Students in Rolling Stone UVa Rape Story Dispute Victim's Account
Andy, Cindy and Randall—the pseudonyms of three students featured prominently in last month's Rolling Stone article about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia—tell the Washington Post they have doubts about the account given by the victim, Jackie.
University officials tell the Post no one by the name Jackie gave as her attacker has ever attended the school. And photographs Jackie claimed were of the man turned out to be a high school classmate who said he barely knew her, the Post reports.
One of the students, Randall, told the Post he became friends with Jackie but rebuffed her romantic overtures in the fall of 2012. Not long after, Jackie began telling her friends about Drew, a junior from her chemistry class she had been texting with.
According to the Post, Jackie's friends got his phone number and began texting with him too.
He then raved to them about "this super smart hot," freshman who shared his love of the band Coheed and Cambria, according to the texts, which were provided to The Post.
"I really like this girl," the chemistry student wrote in one message. Some of the messages included photographs of a man with a sculpted jawline and ocean-blue eyes.
In the text messages, the student wrote that he was jealous that another student had apparently won Jackie's attention.
"Get this she said she likes some other 1st year guy who dosnt like her and turned her down but she wont date me cause she likes him," the chemistry student wrote. "She cant turn my down fro some nerd 1st yr. she said this kid is smart and funny and worth it."
The three all tell the Post they never met the chemistry student in person and had been unable to find him on social media. Pictures the three saw of the alleged attacker were really social media photos of an old high school classmate, the Post reports. The classmate claims he hasn't spoken to Jackie in years and had an alibi for the night of the alleged attack.
One student told the paper Jackie originally told her there had been five attackers; that number later changed to seven. The Post also reports that Jackie named a second man to "recent friends" that did not match the name she told Andy, Cindy and Randall.
On Friday, The Post interviewed a man whose name is similar to the second one Jackie used for her attacker. He said that while he did work as a lifeguard at the same time as Jackie, he had never met her in person and had never taken her out on a date. He also said that he was not a member of Phi Kappa Psi.
The fraternity at the center of the Rolling Stone allegations has said that it did not host any registered social event on the weekend of Sept. 28, 2012, and it said in a statement that no members of Phi Kappa Psi at the time worked at the campus Aquatic and Fitness Center. A lawyer who has represented the fraternity said that no member of the fraternity at the time matched a description of "Drew" given by Jackie to The Post and to Rolling Stone.
Still, people who knew Jackie at the time stress to the Post that they believe something happened to her that night.
"She had very clearly just experienced a horrific trauma," Randall told the paper. "I had never seen anybody acting like she was on that night before and I really hope I never have to again. ... If she was acting on the night of Sept. 28, 2012, then she deserves an Oscar."