Police Won’t Close Debunked Rolling Stone Rape Case: ‘Can’t Prove Something Didn’t Happen’

https://youtube.com/watch?v=16YD4A-W-BI

Despite an exhaustive investigation finding absolutely no evidence that the alleged fraternity gang rape at UVA described in last fall’s Rolling Stone article actually happened, Charlottesville, Virginia police chief Timothy Longo refused to close the criminal case.

On Monday, Longo held a press briefing to lay out the findings of the months-long investigation. He described a myriad of discrepancies between the story that Jackie, the alleged victim, gave to Rolling Stone and the facts surrounding the evening and fraternity in question. He also noted that Jackie refused to press charges, give a statement to the police, or otherwise cooperate.

“Unfortunately, we’re not able to conclude, to any substantive degree, that an incident which is consistent with the facts contained that article occured at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, or any other fraternity house for that matter.”

Nevertheless, Longo was adamant that the case remain open. “This case is not closed,” he said. “It’s not closed by any stretch of the imagination.”

“Because I can’t prove that something didn’t happen,” the police chief said, when asked why he won’t close the case despite the lack of evidence. “And there may come a point in time where either this survivor — or this complaining party, this person we’ve identified as Jackie — or someone else may not come forward with information that may help us move this investigation further.”

Longo added that there is “no statute of limitations on this particular type of crime.”