Duke Lacrosse Accuser Charged With Stabbing

The woman who accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her in 2006 has now been accused of stabbing her boyfriend. He is seriously injured.

According to Thomasi McDonald of the News & Observer, Crystal Mangum is accused of stabbing a 46-year-old man in the torso at a Durham apartment around 3 AM Sunday morning. The man has been identified as her boyfriend; she allegedly stabbed him “during an argument.” He was taken to Duke Hospital, while she was taken to Durham County Jail and charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. Her bail has been set at $300,000.

Last year, McDonald writes, Mangum was accused of “slashing the vehicle tires of her boyfriend, Milton Walker, smashing the windshield with a vacuum cleaner and setting fire to a pile of his clothes in a bathtub while the police and her three children were in her apartment.” She was convicted of child abuse, vandalism, and resisting an officer, though arson charges were dismissed. She did not receive prison time for these offenses, but rather a sentence of time already served in jail. Though her 2006 rape accusations against three Duke lacrosse players were thrown out, prosecutors filed no charges against her, stating that she “may actually believe” she was raped. In her memoir, The Last Dance for Grace, Mangum wrote,

When I spoke, I was accused of changing my story repeatedly. I emphasize now that the story has never changed. The fact is I did not make it to court to state my case because the focus became one of discrediting me and exposing my personal life instead of finding the truth. So I am left to defend myself.

She also said, “Being in the public eye and under so much scrutiny has been difficult. Even as I try to move on with my life, I still find it necessary to take one more stand and fight.” Unfortunately, Mangum’s efforts to move on appear to have been punctuated by acts of violence.

Crystal Mangum Held In Stabbing [News & Observer]
Bond Set At $300,000 For Mangum [Herald Sun]