Former Stripper Who Lied About Being Raped by Duke University Lacrosse Players Charged With Stabbing Her Boyfriend
Simon Neville, Daily Mail (London), April 4, 2011
The woman at the centre of the Duke University lacrosse player rape scandal has been charged with trying to kill her boyfriend, police said.
Crystal Mangum is accused of stabbing the man, named locally as Reggie Wilson, in the chest after an argument in the early hours of Sunday morning in the apartment they share in Durham, North Carolina.
The 32-year-old was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, while Wilson was recovering in hospital.
According to Anthony McCullough, Wilson’s cousin, he said the couple had only been dating for a few months but that the 46-year-old was excited.
He added: ‘I told him, with her background, you should be careful.’
The latest arrest comes a year after Mangum was found guilty of child abuse and resisting arrest, among other charges.
She was arrested after smashing the windscreen and slashing the tyres of her then-boyfriend’s car, before going on to set fire to his clothes while her children were in their home.
At the time she claimed her then-boyfriend had attacked her, which a jury dismissed, but found her innocent of arson.
In 2006, she hit the headlines when she claimed three Duke Lacrosse players sexually assaulted her at a party
Duke University lacrosse players Reade Seligmann, Dave Evans and Collin Finnerty were accused of raping her while she was working as a stripper at a party thrown by the team, the Duke Blue Devils.
The case caused a media storm over allegations of racism.
It was alleged the players had asked only for white or Hispanic strippers, but became angry when two black dancers turned up.
Prosecutor Mike Nifong indicted the three on charges of rape, sexual assault and kidnapping.
The university suspended the players, sacked the team’s coach and eventually cancelled the entire lacrosse season.
But the case fell apart because of a lack of evidence and Nifong was forced to resign after scathing criticism over his handling of it.
Last year Mangum was found guilty of child abuse when she smashed her then-boyfriend’s car and burned his clothes while her children were in the house
He was convicted for contempt amid accusations he withheld DNA evidence and made false inflammatory statements about the players to the media.
State prosecutors who took over the case cleared all three of the charges, saying there had been a ‘rush to accuse’ by Nifong.
Afterwards, the three sued the university over their handling of the scandal, and received an undisclosed settlement.
At the time Duke University said it settled to ‘eliminate the possibility of future litigation’, and said it deeply regretted what the students had gone through.
