It Just Keeps Getting Worse: Cornell Police Reportedly Left Student’s Account of Alleged Rape Out of the Files Prosecutors Received

02 Oct 2026, 18:42 · Thought Catalog

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Updated 3 minutes ago, October 2, 2026

A Cornell student spent hours telling university police she was certain she’d been raped, but prosecutors declined to pursue charges based on an incomplete account and never interviewed her, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Oct. 2.

The allegation concerns a gang rape at Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024. Hochul said new reporting showed the student had clearly told police she was certain she’d been raped, yet her account was missing from the material they sent to prosecutors.

The Tudor-style Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University, identified by its “Craigielea” sign and 1868 founding date, stands at the center of a rape allegation involving a former student in Ithaca, New York, on Sept. 30, 2026. Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images.

“She spoke to the police. She sat for hours and told them exactly what happened to her,” Hochul told reporters. “Yet shockingly, those words never made it into the account that the Cornell police sent to prosecutors.”

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten had said the woman’s initial 2024 statement didn’t allege that she’d been drugged or assaulted. On Sept. 28, he announced plans to bring a case involving about 6 suspects before a grand jury to seek a possible indictment. A recently filed civil lawsuit by the accuser preceded the renewed investigation.

A student carrying coffee walks past Cornell Police headquarters on the Ithaca campus on Sept. 30, 2026, as scrutiny mounted over the university’s handling of a sexual assault allegation. Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images.

Van Houten acknowledged the missing information in a statement to USA TODAY: “It has become clear that we were not provided the full picture by the University.” He said his office would cooperate fully with Attorney General Letitia James.

Hochul appointed James to lead the investigation on Oct. 1. Appearing alongside her the following day, the governor called the original investigation “deeply flawed” and criticized Cornell police for providing a partial record. As of Oct. 2, no suspects had been criminally charged.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, joined by Attorney General Letitia James, strides toward a podium at a Manhattan news conference on Oct. 2, 2026, where she appointed James as special prosecutor in the Cornell sexual assault investigation. Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images.

Hochul also backed changing New York’s voluntary intoxication exclusion, which distinguishes between someone forced to consume alcohol or drugs and someone who voluntarily used them. “If someone is too intoxicated to consent, it should not matter if they used drugs or alcohol,” she said, pledging to work with state lawmakers to close the gap.

James said the case is now an active criminal investigation and that her office would share updates as it could.

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