The woman who in 2006 falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her -- making national headlines that stirred tensions about race, class and the privilege of college athletes -- has admitted publicly 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 validation from people and not from God.”
“I testified falsely against them by saying that 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 incarcerated for fatally stabbing her boyfriend in 2011.
The former Duke players, David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, were declared innocent in 2007 after Mangum's story fell apart under legal scrutiny.
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The state attorney general’s office concluded there was no credible evidence an attack ever occurred, and its investigation found no DNA, witness or other evidence to confirm Mangum’s story.
The Durham prosecutor who championed Mangum’s case was disbarred for lying and misconduct. Prosecutors at the time declined to press charges against Mangum for the false accusations.
Mangum said in the podcast interview that she hopes the three falsely accused men can forgive her.
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“I want them to know that I love them and they didn’t deserve that,” she said.
Durham-based podcaster Kat DePasquale said she wrote to Mangum because she was curious about the case that got so much attention, and that Mangum wrote back saying she wanted to talk.
Evans, Seligmann and Finnerty did not immediately return NBC News' telephone, text and email messages seeking their comments on Friday.
