This week, the exotic dancer who originally claimed that three lacrosse players from Duke University had raped her acknowledged that she made up the 2006 claims that sparked a heated national debate about gender, racism, and class.
Currently serving a jail sentence for second-degree murder, Crystal Mangum said she “made up a story that wasn’t true” against former defendants Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, saying they “didn’t deserve that.”
In an interview that aired this week on podcaster Kate Katerena’s “Let’s Talk with Kat,” she stated, “I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t and that was wrong.”
“I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me and made up a story that wasn’t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God and that was wrong when God already loved me for who I was.”
On March 13, 2006, Duke lacrosse players hired Mangum and another dancer to perform at their party.
In widely reported accusations that touched on sensitive subjects including sex work, racism, and class, she said that she was raped by players.
Although the players’ charges were finally withdrawn, it was later discovered that Mike Nifong, the district attorney for Durham County, had concealed information from defense attorneys that would have freed the guys far sooner. In 2007, the prosecutor was disbarred.
Mangum remarked in the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, “That night, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and Dave Evans took me into their home and they trusted (me).”
According to the Bible, you shouldn’t hurt your neighbors. They were my brothers, and they trusted me to keep their faith.
Now, the 46-year-old hopes the former Duke athletes will accept her apologies, saying she was “searching for validation” when she made up those stories.
When she stated, “I hurt my brothers,” “I want them to know that I love them and they didn’t deserve it and I hope they can forgive me.”
Finnerty, 38, said he has been living under a cloud since 2006 and feels his peer group has not viewed him the same way since, thus the apology was too little, too late.
“Everyone involved has had a difficult time since the incident eighteen years ago,” Finnerty said in a statement to NBC News on Friday. “I hope that her incarceration forces her to consider the repercussions of her behavior.”
In 2013, Mangum was found guilty of second-degree murder for the April 3, 2011, stabbing death of his partner, Reginald Daye. She received a sentence of almost 14 years in jail.
According to North Carolina prison records, she is scheduled to be freed on February 27, 2026.
Emails and phone calls for comment on Friday were not immediately answered by Evans or Seligmann.
