ESPN's OTL Alleges University of Missouri Failed to Pursue Sexual Assault Case Against Football Player(s) [UPDATE]

An ESPN “Outside the Lines” investigation has revealed that the University of Missouri did not alert authorities about the allegations from Sasha Menu Courey, a member of the swim team who later committed suicide, that she was sexually assaulted by a Mizzou football player (or players).

"Among the thousands of pages of documents gathered by Missouri administrators in late 2012 in response to a records request was a December 2010 online chat transcript between Menu Courey and a rape crisis counselor that had been saved in Menu Courey’s university email folder. In the transcript, the former top swim recruit describes an assault after having consensual sex with an unidentified man. Another document discovered by a university hospital administrator shows Menu Courey had told a campus nurse and doctor in 2011 that she had been raped by a football player in February 2010. Menu Courey committed suicide in June 2011, about 16 months after the alleged assault. The incident has not been reported to campus police, University of Missouri Police Capt. Brian Weimer said Thursday. City police and the Boone County prosecutor’s office say they also have not received any reports."

An athletic department spokesman denied that anyone on the coaching staff or in the administration had knowledge of the allegations before Menu Courey committed suicide. Rolandis Woodland, a former Tigers receiver, says in the article that Menu Courey sent him video of the assault before her death, that it shows three players on the team participating in it while the alleged victim was intoxicated, and that the tape was inadvertently misplaced by one of the former receiver’s family members.

In a separate incident during a similar time period at the university, standout running back Derrick Washington was convicted of sexually assaulting a tutor in 2010.

The OTL investigation also serves as a reminder about the case of Lizzy Seeberg. Ms. Seeberg, a former student at St. Mary’s University, alleged that she was sexually assaulted by a Notre Dame football player, who was not interviewed by investigators until several days after Ms. Seeberg committed suicide.

Update: The University of Missouri has posted its email correspondence with “Outside the Lines”.

[Photo via Wikipedia]