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Duke Lacrosse Accuser Charged With Murder

By Adam Ramirez on April 19, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

The woman who falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her was charged Monday with murder in the stabbing death of her boyfriend.

Crystal Mangum was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder and two counts of larceny, the AP reports. Before he boyfriend died, she was originally charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

Crystal Mangum has been in jail since April 3, when police charged her with assault in the stabbing of 46-year-old Reginald Daye. He died after nearly two weeks at a hospital.

Mangum's false accusations against Duke's lacrosse players made national headlines. She falsely told police white male students raped her at a 2006 party at which she was hired to perform as a stripper, the AP reports. The case heightened long-standing tensions in Durham about race, class and the privileged status of college athletes.

In the end, prosecutors declined to press charges for the false accusations. Crystal Mangum, however, has been a fixture in North Carolina courtrooms.

Last year, she was convicted on misdemeanor charges after setting a fire that nearly torched her home with her three children inside, the AP reports. In a videotaped police interrogation, she told officers she set got into a confrontation with her boyfriend at the time - not Daye - and burned his clothes, smashed his car windshield and threatened to stab him.

Mangum was convicted of child abuse, vandalism and resisting an officer.

Crystal Mangum's current bail is set at $300,000.

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