DNA tests ordered for Duke athletes

Lacrosse team reports to lab in rape inquiry

Durham police had 46 members of the Duke University lacrosse team DNA-tested Thursday in the suspected gang-rape of a woman at an off-campus party last week.

Police think at least three of the men could be responsible for the sexual assault, beating, robbery and near-strangulation of one of two women who had an appointment to dance at the party March 13, according to a search warrant.

Such a broad DNA sampling early in an investigation is unusual, several local lawyers said.

The assault allegedly happened in a house shared by three members of the men's lacrosse team, Duke officials said.

All but one member of the team reported to the Durham police crime lab downtown at 4 p.m. Thursday to be photographed and "to provide identifying information," said John Burness, Duke University senior vice president for public affairs. The team member who did not report was not ordered to the screening, Burness said without explaining why.

"Duke University is monitoring the situation and cooperating with officials, as are the students," Burness said.

No one had been charged late Thursday in the incident, which police say happened close to midnight March 13 and into the early hours of the next morning. Alcohol was involved, Durham police Sgt. Mark Gottlieb said.

Joe Alleva, Duke athletics director, was in Atlanta, where the Blue Devils men's basketball team played its third game in the NCAA Tournament.

"It's just an unfortunate situation," Alleva said about the investigation of the lacrosse team. "We're just going to have to let the legal process work out."

While investigators look into the matter, Alleva said, the lacrosse team, a finalist in the NCAA Division I championship last season, will continue with its schedule. "You've got to let the facts play out," he said.

It was unclear how long it would take to process the DNA tests.

A search warrant returned Thursday details the attack the victim described to police.

It is The News & Observer's policy not to identify victims of reported sex crimes.

Heated atmosphere

According to the warrant, the victim told police she went to the home late March 13 with another woman to dance for a group of men. She and the other female dancer started to perform in the master bedroom of the house, and soon, the men who were watching became "excited and aggressive," the statement says.

The women stopped dancing and wanted to leave, concerned for their safety. They went outside and got into a car and were approached by one of the suspects, who apologized and asked that the women come back inside, the warrant says.

The women went back inside the house and were separated. The victim was pulled into a bathroom, and three men held her down, sexually assaulting and sodomizing her, the warrant says. She was kicked, hit, strangled and beaten, she told police.

The victim went to the Kroger grocery store on Hillsborough Road and called police at 1:22 a.m. March 14, the warrant says.

Police drove to the house that morning, but no one answered the door. They returned March 16 with the search warrant, looking for DNA evidence and the victim's belongings, including one shoe, a cellular phone and at least $400, all in $20 bills.

They also looked for artificial fingernails painted with red polish, apparently lost in the victim's struggle.

Police seized residents' computers, cell phones and digital cameras, looking for photos and video footage of the party, the warrant said. They took rugs, discarded paper towels, fingernails and photographs, it said.

Residents at the Buchanan Boulevard house, one of 15 properties Duke bought in February, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.