He accused 3 students of rape, after 18 years he admits that he lied

The woman who in 2006 accused three Duke varsity lacrosse players of raping her — an event that sparked a media frenzy and fueled racial and class tensions and debates over the privileges of college athletes — publicly admitted to the first time that he had lied about the incident.

Forty-six-year-old Crystal Mangum, a black woman, stated in an interview on the podcast "Let's Talk with Kat" that she had "made up a false story" about white players who had been invited to a party where she was to work as a dancer for adults, adding that she did this "because I was looking for people's approval and not from God" .

"I gave a false testimony against them, saying that they had raped me, although they had not done this and I was wrong ," she declared in the interview broadcast on Monday. The interview was recorded last month at the North Carolina Correctional Service for Women, where Mangum is serving time for the 2011 stabbing death of her partner.

The former players were acquitted in 2007 after her testimony could not be proven at trial.

The state attorney general's office concluded that there was no solid evidence that the rape had occurred, and the investigation found no DNA traces, witnesses or evidence to corroborate inmate Mangum's account.

The Durham district attorney who handled Ms. Mangum's case was disbarred for lying and ethical violations. Prosecutors at the time declined to indict Ms. Mangum on false charges.

Former lacrosse players reached a settlement with the university in 2007 after suing the university over how it handled rape allegations.

Inmate Mangum, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2013 and is expected to be released from prison in 2026, told the podcast's author that she hopes the three people wrongly accused will forgive her.

"I want them to know that I love them and that they didn't deserve this ," she said.

Podcast author Kat DePasquale said she wrote to inmate Mangum because she was curious about the case that had once garnered public attention, and that she had responded to her letter saying she wanted to talk. /VOA/ (A2 Televizion)