Desperate for validation from people rather than God, an ex-stripper and convicted killer admitted a scandal that rocked the nation nearly two decades ago was all a lie.
Crystal Magnum, a former North Carolina Central University student who garnered international attention in 2006, after she accused members of the Duke University lacrosse team of raping and kidnapping her, admitted during a recent podcast appearance she made up the story out of whole cloth.
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In the years since the fabricated scandal broke out, in which she accused David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann of heinous crimes, Magnum was found guilty of murdering her then-boyfriend Reginald Daye with a kitchen knife. She was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years behind bars for the 2011 murder.
She owned up to her bygone lies during an interview on Katerena DePasquale’s podcast, “Let’s Talk With Kat,” saying, “The Bible says you shouldn’t do harm to your neighbors that live trustingly beside you.”
Magnum continued, “They were my brothers, and they trusted me — that I wouldn’t betray their trust — and I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t. And that was wrong.”
The fallout from the rape allegation was deep and wide, leaving profound destruction in its wake.
At the time, Evans told CBS News of Magnum, “This woman has destroyed everything I worked for in my life. She’s put it on hold. She’s destroyed two other families, and she’s brought shame on a great university. And worst of all, she’s split apart a community and a nation on facts that just didn’t happen and a lie that should have never been told.”
“Your whole life you try to, you know, stay on the right path and to do the right things,” added Seligmann. “And someone can come along and take it all away. Just by going like that. Just by pointing their finger. That’s all it takes.”
In addition to claiming she was sexually assaulted, Magnum falsely accused the athletes of tormenting her with racial epithets — another fabrication the media jumped to report without thoroughly verifying.
That alone led then-Duke President Richard Brodhead to launch a council and a series of committees dedicated to examining the lacrosse team, which ultimately suspended its season for the year.
As the holes in Magnum’s story grew larger, then-North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat, announced in 2007 it had become clear “these cases were the result of a tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations.”
“Based on the significant inconsistencies between the evidence and the various accounts given by the accusing witness, we believe these three individuals are innocent of these charges,” he said. “We approached this case with the understanding that rape and sexual assault victims often have some inconsistencies in their account of a traumatic event. However, in this case, the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred in that house on that night.”
The men falsely accused of horrific actions later successfully sued Duke University and Brodhead for an undisclosed amount. And then-Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, a Democrat, resigned after facing allegations of intentionally withholding DNA results from the athletes’ attorneys, lying to the court, and making misleading statements about the players.
Magnum was never prosecuted for her ruinous lies, although she is now seeking reconciliation for her falsehoods.
“I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me and made up a story that wasn’t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God,” she said. “That was wrong. God already loved me for who I was.”
“I hurt my brothers,” added Magnum during her conversation with DePasquale. “I hope that they can forgive me. And I want them to know that I love them, and they didn’t deserve it.”
When the podcaster first reached out to Magnum, the convicted murderer showed remorse.
From the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, she said, “I actually lied about the incident to the public, my family, my friends, and to God about it, and I’m not proud about it.”
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