Durham District Attorney will not seek criminal charges in Duke fraternity rape investigation
DURHAM (WTVD) -- After a nearly six-month rape investigation, the Durham County District Attorney's Office has decided against filing criminal charges against members of a Duke University fraternity.
Click here to read a statement from Durham County District Attorney Roger Echols.
A female Duke student claimed she was raped at an off-campus fraternity house on Jan. 8.
Search warrants in the case revealed police searched for evidence at the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity house, a treehouse behind the fraternity and another home next door to the fraternity on Chapel Hill Road.
According to one search warrant, the female Duke student told investigators she attended the party with a friend. She said one of the frat members offered to show her his bedroom. She refused and returned to the party.
She said she was poured a drink of what she was told was "hot chocolate." She said she smelled it and couldn't detect alcohol, "so she thought it was safe."
The next thing she remembered was waking up the following afternoon in a t-shirt she did not recognize and wearing no underwear. The leggings she had been wearing were lying on the floor next to the bed and appeared to be torn.
A text message on the woman's phone said "HA HA, YOU WENT BACK WITH A KID I KNOW... YOU'RE SCREWED."
Court records show investigators found containers that held the hot chocolate at the West Chapel Hill Road house along with women's underwear and blood stains.
According to search warrants, investigators requested information from seven people ranging in age from 18 to 21 years old. ABC11 has not reported their names because they were not criminally charged.
Police also looked at phone records that showed text messages between fraternity members.
They also reviewed the GPS tracker on the victim's phone. It showed her on the same street the fraternity house is on between 11:02 p.m. and 3:23 a.m. on Jan. 8. After that, it showed her phone on South LaSalle Street from 3:31 a.m. until 4:05 a.m. According to the search warrant, the man who left the party with the victim lived on South LaSalle. Then at 4:15 a.m., it showed the victim's phone arriving on the street where her dorm was located.
The woman went to the Duke University Medical Center Emergency Room where she was examined for evidence of rape. A 911 call obtained by ABC11 revealed the alleged rape victim was accompanied by a friend who reported the incident.
The caller said she may have suffered from scratches and bruises. They also told the operator that because the location of the assault is unclear, officers with Duke University Campus Police couldn't help. She requested a Durham Police officer instead.
A Duke University spokesperson says the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity remains under suspension.
