Woman Who Falsely Accused Duke Lacrosse Players of Rape Charged With Stabbing Boyfriend

Woman who accused Duke team members of rape accused of stabbing boyfriend.

ByABC News
April 4, 2011, 4:54 PM

— -- Crystal Mangum, the woman who falsely accused several Duke University lacrosse team players of rape five years ago, is being held on a $300,000 bond for allegedly stabbing her live-in boyfriend repeatedly Sunday during a heated argument.

Mangum, 32, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

Around 3 a.m. Sunday morning, officers responded to a stabbing at a home in Durham, N.C. A 47-year-old man said he had been stabbed in the chest. The man who called 911 for an ambulance identified Mangum as the attacker.

"I told him she was trouble from the very beginning," the caller said, according to a tape of the 911 call. Police have not identified the victim. He suffered serious injuries and was being treated at Duke University Hospital.

A man who claims he's the victim's cousin told an ABC affiliate in Durham that Mangum and the victim had a brief relationship.

"I mean he was excited," the man said. "He was like, 'Man, guess who I'm dating now.' He was excited, but I told him, 'Man, you know her background. Be careful.'"

Last February, Mangum was arrested and charged with attempted murder, arson and child abuse after a domestic dispute with a previous boyfriend. Police said she assaulted her 33-year-old boyfriend in front of her children, threw his clothing into a bathtub and lit them on fire.

Mangum was found guilty last December of three counts of child abuse, injury to personal property and resisting a public officer. She was sentenced to 88 days in jail, which she had already served while awaiting trial. The felony arson charge was dismissed.

Mangum made national headlines in March 2006, when the then North Carolina Central University student claimed three Duke Lacrosse players sexually assaulted her during a dance performance at a team party in a house near the Duke campus. The team members had paid for her and another exotic dancer to entertain team players.

A year later, Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped all charges, saying there was no credible evidence and that the three former players were victims of a rush to accuse.

Mangum went into hiding, then graduated from NCCU in 2008 with a degree in police psychology. Later that year she released a memoir, "The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story."