The Shocking Story Of Crystal Mangum, The Stripper Who Falsely Accused Three Men Of Rape Then Fatally Stabbed Her Boyfriend
Police PhotoIt took Crystal Mangum more than 18 years to confess to making up a story about Duke lacrosse players raping her.Crystal Mangum gained national attention in 2006 when she accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape at a party where she performed as an exotic dancer. Despite a lack of evidence, the case ignited a media firestorm over issues of race, class, and privilege.Mangums allegations forever changed the lives of the three young men she accused David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann and it would take more than a year before the charges were dropped.But the Duke lacrosse scandal was not the last time Mangums name appeared in the news. Five years after she made the accusations, Mangum herself was accused of murdering her boyfriend, Reginald Daye, in 2011.In 2013, the North Carolina stripper was found guilty of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 14 to 18 years in prison for killing Daye. While serving out her sentence, Mangum decided to make a confession in 2024: She had lied about the Duke lacrosse players raping her back in 2006.Crystal Mangums Turbulent Path To The Duke Lacrosse ScandalChuck Burton/AP/File/X (Formerly Twitter)David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann, the three young men who Crystal Mangum falsely accused of rape.Crystal Mangum was born on July 18, 1978, in Durham, North Carolina. She grew up in a city where the white population and Black population were notably close in size, which sometimes led to racial tensions. This was especially true for wealthier white people associated with Duke University and lower-income Black people who werent linked to the famous college.Mangum claimed that when she was 14, she was kidnapped and raped by three assailants, one of whom was an abusive and much older boyfriend. She reported the incident to the police three years later, but ultimately dropped the charges. While some of Mangums family members claimed she only backed away because she feared she would be killed by her attackers, other relatives did not believe she had been attacked at all.After graduating high school in 1996, Mangum joined the Navy, and briefly married a man named Kenneth Nathanial McNeill. Less than two years later, Mangum accused McNeill of threatening to kill her, charges he denied. Ultimately, Mangum never showed up to court, so the charges were dismissed, and Mangums marriage soon ended. She was also discharged from the Navy, as she had become pregnant with another sailors baby. Mangum later had another child with the same sailor, but their relationship didnt last. By 2002, she was back in Durham, working as a stripper to help support her children. She was arrested while working at a topless dance club, after an incident in which she stole a customers taxi and then led police on a high-speed chase while heavily intoxicated. In 2003, she pled guilty to a number of charges, including larceny, speeding to elude arrest, and DWI. She received a short jail sentence of three weekends and was also placed on two years of probation. On March 13, 2006, Crystal Mangum, then 27 years old and attending North Carolina Central University, was hired as an exotic dancer for a private party that was held for Duke Universitys mens lacrosse team. Another exotic dancer, Kim Roberts, was also hired for the occasion.Mangum later claimed that she endured racial slurs from the mainly white members of the lacrosse team. More disturbing, she also alleged that she was attacked by three young men, David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann, who forced her into a bathroom and raped her.Given the racial tensions in Durham, and the rising awareness of rape culture on college campuses, the case quickly made national headlines.The Accusations That Sparked A Controversy Over Race And JusticeChuck Liddy/MCT/ZUMAPRESS.com/ZUMA Press, Inc./AlamyCrystal Mangum at a news conference in 2008, promoting a book about her life.As soon as Crystal Mangums allegations were made in March 2006, the controversy began. The accusation quickly became a larger conversation about race, privilege, and justice in America. After all, it involved a Black single mother taking on a group of wealthy, white male athletes.Durham County District Attorney Michael B. Nifong, who would soon be up for reelection, became the face of the investigation. Early on, Nifong made repeated media appearances, asserting that a sexual assault had occurred. He also infamously described the accused players as hooligans. But behind the scenes, Mangum was providing numerous inconsistencies in her story about the incident. DNA tests on Mangums body showed no link to any of the men she had named. Other than Mangum, no one else present at the party backed up her claims, not even her fellow dancer Kim Roberts.Still, by May 2006, David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann had all been formally charged