6 things to know about Cornell University gang rape allegations, reopened investigation

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, October 07, 2026

5. Jane Doe’s conversations with roommates

Around 3 a.m. on Oct. 20, 2024, one of Jane Doe’s roommates texted to ask if she was coming home that night. After Jane Doe texted back that she wasn’t sure, the roommate told investigators that she went to sleep, The New York Times reported. 

According to the roommate, Jane Doe arrived back home around 11:15 a.m. still wearing her “big boots and small dress” from the night before. Jane Doe told her roommates that she had consumed ketamine and engaged in sexual activities with multiple men. 

While she did not use words like “rape” or “assault” at the time, one roommate told investigators that it seemed like Jane Doe was “in shock” at the time and “not really understanding the gravity of what she was saying.”

Jane Doe reportedly told one of her roommates that if anyone asked about what happened at the fraternity house, to “say it didn’t happen.” According to the roommate, Jane Doe initially appeared to recall the incident as “this sort of crazy thing that she had done.”

As the days went on, however, the roommate said that she thinks Jane Doe started to realize that what happened was “something bad,” and that “she didn’t really enjoy her time there.”

Jane Doe had been sexually assaulted before, one of the roommates said, which may have made it harder for her to talk about what happened at the fraternity house. 

“I’d have conversations, and she would describe a part of what happened and I would tell her that that is what could be classified as rape,” the roommate said.

A “big sister” mentor at Cornell’s Tri Delta sorority also told investigators that she got the impression that Jane Doe took a while to fully process the situation. The big sister remembered that Jane Doe had laughed at first about some rumors circulating that she was a slut. 

“I could tell that — just from personal experiences — that what she was going through is that she had not yet processed what had happened,” the big sister told investigators.

On Oct. 22, 2024, Jane Doe went to Cornell Health, the medical clinic on the school's campus, to address a urinary tract infection and was tested for sexually transmitted diseases. 

According to a transcript of her conversation with investigators, Jane Doe said that she told the health care professional who treated her that she had contracted the U.T.I. “in a traumatic way.” 

“She didn’t really follow up on that,” Jane Doe claimed. “She just suggested I go to therapy.”