In a phone call obtained by ABC News, one of the "Cornell 7" frat brothers, Matthew Ingalls, spoke with Jane Doe, who alleges she was gang-raped at his fraternity house. On November 7, 2024, Ingalls claimed that Doe told him she was sober during their encounter and tried to cast doubt on her memory of events. Doe countered by asserting that Ingalls initiated a threesome while she had been drinking earlier in the night. Ingalls also suggested in the call that it's possible neither he nor Doe accurately remember what transpired, adding confusion to the incident.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
In October 2024, Cornell University faced intense scrutiny over allegations of a gang rape involving a female student and seven fraternity members from the Chi Phi fraternity. A civil lawsuit filed by Jane Doe alleged that she was drugged and sexually assaulted at a fraternity party in Ithaca. Around 100 students, faculty, and family members attended an emotional town hall on campus where several shared personal stories of sexual assault and criticized the university's handling of complaints. The hearing highlighted concerns over rape culture and Greek life, with some participants calling for reform in how the school deals with such incidents.
The Tompkins County District Attorney reopened a criminal investigation into the case nearly two years after initially declining to press charges, stating they would present Jane Doe’s case to a grand jury to re-examine potential new evidence. Cornell's administration defended their response, noting they had conducted an extensive internal investigation and imposed sanctions on those involved, although specifics were not disclosed due to privacy concerns.
Meanwhile, the university reported that 35% of undergraduate women surveyed in 2025 experienced unwanted sexual conduct during their time at Cornell, up from 23% in 2023. This data, along with recent high-profile settlements involving a urologist who was sentenced to life in prison for sexual misconduct, underscored broader issues within the university's response to sexual violence.
Written for “Cornell Sexual Assault Investigation” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 114 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but 2 quote(s) could not be found in the article and the other 1 are attributed speech rather than the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 58069: no verified evidence · logged 2026-10-05
One of the “Cornell 7” frat brothers tied to an alleged gang rape claimed to the accuser in a phone call that she told him she was sober at the time — as he seemed to try to sow doubt in her mind about the night.
asserted
he → tie → night
Newly released audio captured the phone call between the victim, identified in court papers only as Jane Doe, and Matthew Ingalls, one of her alleged attackers, Nov. 7, 2024, the day before she went to Cornell University campus police to say she had been gang-raped.
asserted
she → release → police
“The only way for me to heal is to know what happened.
asserted
what → heal → ?
That’s why I’m trying to just piece it together, I’m just confused,” Doe said in the recording of the call obtained by ABC News.
asserted
Doe → ’ → News
Ingalls, who invited Doe to the fraternity house the night of the alleged gang rape there — and posted disturbingly crass messages about her in a frat group chat at the time — responded, “You want me to give my recollection of the entire night?”
asserted
me → invite → night
Doe told the fraternity member that because of what the incident did in terms of “damage on my body and brain,” she spent time in the emergency room and therapy in the days after the frat party Oct. 19, where she alleges seven members of the fraternity sexually assaulted her.
asserted
members → tell → her
“If I wanted to take this somewhere, what y’all did would be classified as gang rape,” Doe insisted to Ingalls, claiming he “already knew” when she arrived at the frat house that she was “10 shots deep,” according to the audio.
uncertain
she → want → audio
Ingalls told Doe, “You did tell me you were sober, by the way.
asserted
you → tell → way
“You did, you said you hadn’t been anywhere.”
asserted
you → do → ?
Doe responded that she was “100% sure” she told him she had previously been at a bar that night for a sorority event and that she “never” lies — before asking him how he initiated the later threesome at the fraternity between herself, him and another fraternity brother.
asserted
he → respond → herself
“So you come in, say hi,” Ingalls told the then-20-year-old fellow student.
asserted
Ingalls → come → student
“We start dancing for like maybe three to five minutes, and then I pop the question.
asserted
I → start → question
“You say yes.
asserted
You → say → ?
Then I remember, like, we didn’t know who else to bring, so I go up to [redacted] who was on the dance floor, too, and I pop the question, and he’s like, ‘Yo,’ and then we go upstairs,” Ingalls said.
asserted
Ingalls → remember → question
Doe asked Ingalls for details about who was in the room at the time of the alleged incident, at which point he appeared to claim it might not have happened at all.
uncertain
it → ask → incident
“It’s possible that both of us, like, remember this, and it’s not true,” Ingalls said, before Doe insisted that she recalled there being “too many people” in the room.
asserted
she → ’ → room
But Ingalls said the party was “crowded” and so people started coming to the bedroom “because there was nowhere else to go.”
asserted
people → say → bedroom
Ingalls is reportedly the one who shared a picture of Doe in a fraternity group chat on Snapchat and told the others they could “walk in and whip it out.”
uncertain
they → share → it
He also subsequently claimed to campus police that he was too intoxicated to consent to sex on the night in question — suggesting that he, not Doe, was the victim of sexual assault, according to school records reviewed by ABC News.
uncertain
he → claim → News
The original police report resulted in two fraternity brothers — including Ingalls — being expelled from Cornell and two others facing suspensions.
asserted
others → result → suspensions
None of the students have faced any criminal charges, including Ingalls, at least yet.
asserted
None → face → Ingalls
The campus cops had turned over the case to the local DA, bypassing Ithaca city police — and with neither the Cornell authorities nor district attorney’s office speaking to the accused fraternity brothers.
asserted
authorities → turn → brothers
The case gained national attention in recent days when Doe filed a civil lawsuit allegedly with new information and naming all seven alleged male students accused in the reported gang rape.
uncertain
Doe → gain → rape
Local Tompkins County DA Matthew Van Houten then said he would reopen the probe into the alleged incident, citing what he called new information in the woman’s lawsuit.
asserted
he → say → lawsuit
No details for a lawyer representing Ingalls have been released.
asserted
details → represent → Ingalls
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