Crystal Mangum, who accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape, now says she lied

Crystal Mangum, the woman who accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape, now says she lied about the encounter

Crystal Mangum, the former exotic dancer who accused three Duke men’s lacrosse players of rape in 2006, igniting a national firestorm, now says she lied about the encounter. “I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t, and that was wrong. And I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me,” Mangum said on the web show “Let’s Talk with Kat,” hosted by Katerena DePasquale. The interview took place at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, where Mangum is serving time for a 2013 second-degree murder conviction for stabbing her boyfriend. “I made up a story that wasn’t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God,” Mangum said. On the podcast, she said she hopes the three men will forgive her. “I want them to know that I love them, and they didn’t deserve that, and I hope that they can forgive me,” she said.