DURHAM - A cab driver said Thursday that he picked up a Duke University lacrosse player from the party at which the player is accused of rape and shuttled him to his dorm while others remained at the team house.

As Moez Mostafa drove Reade Seligmann to an automated teller machine, a fast-food burger joint and back to his dorm, he received a second call to 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. When he arrived, Mostafa said, men were milling outside, and an angry woman was walking near the house to her car as he picked up more fares.

"One of the guys said, 'She's just a stripper, she's going to call police,' " Mostafa said Thursday. "I knew something was going on, so I told the customers to get in the car."

Defense lawyers for weeks have worked to narrow the window of time during which a woman could have been raped at the party. They have released time-stamped photos and cell phone and bank card records to bolster their case.

Seligmann, 20, of Essex Falls, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y., were arrested Tuesday on charges of rape, sexual assault and kidnapping. Efforts to reach their attorneys, who say their clients are innocent, were unsuccessful Thursday.

The woman who says she was raped at the party told police that three men assaulted her, and District Attorney Mike Nifong has said he is looking for another suspect. Nifong declined to speak about the case Thursday, nor has he since a grand jury indicted the two players this week.

The investigation of Finnerty and Seligmann has continued since their arrests.

On Tuesday, Durham police searched Finnerty's dorm room for a shoe, clothes and other property belonging to the accuser, according to a warrant returned Thursday. They also sought photos and video recordings from the party, as well as e-mail and computers that might contain evidence proving a rape.

But, according to an inventory made public Thursday, they seized only a New York Times article about the case and an envelope sent to Finnerty in September from a woman with a Boston College address.

Durham police declined to discuss the evidence.

Nifong has said that he is certain a rape occurred. He says a medical exam shows the woman had injuries consistent with her account, despite results from court-ordered DNA tests that show no link between the woman and the 46 players tested.

Prosecutors have said only that the rape occurred late March 13 or early March 14. They have said the woman reported being raped for about half an hour.

Defense lawyers have said that the woman arrived at the party already impaired and battered and concocted a story.

Jason Bissey, who lives next door to the university-owned house, said Thursday that he had a clear view of the accuser's arrival and that she did not appear to be impaired. He said he saw her walk up a long alley to the rear of the lacrosse house, then talk to the other woman hired to dance before entering the home.

"They were both totally lucid. [The accuser] was not impaired in any way, I remember clearly," Bissey said Thursday. "It was a kind of a long way to walk so it would have been pretty clear if she was messed up."

Defense lawyers have said the women each received $400 to dance and angered the players by stopping after only a few minutes. Time-stamped photos taken by party-goers show the dancers stopping at 12:04 a.m.

Cell phone records

Mostafa, a Sudanese native who has been driving taxis in Durham for six years, received a call from Seligmann at 12:14 a.m., according to cell phone records provided by his employer, On Time Taxi.

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