RALEIGH, N.C. — The woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her in 2006 — making national headlines that stoked tensions over race, class and the privilege of college athletes — has publicly admitted for the first time that she made up the story.
Crystal Mangum, who is black, said in an interview with the “Let’s Talk with Kat” podcast that she “made up a story that wasn’t true” about the white players who attended a party where she was hired to perform as a stripper. “Because I wanted confirmation from people and not from God.”
“I falsely testified against them by saying they raped me when they didn’t and that was wrong,” Mangum, 46, said in the interview, which was released Monday. The interview was recorded last month at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, where Mangum is imprisoned for fatally stabbing her boyfriend in 2011.
The former Duke players were found innocent in 2007 after Mangum’s story fell apart under legal scrutiny.
The attorney general’s office concluded that there was no credible evidence that an attack ever occurred, and the investigation found no DNA, witnesses or other evidence to corroborate Mangum’s story.
The Durham prosecutor who defended Mangum’s case was suspended for lying and misconduct. Prosecutors at the time declined to press charges against Mangum because of the false allegations.
The former lacrosse players reached an undisclosed settlement with Duke University in 2007 after suing it over its handling of rape allegations.
Mangum, who was convicted of manslaughter in 2013 and is eligible to be released from prison as early as 2026, told the podcast interviewer that she hopes the three falsely accused men can forgive her.
“I want them to know that I love them and that they didn’t deserve that,” she said.
Podcaster Kat DePasquale of Durham said she wrote to Mangum because she was curious about the case receiving so much attention, and that Mangum wrote back saying she wanted to talk.