Cornell Frat Members Accused of Sharing Snapchat Image of Alleged Rape

Cornell fraternity members allegedly shared a Snapchat photo of a 20-year-old student on the same night she says she was repeatedly raped in a closet while drifting in and out of consciousness.

CBS News said it obtained the image through the alleged victim’s attorney. Further details about the night emerged from Cornell University’s months-long Title IX investigation.

The student, identified as Jane Doe, told university investigators that several men moved in and out of a room at the Chi Phi fraternity house. She said the experience left her feeling “cornered” and treated like “a sex doll for all intents and purposes.”

Doe said the alleged assault took place on October 19, 2024, and later intensified when two men led her into a closet. There, she alleged, she was sexually assaulted while repeatedly losing consciousness.

“It was just raping,” she told investigators, according to findings obtained by CBS News.

During a university hearing in May 2025, Doe described feeling trapped and powerless as the events unfolded.

“I felt like bait,” she said. “I felt like lions around me. It just was a totally debilitating place to be in.”

While Doe said she was being assaulted, fraternity members were allegedly discussing her in a Snapchat group used by dozens of Chi Phi brothers.

In one image from the conversation, Doe apparently appears to be smiling beside another man.

Shortly before the photo was posted, one man allegedly wrote: “Like you can walk in and whip it out.”

After the image appeared in the chat, another participant asked: “Shop still open?”

“Yeah,” someone replied.

The university’s investigation also uncovered an alleged message describing Doe as “free p****.”

The messages could become a significant part of the controversy surrounding the case, which has led to a civil lawsuit, disciplinary measures against several students and a revived criminal investigation now being handled by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Doe has sued seven men—Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar—along with Cornell University and other defendants.

No criminal charges have been filed. Kretzschmar, Norris and Lopes have publicly denied taking part in the alleged sexual assaults or the drug use described in the complaint.

Kretzschmar’s lawyer Jeremy Saland said his client acknowledges making what he called an ‘immature’ comment in the Snapchat chain cited by Doe and briefly entering the room where she was, but denies touching her, engaging in sexual activity or taking ketamine.

He said Kretzschmar was in the room for only a few minutes, did not see Doe in distress or undressed and took a hair-follicle test that he says showed his client had not consumed ketamine.

In 2024, Ingalls, Newell, Lee and Sarabia acknowledged having sexual contact with the woman but said that their interactions had been consensual. All men denied any wrongdoing during the Title IX investigation.

Cornell has also defended its handling of the situation, insisting it conducted a thorough investigation which resulted in expulsions and the fraternity being barred from campus.

Some of the men interviewed during Cornell’s investigation also disputed Doe’s account, saying she did not appear intoxicated and that sexual activity was consensual.

But Doe told investigators a dramatically different story.

According to the Title IX findings, she said she had taken ketamine and described its effects as leaving her with the sensation that the ‘lights are on, but nobody’s home.’

‘Your brain is not functioning at its proper level,’ she said.

She claimed she was repeatedly sexually assaulted as men moved in and out of the room before eventually being taken into the closet – an episode she described as the worst part of the entire night.

Another student who had been at the fraternity house told investigators that one of the accused men called her the following day and allegedly asked her to ensure a friend didn’t ‘say anything that she thinks might’ve happened last night.’

Doe also told investigators that three men apologized to her in the days afterward.

Her attorney says she preserved potential evidence, including the dress she had been wearing.

According to her lawsuit, she visited a campus clinic two days after the alleged attack to receive treatment for a urinary tract infection.

Her attorney claims she told medical staff it had been contracted in a ‘traumatic way,’ but rather than being referred for a rape kit, she was advised to ‘speak with somebody.’

Doe went to Cornell University police the following month.

Campus police investigated and ultimately sent a six-page sworn statement to Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who declined to bring charges.

But the allegations Doe made regarding the closet were not included in the statement provided to prosecutors and that discrepancy has now become a major focus of scrutiny.

Van Houten has said the account his office originally received, while disturbing, did not contain allegations that the students had raped Doe or that she had been drugged against her will and rendered incapable of consenting.

After Doe filed her civil lawsuit in September and further details of Cornell’s investigation emerged, Van Houten announced that the criminal investigation would be reopened.

The case then took another dramatic turn on Thursday when New York Governor Kathy Hochul stripped the local prosecutor of control and appointed James as special prosecutor.

On Friday, Hochul said Doe had been ‘failed’ by institutions that should have protected her.

‘In what world does the district attorney not even interview her, or anyone else involved, or even request the full transcript?’ Hochul said.

‘This woman, this young woman, had already endured something that is utterly unspeakable. And then at every turn, she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her.’

Hochul also criticized the campus police investigation saying Doe had spent hours describing what happened to officers.

‘According to new reports, she could not have been clearer that she was 100% confident that she had been raped,’ Hochul said. ‘Yet, shockingly, those words never made it into the account that the Cornell police sent to prosecutors.’

Van Houten has said he supports James taking over the investigation.

‘It has become clear that we were not provided the full picture by the University,’ he said Friday. ‘The focus has been and should continue to be on the victims.’

James has warned that the renewed investigation could take months.

‘We will review the facts, gather evidence, interview witnesses and, if warranted, pursue prosecutions,’ she said.

Meanwhile, Cornell has already disciplined several of the students following its internal proceedings.

President Michael I Kotlikoff said two were expelled, two were suspended for at least two semesters and another had graduated before punishment could be imposed. Two others were found not responsible for sexual misconduct.

The allegations have also sparked anger across Cornell’s Ithaca campus, where students gathered on Thursday night demanding greater accountability.

‘Survivors need to know that when they come forward with their stories, somebody will listen and a broader institution will act upon it,’ Jane Wang of Cornell’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter told the gathering.

‘Through this event, we have witnessed the complete opposite.’

Our News Outlet has reached out to Cornell University, attorneys for Lee, Lopes, Sarabia, Norris and Kretzschmar for comment. Details for lawyers for Ingalls and Newell were not available at the time of publication.