Some of the fraternity brothers later accused of sexual assault at Cornell University attempted to contain the allegations in the weeks following the incident, apparently worried about what would happen to their own reputations and futures on campus, according to text messages, phone calls, and other records reviewed by ABC News. 

Students who later spoke to campus authorities described the efforts by some in Chi Phi as “damage control” to ensure the woman allegedly assaulted — now known as Jane Doe — was “not upset about the situation,” according to school records reviewed by ABC News. 

The fraternity brothers’ efforts came as Jane Doe’s perception of what occurred that evening in October 2024 appeared to change from believing the sexual encounters were largely consensual to describing them in a phone call as a “gang rape.” 

“The only way for me to heal is to know what happened,” the woman, then a Cornell junior, told one of her alleged attackers, Matthew Ingalls, over the phone one day before she went to the Cornell University Police Department on Nov. 8, according to a recording of the call obtained by ABC News. “That’s why I’m trying to just piece it together, you know, like I’m just like confused.”

Ingalls, according to police records of the incident, invited Jane Doe to the fraternity house. He has not responded to requests for comment but previously denied wrongdoing as have the other brothers named in a civil suit brought by Doe. Ingalls has not been charged with a crime.

During Cornell’s investigation, he said he was too intoxicated to consent and suggested that Jane Doe actually assaulted him, according to school records reviewed by ABC News. 

The Oct. 19, 2024 incident at the Chi Phi house has led to a national outcry and brought renewed urgency to the American debate over sexual violence and what constitutes consent between adults when alcohol, drugs and pressure intersect. 

ABC News has reviewed records from Cornell’s internal investigation — which began in November 2024 and lasted through May 2025 — as well as communications between the students at the center of the allegations that shed light on how Doe’s account of the incident evolved, as the men involved appeared to portray the story to seem more benign.

Jane Doe has described an evening that started casually when she went to visit her friend and his fraternity house. It soon would turn into a nightmare, she later told police, as a sexual encounter between Jane Doe and two men grew to include others all while she was plied with alcohol and drugs.   

“They tried to contact [Jane] almost every day after it happened to, I guess, keep them on her good side and keep her happy and not upset about the situation,” Jane Doe’s friend later told campus authorities the following May, according to records reviewed by ABC News. 

Those efforts apparently were unsuccessful. Jane Doe reported the incident to Cornell Police as a rape and the allegations triggered a response from the leadership of Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter, according to text messages obtained by ABC News. 

“F—-,” one brother wrote in a group chat on Nov. 8, 2024. “Should I call [Jane]?” 

“Wait a bit for me and [Executive Board] to figure out what we’re doing cuz there are a couple of other things going on,” the fraternity’s president wrote. “When was the last time you spoke to [Jane]?”

The same day that Jane Doe went to police, Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity was suspended, and the allegations triggered a monthslong investigation by Cornell University, which resulted in two men being expelled while others were suspended.

Cornell Police began investigating the incident in November 2024, memorializing her first report: “A female undergraduate student reported that she was recently raped by 8-10 men at the Chi Phi fraternity house.”

Prosecutors did not seek additional records of the incident beyond Jane Doe’s six-page statement to campus police and did not review the voluminous record of the internal probe. 

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said in a statement last week that Doe’s original statement suggested the sex and drug use was consensual. 

Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul removed the local DA from the case and named state Attorney General Letitia James to take over the criminal investigation of the incident. Separately, Cornell has announced an outside law firm would be tapped this week to review the university’s handling of the allegations and subsequent investigation.

‘What y’all did would be classified as gang rape’

In the days immediately following the incident, Jane Doe stayed in touch with some of the men she later accused of assaulting her – at first sharing concerns about her reputation and physical health. 

“I will also say this is f—–g RUINING my life temporarily.  My reputation is destroyed and I’m utterly ashamed.  I’m f—–g pissed cause this many people shouldn’t know and I feel like I know who some of the rats in the room were,” she wrote to Ingalls, who had invited her to the fraternity that night.

