucking break.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, on September 28th, 2026, the criminal side of this case suddenly came back to life.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: District attorney Matthew Van Houten announced that his office is reopening the investigation.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that anybody's been charged, and it doesn't mean prosecutors have decided Jane Doe's version is true.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: It just means that they are basically going to go back through the evidence.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Van Houghton says prosecutors have begun speaking with Jane and her attorneys.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: He says his office will review her testimony and any new evidence and determine whether criminal charges are appropriate.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: If prosecutors believe charges are supported, the case will be presented to a Tompkins County grand jury.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: A grand jury actually will not decide guilt or innocence.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: It will instead decide whether there's enough evidence for criminal charges to move forward.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: So while there's a long way to go, Jane's attorney called the reopening of the case a step in the right direction, albeit a late one.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: And late is right, because we are almost two years removed from that night.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And two years is a very long time.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're talking about a college campus here.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: People graduate and move on every single year, and witnesses, testimony, and evidence moves away with them.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, Cornell does say that it supports the DA's decision to reopen the criminal investigation.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: The university also continues to defend its own handling of the case, emphasizing that its investigation process was separate from the criminal system and resulted in serious sanctions, including suspensions and expulsions.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks so much, you guys, for doing the bare minimum.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Literally after you got caught with your pants down and had no other choice.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Round of applause.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that is where this case stands right now.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: The criminal investigation has been reopened.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: The district attorney says the evidence may now go before a grand jury.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: And almost two years after Jane Doe says this happened, the possibility of criminal charges is finally back on the table.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so many organizations dropped the ball here, y'all.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just so disgusted and disheartened.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I truly hope this victim gets some kind of justice.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because looking at the evidence, it's very clear that something overtly traumatic and horrible happened to her that night, and in a place where she should have been safe at school.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm gonna be keeping a close eye on this one, and I'll bring you any critical updates as they come out.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I will leave you with this though.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: If it walks like a cover up, if it talks like a cover up, well, draw your own conclusions.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: I've drawn mine.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay safe and be divas, not deadly.