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The escort service dancer who claimed she was raped by members of the Duke University lacrosse team is scheduled to talk with reporters today as she promotes a book about her life.
Crystal Gail Mangum's accusations were labeled falsehoods by the state attorney general, who dismissed charges against three lacrosse players. Attorney General Roy Cooper said investigators found no evidence of an assault.
But in excerpts of the book released today, Mangum continues to claim that she was assaulted in March 2006 at a lacrosse team party, where she had been hired to dance.
"Even as I try to move on with my life, I still find it necessary to take one more stand and fight," she says in the book. "I want to assert, without equivocation, that I was assaulted. Make of that what you will. You will decide what that means to you because the state of North Carolina saw fit not to look at all that happened the night I became infamous."
Mangum has suffered from alcohol abuse and mental problems. When the charges were dismissed in April 2007, Cooper said that she "may actually believe the many different stories that she has been telling."
However, Mangum says in the book that her story "has never changed" and that some of those who participated in discrediting her were motivated by race.
She says that she has experienced the kind of life that she does not want for her children, but adds: "I do not want to be remembered as a troubled girl, who ends up being a troubled woman, who ends up saddling her troubled life on the backs of her children and grandchildren."
The book is being promoted by its co-author, Vincent "Ed" Clark, a former columnist for The Chapel Hill News and a self-employed publicist. Clark said he is publishing the book, "The Last Dance for Grace. The Crystal Mangum Story," through his company fire! Films and Books.
"The purpose of the book is to provide information about Crystal Mangum's life and to shed new light on the subject,' Clark said in a news release.
Mangum is scheduled to appear at a news conference at 10 a.m. today at The Know Bookstore in Durham. The event is closed to the public.