Within two days of reporting the incident to police, Jane Doe contacted Ingalls and two other men allegedly involved in the incident to get their assessment of what happened that evening. She said she had been to the emergency room and going through therapy in order to deal with the physical and psychological fallout. She recorded the phone calls and later provided them to Cornell University. 

“If I just know what happened, then I can feel a little bit better and move on and maybe be able to stay at this school,” Doe told Ingalls, according to a recording of the call. 

She mentioned that she had sustained physical harm from the episode, was struggling to finish the semester and could not understand how the events of the evening transpired. 

Ingalls was insistent: “You did tell me you were sober, by the way,” he  said, according to the recording. “You did, you said you hadn’t been anywhere.” 

She pushed back, saying “That is not true. I never would have said that.” 

Jane Doe also asked about how so many people ended up in the bedroom where the sexual encounters took place over the course of hours. 

“Do you remember how any of these guys walked in?” she asked. 

“The door was just unlocked…the party was sort of like crowded…there was nowhere else to go,” he responded. 

Nowhere in that conversation did Ingalls mention the messages he sent into his fraternity’s Snapchat group in which he openly invited others to the room. 

“Like you can walk in and whip it out,” the Ingalls wrote in the group, which had nearly 60 members. “Boys come whip it out.” 

Those messages were provided to university investigators and have been obtained by ABC News. 

At one point in the call, Jane Doe described the incident bluntly:  “What y’all did would be classified as gang rape.” 

“It’s possible that both of us like remember this and it’s not true,” Ingalls said at another point during the call. 

“I don’t think that that’s true. No, no, because I remember looking up and being like that is too many people,” she responded. 

‘F—k, should I call [Jane]?’

When Chi Phi was notified about the chapter’s temporary suspension the same day Jane Doe went to police, some of the brothers tried to figure out the source of the allegation, according to text messages reviewed by ABC News. 

“What’s the plan of action? Should I call [Jane Doe)? I don’t think she would have reported this,” Ingalls wrote in a small group chat.

Chi Phi’s then-president urged Ingalls to wait, pointing to how Cornell University initially listed the incorrect date for the alleged incident. 

Within the chat, the brothers tried to reconcile what date the incident took place by comparing the themed parties that took place that month.

“Wait that was the night with [Jane Doe],” one brother wrote. “What party did we have on the 19th?” 

“The 25th was the risky business party,” one brother wrote, while the incident took place the prior week during their Hawaii-themed party. 

When police later questioned witnesses to the incident, one brother told police the incident had been discussed casually during a fraternity meeting, rather than a coordinated response.  

“These guys were just being idiots and like we’re very open about doing this kind of gross thing to most people and so that was it,” one brother said. “We didn’t like have it aside – like this happened once. No it was like just a quick thing.” 

‘If the evidence is convincing enough to let us go….’

Months later, when Jane Doe made a statement before one of Cornell’s internal investigative hearings, she explicitly called out what she described as “the coverups these boys attempted.” 

Investigators looked into at least one instance when Ingalls appeared to ask one witness to “submit new evidence” that could exonerate him. 

“You could submit new evidence that could get me and [Name Omitted] dismissed immediately. Even if [Jane Doe] found out it doesn’t matter, if the evidence is convincing enough to let us go then it’s proof she lied.”

“I don’t have evidence,” the woman – a friend of Jane Doe – said over Snapchat. 

The friend shared the message with Jane Doe, who reported it to the university.  The witness later told campus investigators that Ingalls sent her other messages to convince her to believe his account. 

“From the beginning, after it happened and [Jane Doe] started telling me that it was not consensual from the beginning,” she said. “He wants to convince me that she is lying and he tried to convince me in other messages like this one that she was lying and he said that, ‘You know that she’s lying And you know that we would never do this.’” 

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