An upstate New York prosecutor this week reopened an investigation right into a 2024 incident at Cornell College during which a former undergraduate scholar filed a lawsuit alleging she was drugged and raped by seven males on the Chi Phi fraternity home.
Here’s a timeline of key occasions within the case primarily based on ABC Information reporting, police paperwork, official statements from Cornell and the Tompkins County District Lawyer’s Workplace, and a lawsuit filed by the alleged sufferer, recognized solely as Jane Doe.
USA, New York, Finger Lakes Area, Ithaca, Cornell College, elevated view of McFaddin Corridor, summer season
Walter Bibikow/Getty Pictures
August 2022 – Jane Doe begins her freshman yr at Cornell College in Ithaca, New York.
Oct. 18, 2024 – A person overdoses on ketamine “on or about October 18, 2024” on the Chi Phi fraternity home, in keeping with a heavily redacted report obtained by ABC Information that was ready by Cornell College from a sequence of hearings the college held in 2025 as a part of its inside investigation of Jane Doe’s allegations.
Oct. 19-20, 2024 – Jane Doe alleges she was drugged and “gang raped” by seven males throughout a celebration on the Chi Phi fraternity home to which she was invited by one of many males she has accused of assaulting her, in keeping with Jane Doe’s lawsuit. She arrived on the celebration, in keeping with investigation paperwork, already intoxicated after consuming alcohol at her sorority home and at two bars.
In a later assertion to police, Jane Doe, who was 20 on the time, stated she was carded when she entered the bars, and one of many institutions marked her hand with an X indicating she was below 21, and the opposite gave her an under-21 wristband to put on. Nevertheless, she says she was in a position to buy a drink at one of many bars and solely briefly stayed on the different, however made no point out of ordering alcohol there. Neither bar has issued an announcement.
Jane Doe says she continued ingesting alcohol as soon as arriving on the Chi Phi fraternity home and accepted medication earlier than agreeing to take part in a sexual threesome and subsequently shedding consciousness. One of many medication Jane Doe alleges she was pressured to ingest is ketamine.
The Chi Phi fraternity home at Cornell College in Ithaca, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 28, 2026.
Heather Ainsworth/AP Picture
Oct. 20, 2024 – Within the early morning hours, one of many fraternity members allegedly messages the fraternity’s Snapchat group to assert there was “free” intercourse upstairs.
Oct. 23, 2024 – Jane Doe exchanges text messages with the person who invited her to the Chi Phi fraternity home celebration, later recognized in her civil lawsuit as Male No. 1. Apparently referring to rumors spreading in regards to the sexual exercise that occurred on the fraternity, she writes, “My popularity is destroyed and I am totally ashamed.” In the identical alternate, she additionally texts, “everybody must develop up as a result of sexuality and intercourse and [stuff] is altering and stuff like that is going to change into extra frequent. i am additionally actually open minded tho. i like u king.”
Oct. 30, 2024 – In one other textual content message, Jane Doe writes to Male No. 1 that she was “uninvited” to a Chi Phi occasion. “i do know this was going to occur. the girl will at all times get the quick finish of the stick,” she writes. “yall aren’t my mates. yall are protecting your a****.”
A scholar walks previous a Cornell College register Ithaca, N.Y., September 28, 2026. (AP Picture/Heather Ainsworth)
Heather Ainsworth/AP Picture
Nov. 7, 2024 – In a textual content message to Jane Doe obtained by ABC Information, Male No. 1 writes he’s involved he’s “being labeled an assaulter.” Jane Doe replies partially “I have never stated something” and in the identical textual content alternate additionally says, “i do know there are rumors i used to be gang banged.”
Nov. 8, 2024 – Jane Doe writes to Male No. 1 in a textual content message, “i feel i am accomplished speaking to you. i do know you lied.” That very same day, she information a report with the Cornell College police, telling them in regards to the alleged sexual incident that occurred on the Chi Phi fraternity home between her and members of the fraternity. Additionally that very same day, the college locations the Chi Phi fraternity chapter on non permanent suspension for alleged violations of the scholar code of conduct and points non permanent suspensions to a number of college students concerned within the incident.
Nov. 14, 2024 – Jane Doe makes a formal statement to Cornell campus police, who ask the Tompkins County District Lawyer’s Workplace to assessment it and decide whether or not a criminal offense had been dedicated. Prosecutors determine to not file fees.
Cornell College Police automobiles on campus in Ithaca, New York, US, September 29, 2026.
Lauren Petracca/Reuters
Nov. 26, 2024 – Cornell Interim President Michael Kotlikoff issues a statement describing “severe and deeply disturbing allegations of drug abuse and sexual violence on the Chi Phi fraternity home.” The assertion says campus police “continues to pursue its prison investigation” and the college’s “Workplace of Scholar Conduct and Group Requirements and the Workplace of Institutional Fairness and Title IX have been diligently reviewing all reported info relating to the numerous allegations which were acquired pertaining to occasions on the fraternity.”
The assertion additional says that the Chi Phi fraternity “stays below a brief suspension order that was issued on November 8, 2024, for alleged violations of the Scholar Code of Conduct. As well as, late final week, interim measures within the type of non permanent suspensions had been issued for a variety of college students to guard the quick bodily well being and security of all college students.”
In an announcement, Cornell says the Chi Phi fraternity was closed in 2024 and “stays barred from campus.”
