Recording Captures Cornell Frat Brother’s Response After Jane Doe Confronts Him About Alleged Gang Rape
Cornell UniversityCredit: Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty
A Cornell University fraternity brother accused of participating in a gang rape appeared to cast doubt on the alleged victim’s recollection in a recorded phone call obtained by ABC News
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against seven fraternity members and the university on Sept. 16, claiming she was drugged and gang raped in October 2024 while she was a student
“I have racked my brain for this mystery,” Matthew Ingalls, one of the seven defendants, allegedly said on the call. “You know it’s possible that both of us, like, remember this and it’s not true”
A Cornell University fraternity brother accused of participating in a gang rape appeared to cast doubt on the alleged victim’s recollection of the night when she confronted him in a recorded phone call obtained by ABC News.
The woman, who filed a civil complaint under the pseudonym Jane Doe on Sept. 16 in New York Supreme Court, claims she was forced to take ketamine and gang raped while incapacitated over several hours by seven Chi Phi members in October 2024 when she was a 20-year-old student.
In the recorded call, the woman confronts Matthew Ingalls, one of the defendants named in the lawsuit, about that night and how it left her with “so much damage on my body and brain.” The call took place one day before she reported the alleged incident to Cornell University police in November 2024, per ABC News.
“What y’all did would be classified as gang rape… you already knew when I came in… I was 10 shots deep,” Doe told Ingalls, who allegedly responded: “You told me you were sober by the way. You did, you said you hadn’t been anywhere.”
“That is not true,” Doe said on the call, according to ABC News. “I never would have said that.”
Ingalls went on to describe what he recalled from the night, saying that after a few minutes of dancing, he “popped the question” to Doe about a threesome with another man at the party. He reportedly said on the call that Doe agreed and that the three of them went upstairs.
Doe then questioned him about the other men she recalled being on the bed and in the room. Ingalls claimed he also had a lack of memory.
“I have racked my brain for this mystery,” Ingalls said on the call. “You know it’s possible that both of us, like, remember this and it’s not true.”
Doe disagreed, telling him, “No, because I remember looking up and being like ‘That is too many people.’”
She asked Ingalls again what he remembered about the other men being in the room. He appeared to offer a different explanation, saying, “The party was sort of crowded, so people started, like, um, filling up the balcony just because there was nowhere else to go.”
In Doe’s civil complaint, she claims that the same night one of the men sent a message to a Snapchat group chat called “Chi Phi Actives,” saying there was “free p---- upstairs.”
ABC News reported that Ingalls allegedly wrote in the group chat, “Like you can walk in and whip it out.”
The complaint states no criminal charges were filed by prosecutors after she reported the incident to campus police. She said she eventually left the university, which is also named in the lawsuit.
Cornell University said in a recent statement that it conducted its own months-long investigation, which resulted in a range of sanctions for the accused students, including temporary suspensions and expulsions.
Doe’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, has claimed only two of the seven defendants were expelled while the other fraternity members received lesser punishments such as submitting essays, according to CBS News.
“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” the university’s statement read. “A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault.”
According to ABC News, all seven defendants named in the lawsuit have denied the allegations. During the university’s independent investigation, Ingalls allegedly told officials that he himself was too intoxicated to consent, the outlet reported.
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Days after Doe’s lawsuit was filed, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said he would reopen the criminal investigation. But the case soon took another turn when New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed State Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor, citing a loss of faith in local investigators.
“The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued,” Hochul said in a statement. “This action will ensure that the matter is fully and thoroughly investigated without conflict or bias, and handled independently with the rigor that this matter demands.”
In a 2025 Cornell survey, 35% of undergraduate women said they had experienced nonconsensual sexual contact, up from 23% in 2023.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
Source: Crime
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