with rape. The charges were based almost entirely on Mangums testimony, but the three players were suspended from Duke, heavily scrutinized by the media, and they even received death threats.It was later found, according to Duke University, that Nifong was intentionally withholding DNA evidence and lying to court officials at the same time that the three young mens lives were being upended (Nifong would eventually be disbarred after being found guilty of ethics violations).It wasnt until April 11, 2007 that the charges against Evans, Finnerty, and Seligmann were dropped. Roy Cooper, who was then the states Attorney General, declared, The result of our review and investigation shows clearly that there is insufficient evidence to proceed on any of the charges.No charges were filed against Mangum in the aftermath of the Duke lacrosse scandal. According to Cooper, the investigators thought she may have actually believed the many different stories that she has been telling.But Mangum would soon find herself behind bars for another reason.Crystal Mangums Fatal Stabbing Of Her Boyfriend Reginald DayeSnapped/OxygenCrystal Mangum and Reginald Daye, who she fatally stabbed in 2011.In February 2010, Crystal Mangum made headlines again after she was arrested for attempted murder and arson following a fight with her then-boyfriend, Milton Walker. It was Mangums nine-year-old daughter who made the 911 call, after she realized that the fight was getting out of control.Mangum reportedly set fire to Walkers personal items in their apartments bathtub, causing heavy smoke to spread throughout the building. Though Walker admitted to grabbing Mangum by the throat, he also accused Mangum of attacking him with a chair and step stool. Mangum was later found guilty of child abuse, injury to personal property, and resisting a public officer and she was sentenced to 88 days in jail for those crimes.Sadly, this was just a prelude to the far more serious crime that lay ahead.In 2011, Mangum met and began dating another man, Reginald Daye. Though Daye was aware of Mangums troubled past, he firmly believed that everyone deserves a second chance, and he wanted to build a future with her.But then, on April 3, 2011, Mangum fatally stabbed Daye. Immediately after the stabbing, Daye was still alert enough to walk to his nephews nearby home so he could report the incident. He was also able to name Mangum as his attacker before he died of his wounds at the hospital days later.Though Mangum admitted that she had poked Daye in the chest with a steak knife, she claimed she had only acted in self-defense during a fight. She also alleged that a medical error was the real reason why Daye died in the hospital, and she shouldnt be held accountable for his demise. Though she stuck to her self-defense story in court, the jury in her murder trial didnt buy it. Her former boyfriend, Walker, was the star witness at trial and claimed Mangum had previously threatened to kill him with a knife. In 2013, Mangum was found guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Daye and was sentenced to 14 to 18 years in prison.From False Accusations To Prison WallsWikimedia CommonsCrystal Mangum is currently serving out her sentence at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women.By the time Crystal Mangum was convicted of murder, public opinion had largely turned against her. The young woman who was once thought to be a victim amidst the Duke lacrosse scandal was now mainly viewed as a villain. So her conviction didnt inspire any national outrage.Mangum tried to appeal her conviction, but lost. Today, she remains incarcerated at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, but shes reportedly expected to be released in February 2026.In a twist that came far too late, Mangum finally decided to tell the truth about her allegations against the Duke lacrosse players. More than 18 years after the Duke lacrosse scandal, Mangum admitted to fabricating the story.In an interview with Lets Talk with Kat, hosted by Katerena DePasquale, Mangum confessed: I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didnt, and that was wrong, and I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me. [I] made up a story that wasnt true because I wanted validation from people and not from God. Mangum also said, I want them to know that I love them, and they didnt deserve that, and I hope that they can forgive me.It was the confession many had waited for. But it did little to undo the damage. The three young men she accused had already spent years trying to rebuild their lives and Daye never even got that chance.After learning about Crystal Mangum and the Duke lacrosse scandal, read about Patricia Stallings, the woman wrongly accused of murdering her baby. Then, go inside the tragic stories of nine wrongful convictions.The post The Shocking Story Of Crystal Mangum, The Stripper Who Falsely Accused Three Men Of Rape Then Fatally Stabbed Her Boyfriend appeared first on All That's Interesting.
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