Police: 'No Evidence' in University of Virginia Fraternity Rape Allegations

Today, the Charlottesville police released the results from a investigation of an alleged rape at a University of Virgina fraternity that was subject of a sensational Rolling Stone magazine article last November.

Police said they were not able to conclude any that an incident occurred at the Phi Kappa Psi house on Sept. 28, 2012.

“We have no evidence that supports those assertions” in the article, Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Long said.

According to the police, “we can’t say something didn’t happen” to her, but they have “no basis” to conclude anything happened at the fraternity house on the night in question.

The investigation was extensive with multiple interviews including friends of alleged victim “Jackie” and fraternity members.

During the investigation, police talked to about 70 people, including Jackie’s friends and fraternity members, Long said. Investigators talked to nine of the 11 Phi Psi members living in the house at the time, and none of them knew Jackie or had any knowledge of the alleged assault, Long said.

In fact, police found no evidence there was even a party on the day of the alleged rape, September 28, 2012. Law enforcement obtained a time-stamped photo that showed the fraternity house empty at the time of the alleged rape party.

Even so, the police have not closed the investigation saying it’s a disservice to “Jackie” to close the investigation without allowing more time for more people to come forward and more information to come out.

“There’s no statute of limitations of this particular type of crime,” Long said, noting that Jackie declined to be questioned by police investigators.

Shortly after the story was published in Rolling Stone magazine it began falling apart. The Managing Editor of the magazine admitted that the author, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, had not spoken to any of the students involved before submitting the story.  Said Will Dana, Managing Editor, “We made a judgment — the kind of judgement reporters and editors make every day. And in this case, our judgement was wrong.”