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"It's Crystal Mangum … THE CRYSTAL MANGUM," said the nephew of Reginald Daye in 911 call in the early hours of April 3.
Reginald Daye, 46, the victim of the stabbing that N.C. Central University alumna Crystal Mangum is charged with, died yesterday at Duke University Hospital. According to Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez Sr., Mangum will "more than likely" be charged with murder.
Mangum, widely known as the woman who made false accusations of rape against members of the Duke lacrosse team, was initially charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflicting serious injury.
Mangum, who graduated from NCCU in 2008 with a degree in police psychology, has been in the spotlight since the Duke Lacrosse Scandal garnered national attention.
Mangum's troubles in Durham began on the night of March 16, 2006, when she was hired as an exotic dancer for a party organized by members of the Duke lacrosse team near Duke University's West Campus.
What ensued in the coming days and weeks gripped the entire city, both Duke and NCCU's campuses, and the nation.
Three lacrosse players, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans, were soon charged with rape. The case and subsequent investigation became a symbol of racial and socioeconomic division within Durham.
Wealthy and privileged white Duke students accused of raping a lower income black woman from NCCU struggling to make ends meet as an exotic dancer, all taking place in the South at university's just miles apart — it formed the perfect recipe for national scandal and a media circus.
Rony Camille, the Campus Echo editor-in-chief at the time the story broke, describes April 2006 as "the most stressful month of my life."
"ESPN Cold Pizza called and wanted to do a TV spot first," said Camille. "Then CNN came, ABC, Nightline, MSNBC … the phone you are holding right now was ringing off the hook."
"The lowest point was when Inside Edition got my cell phone number," said Camille. Both Duke and NCCU were divided on who to believe and how to handle or support the situation.
"At NCCU, the majority stood by her," said Camille. "They had vigils and four banners showing support."
The New Black Panthers held a protest outside of Duke University and the Rev. Jesse Jackson came to Durham to show support for Mangum.
Duke students and even Devine's, a local sports bar, showed support for the accused lacrosse players, selling T-shirts that read "Annual Witch Hunt" with an image of a bonfire with lacrosse sticks in the middle of the fire. The case drew comparisons to the 1987 Tawana Brawley case, a case in which Brawley, an African American teenager, accused six white men of raping her. Brawley's story was discredited.
Ultimately, the three lacrosse players were dismissed on all charges.
Durham's district attorney, Mike Nifong, the prosecutor who pursued the case was disbarred in 2007 for ethics violations and withholding exculpatory DNA evidence in the case.
Mangum has been in and out of the news in Durham ever since. In 2008 she wrote her account of her life and the nights events in "The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story."
In February 2010, she was arrested for a laundry list of charges for events that took place near NCCU's campus.
That arrest stemmed from a dispute with Milton Walker, her boyfriend at the time.
Mangum was charged with attempted first-degree murder, five counts of arson, assault and battery, communicating threats, three counts of misdemeanor child abuse, injury to personal property, identity theft and resisting a public officer.
"More than likely, we will be upgrading the charge to murder," said Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez Sr., to The Herald Sun on Wednesday, April 13, 2011.
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