TMZ obtained text messages on October 9 between Jane Doe and accused fraternity member Matthew Ingalls from October 23, 2024 — four days after the party. With campus rumors spreading, Jane Doe wrote anxiously that "everyone knows" and that her reputation was ruined; the two then teamed up to hunt for the "rat" spreading the gossip, with Ingalls replying, "Stupid bitches like to yap… they're jealous of you." The exchange sits in uneasy tension with her later public account and adds to the case's steadily growing evidence trail.
According to the lawsuit and police records, on the night of October 19, 2024, Jane Doe — then a 20-year-old Cornell sophomore — went alone to a Chi Phi fraternity party, where she says she was given alcohol, forced to take ketamine, and sexually assaulted by multiple people while unconscious until about 5:45 the next morning. She reported to campus police on November 8, 2024, undergoing a rape examination the same day. Her final text to Ingalls read: "I don't want to talk to you anymore, you lied."
Media disclosures keep lengthening the evidence chain: the fraternity's "Chi Phi Actives" Snapchat group (about 50 members) sent a "Free p***y" invitation at 1:42 that night, plus a "Shop still open?" — "Yea" exchange. CBS obtained the full 120 pages of Cornell police records, in which she said, "I can say with 100% confidence I was raped"; ABC obtained a call she secretly recorded with Ingalls ("What y'all did would be classified as gang rape"). On the other hand, The Times of London, citing university review documents, reported that she exchanged friendly texts with the accused in the days after the incident; in messages with another accused member, Jonathan Newell, she said she liked being with them ("none of the sexual stuff was illegal"). Newell was that night's registered sober event monitor — the person supposed to stay sober and keep things safe.
The Tompkins County prosecutor declined charges in 2024 but reopened the investigation in September 2026; on October 1, Governor Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor. Cornell's Title IX investigation ended with two expulsions, two suspensions and one person banned from campus; the Ithaca city council is voting on whether to suspend issuing new permits to Cornell. Jane Doe has received death threats.
On September 16, 2026, Jane Doe filed a civil lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court naming seven fraternity members, Cornell University and the Chi Phi fraternity. From the prosecutor shake-up to the city council sanctions push to the daily drip of texts and recordings, the case's public heat keeps rising.