Trey Robb, the interim government director of Chi Phi Fraternity, says in an announcement that each one the accused members had been kicked out of the Cornell chapter inside three days of Jane Doe submitting her police report in 2024.
Jan. 14, 2025 – Cornell commences a Title IX investigation in response to Jane Doe’s formal criticism filed with the college’s Title IX coordinator, in keeping with Jane Doe’s lawsuit.
Feb. 6, 2025 – Kolikoff and Cornell Provost Kavita Bala announce the institution of the Presidential Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault, “to deal with addressing and stopping sexual assault on campus – a severe and chronic downside, each nationally and right here on our campus.” The announcement says the duty drive will ship a report that summer season “that outlines evidence-based methods for addressing sexual assault at Cornell, together with a timeline for implementation, metrics for achievement, and a plan to institutionalize this work.”
College students strolling on Cornell College Campus with McGraw Clock Tower within the background.
Arlutz73/Getty Pictures
Could 2 to Could 29, 2025 – Cornell’s Title IX Workplace conducts a minimum of 12 hearings on Jane Doe’s allegations, conducting 50 interviews with 32 witnesses, together with the boys Jane Doe alleges assaulted her. In accordance with a closely redacted report of the hearings obtained by ABC Information, Jane Doe describes her night at a fraternity home surrounded by a number of males: “I felt like bait,” she says. ‘I felt like lions round me. It simply was a completely debilitating place to be in.”
Nov. 4, 2025 – Cornell releases the outcomes of the 2025 Cornell Survey of Sexual Assault and Related Misconduct (SARM), exhibiting 35% of undergraduate girls and eight% of undergraduate males reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact involving drive or incapacitation since attending Cornell.
Sept. 16, 2026 – Jane Doe information a civil lawsuit in opposition to Cornell, the Chi Phi chapter, her Delta Delta Delta sorority, and others, together with the seven males she alleges drugged and raped her on the Chi Phi fraternity home.
Sept. 21, 2026 – The Cornell Day by day Solar, the scholar newspaper, publishes an editorial condemning the college’s dealing with of the incident. “Cornell has failed to guard its college students,” the editorial says, partially.
Tomkins County District Lawyer Matthew Van Houten.
ABC Information
Sept. 27, 2026 – Tompkins County District Lawyer Matthew Van Houten issues a statement saying that after talking with Jane Doe and her legal professional, he’s reopening the investigation. Van Houten additional stated that in her sworn assertion to Cornell police, Jane Doe didn’t allege she was drugged in opposition to her will or gang raped. “Quite the opposite, Jane Doe’s assertion described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, acutely aware, and consensual,” says Van Houten, who releases a abstract of Jane Doe’s preliminary police assertion.
Sept. 28, 2026 – Legal professionals for 2 of the seven males accused within the case, Scott Kretzschmar and Scott Norris, difficulty statements denying their purchasers had been concerned within the alleged sexual assault.
The identical day, the Ithaca Police Division issues a statement saying that the sexual assault alleged by Jane Doe “was not reported to the Ithaca Police Division,” which “discovered of those allegations just lately by way of the media.”
Responding to questions on why the college did not convey within the Ithaca police to analyze the allegations, Cornell points an announcement saying, “The Cornell College Police Division is a unit of the college, and its officers are particular deputy sheriffs pursuant to NY Academic Legislation 5709 whose duties embody the enforcement of legislation and order on Cornell property. This incident occurred in Cornell’s jurisdiction.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul requires an outdoor investigation into Cornell’s campus tradition and its response to Jane Doe’s allegations.
WABC
Sept. 29, 2026 – New York Gov. Kathy Hochul calls for an outside investigation into Cornell College’s campus tradition and its response to Jane Doe’s allegations. In an interview with ABC Information that very same day, Van Houten defends his workplace’s 2024 resolution to not convey fees within the case whereas on the identical time describing the allegations as “morally disturbing.”
Later that day, Hochul says Cornell College agrees to provoke an impartial investigation, and the college points an announcement saying, “Cornell shares Governor Hochul’s dedication to addressing campus tradition points, which have an effect on universities throughout the nation and New York. We’re dedicated to persevering with to work with state officers to advance scholar security and wellbeing.”
ABC Information obtains the complete assertion Jane Doe gave to Cornell police in October 2024. In components of the assertion not included in Van Houten’s abstract, Jane Doe told officers that the incident on the Chi Phi fraternity home “felt like coercion.”
That very same day, an legal professional for Gillio Lopes, a 3rd man accused within the alleged rape, issued an announcement denying the allegations in opposition to his shopper.
Oct. 1, 2026 – Hochul on Thursday stated she issued an government order to nominate Lawyer Common Letitia James as a particular prosecutor for the alleged “gang rape” that occurred at a Cornell fraternity in 2024.
“Newly launched info continues to lift severe questions in regards to the investigation carried out by the Cornell Police Division and the choice by the Tompkins County District Lawyer to not prosecute an alleged sexual assault on Cornell College’s campus,” Hochul stated in an announcement.
“This has, in flip, undercut my religion, and the general public’s religion, within the District Lawyer’s skill to successfully examine and prosecute the case at the moment,” Hochul added.
In an announcement, James stated she is “prepared to steer a course of New Yorkers can belief, guided by the info and the legislation.”
