The Whole UVA Rape Story Fiasco Seemingly Stemmed From One Girl’s Crazy Catfish Scheme To Win Over Guy

Dan Regester10 years ago

The notorious — now retracted — Rolling Stone story about an alleged rape that took place inside the University of Virginia’s Phi Kappa Psi house in 2012, seems to have been fabricated by the victim, “Jackie,” as part of an absurd catfish scheme to win over the romantic interest of her friend. You read that right. Buckle up, because we’re taking a turbulent ride through Crazytown, USA. Population: Jackie.

Ryan Duffin became friends with Jackie early on during their freshman fall semester. I guess she wasn’t much of a looker, because Duffin “valued her friendship” after only about a week’s time and rejected Jackie’s advances for a more intimate relationship. But I guess some women just can’t take “no” for an answer. Jackie created a completely fictional character named “Haven Monahan” to throw into the mix and somehow make Ryan jealous because that makes sense.

Right off the bat, how do you not question the legitimacy of the existence of a dude named “Haven”? We’re not talking about a guy named Joe, Alex, or even a fucking DeSean. You ever meet anyone with a dick named Haven? Exactly. That name choice, alone, just shows how insane this girl really is.

From The Washington Post:

A Charlottesville Police investigation later determined that no one named Haven Monahan had ever attended U-Va., and extensive efforts to find the person were not successful. Photographs that were texted to Duffin that were purported to be of Monahan were actually pictures depicting one of Jackie’s high school classmates in Northern Virginia. That man, now a student at a university in another state, confirmed to The Post that the photographs were of him.

This may have began to work, because Ryan gets involved and starts texting Haven (Jackie), back and forth, trying to discourage “the guy from her Chem class” from pursuing Jackie. The conversation somehow turns into Ryan being a dick for not giving a “terminally ill” Jackie a chance. Shocked by this revelation, Ryan reaches out to Jackie where she falsely confirms that she’s fucking dying. Keep in mind, this all within the first month or so of meeting this girl.

It all comes to a demented head on September 28, 2012, where Jackie — hysterically crying — tells Ryan that a date with Haven resulted in her getting gangbanged at a fraternity house.

Duffin said Jackie appeared not to be injured — a red dress that she had worn on the date was not disheveled or torn — and she declined to go to police or the hospital that night to report the assault.

Two years later, Jackie was the central source for Rolling Stone’s 9,000-word butcher job to journalism that dragged Phi Psi and the University of Virginia’s names and reputations through the mud. Their reporting on the incident was significantly different than the recount she gave to Ryan in 2012.

According to archived text messages between Duffin and Jackie, the episode involving Haven Monahan appeared to pass quickly. Jackie told Duffin two days after the alleged attack that Haven Monahan had met her in person to apologize.

But Duffin quickly grew suspicious of Haven Monahan. In a text message to Jackie, Duffin wrote: “I refuse to believe that somebody like this could actually exist.”

Duffin said their relationship soured and he did not talk with her again until after the Rolling Stone article was published. Once the Rolling Stone account was revealed to be erroneous in late 2014, Duffin exchanged a last series of messages with Jackie.

Duffin wrote: “So if I can just ask a question, then … Why did you tell us before the date ever happened that his name was Haven? Haven Monahan? A name that belongs to no UVA student ever? Why has the name changed since then?”

Jackie wrote back: “His last name was Monahan and he called himself Haven. His first name was John or jake or something. And he was there that night but he was a bystander. He wasn’t involved. Not really.”

In an interview Friday, Duffin lamented that the unfortunate episode that was an integral part of his freshman year at U-Va. became the central focus of police investigations, newspaper accounts and now lawsuits in state and federal court.

“Had any of us been contacted it never would have blown up like this,” Duffin said of the Rolling Stone account. noting that he and two others who met with Jackie the night of the alleged attack were not interviewed prior to the story running. “It’s weird to think that an entire portion of my life was consumed by these events that looking back looks so dumb. Given the way everything’s turned out, I don’t think that’s the way I want to describe it, but I had a lot of naivete three years ago. It’s just weird all around.”

I remember watching the movie “Gone Girl” and being terrified of women for a good three months after. And that was a fictional fucking story. This girl Jackie actually exists in the real world. I may never leave the TFM Writer House again while also banning Boosh from bringing strange back altogether. .

[via The Washington Post]