Former stripper, murder convict Crystal Mangum admits to lying about Duke lacrosse rape allegations

Former stripper and convicted murderer Crystal Mangum admitted on Thursday that she lied and fabricated a story about three Duke University lacrosse players raping her at a team party in 2006.

“They trusted me that I wouldn’t betray their trust, and I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t, and that was wrong,” Mangum told the independent media outlet Let’s Talk With Kat while speaking at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women.

“[I] made up a story that wasn’t true.”

Mangum, 46, explained that she made the false allegations because she “wanted validation from people and not from God.”

The exotic dancer, who is currently serving time for the second-degree murder of her boyfriend in 2013, expressed remorse and asked former players David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann for forgiveness.

“I hope that they can forgive me,” she said, referring to the men as her “brothers” in a biblical sense. “I want them to know that I love them, and they didn’t deserve that, and I hope that they can forgive me.”

This marked the first time Mangum publicly admitted to fabricating the rape allegations.

She cannot face prosecution for lying under oath, as the statute of limitations on perjury charges in North Carolina is two years.

Mangum’s startling confession comes nearly 20 years after she accused the lacrosse players of sexually assaulting her while she was performing at a team party in March 2006.

Following her allegations, Evans, Finnerty, and Seligmann were arrested.

The case attracted national attention, further inflamed when former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong told CBS News in a March 2006 interview that “there’s no doubt a sexual assault took place” and claimed the assault was “racially motivated.”

“The circumstances of the rape indicated a deep racial motivation for some of the things that were done. It makes a crime that is by its nature one of the most offensive and invasive even more so,” Nifong said, serving as the lead prosecutor in the case.

Nifong initially stated that DNA evidence would exonerate the players but later reversed his statement when the tests returned negative.