Police unable to verify 'Rolling Stone' rape story

Police in Charlottesville were unable to verify that an alleged sexual assault detailed in a controversial Rolling Stone magazine article ever took place at the University of Virginia, police Chief Timothy Longo said Monday.

The story, A Rape on Campus, detailed a female student's gruesome tale of a three-hour gang rape by seven men at a fraternity house in 2012. Days after it was published in November 2014, university president Teresa Sullivan suspended all fraternity activities on campus.

But the story didn't quite hold up. The Washington Post was first to find discrepancies. Then the magazine published an apology, saying it also found flaws and had lost faith in the piece -- days after author Sabrina Rubin Erdely defended the reporting.

Longo said his department's investigation also found problems with the tale. He said the woman identified as "Jackie" in the story declined to provide a statement to police. But he said the fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, cooperated with the investigation.

The fraternity's national headquarters called on the magazine to "fully and unconditionally retract its story and immediately remove the story from its website.''

"That Rolling Stone sought to turn fiction into fact is shameful,'' the fraternity said in a statement. "The discredited article has done significant damage to the ability of the chapter's members to succeed in their educational pursuits and besmirched the character of undergraduate students at the University of Virginia who did not deserve the spotlight of the media.''

Fraternity records and other evidence indicated the party Jackie described taking place on the night of the attack did not take place, Longo said. Friends of Jackie also disputed her description of events that night, he said.

"We are unable to conclude to any substantive degree that an incident consistent with the act contained in that article occurred at the Phi Kappa Psi house -- or any other house," Longo said. But he added that the results of the investigation do not mean that "something terrible didn't happen to Jackie."

Longo said more than 70 interviews were conducted, and that the investigation was suspended but not closed.

"I can't prove that something didn't happen," he said. "It's a disservice to Jackie and the university to just close this in case" because more information could become available.

Sullivan, the university president, said in a statement that the investigation "confirms what federal privacy law prohibited the University from sharing last fall: that the University provided support and care to a student in need, including assistance in reporting potential criminal conduct to law enforcement.''

The story roiled U.Va., campus fraternities and the magazine in a complicated controversy.

A few days after the article's publication, school president Teresa Sullivan suspended all activities by fraternal organizations on campus. Then a Washington Post article found discrepancies in the story. The magazine later admitted that it never tried to interview the man accused by the woman in the story because she asked them not to contact him.

The questions and doubts have led to a Charlottesville police investigation into the alleged assault.

In January, the university reinstated the fraternity because it said in a statement that police had told school officials "that their investigation has not revealed any substantive basis to confirm that the allegations raised in the Rolling Stone article occurred at Phi Kappa Psi."

Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner has asked Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism to conduct an independent review of the story. The magazine said it will publish Columbia's findings as soon as that investigation is complete.

The article has led to soul-searching about rapes on campus and efforts to stop the crimes. The university reinstated Phi Kappa Psi after the Greek organization agreed to new rules about parties: No kegs, security workers are required and at least three fraternity members must be sober. The school is also considering new courses to teach students safety and a center to research violence.