50: The Vanderbilt Rape Case

Southern Fried True Crime

Erica Kelley

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 10.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2019

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In June of 2013, a 21 year old Vanderbilt student was gang raped in a dorm room by four football players. She was an unofficial hostess, one of the pretty girls coaches use to “assist” in player recruiting. She had no memory of the event, but her attackers had filmed and photographed it on their cell phones. They were also caught on security footage carrying her unconscious body into the dorm. The implications of this case affected Tennessee state law regarding public records, caused a Title IX investigation into Vanderbilt University and is emblematic of the continued, insidious rape culture rampant on American college campuses.

Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/50-the-vanderbilt-rape-case

Written, hosted, produced by Erica Kelley
Researched by Erica Kelley
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner
Original Music by Rob Harrison-Gamma Radio

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Southern Fried true crime covers cases that are not suitable for young listeners, and there may also be some explicit language used.
0:07.0	Today's episode is about sexual assault, so I would like to emphasize listener discretion.
0:13.0	If you find this topic distressing, you may want to skip this episode.
0:19.0	April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
0:22.0	I wanted to cover a case that highlights rape culture on college campuses, particularly in athletics.
0:28.0	On the evening of June 22, 2013, a 21-year-old senior at Vanderbilt University met a new football recruit for drinks at the TinRoof Bar and Nashville.
0:39.0	Michelle, a pseudonym I'm going to use for the victim in this case, was meeting a guy she'd already had a few dates with.
0:45.0	19 years old and 6-foot-six inches tall, Brandon Vandenberg had recently transferred from a college in California.
0:52.0	He was the nation's number one junior college type-end.
0:56.0	He hadn't played one game yet at Vanden, but he was already living in the dorms and was making friends.
1:02.0	He brought Michelle a drink he called a California-long LNT.
1:06.0	She said after a few sips of the blue drink, she doesn't remember anything else from that night.
1:11.0	Instead of memories, Michelle was assaulted with photographs and videos of her gang rape recorded on cell phones by her attackers.
1:19.0	Metro Nashville police had to show her these horrific images to get her to cooperate, because Michelle had sadly believed her attackers account of the night before.
1:28.0	A man she considered her new boyfriend and she had denied the charges at first.
1:32.0	Michelle was originally prepared to stand up for these football players and clear their names.
1:37.0	But the photos and videos on those phones would forever change her life.
1:42.0	She was traumatized but determined to make sure she received justice, testifying in four trials and fighting the media to protect her privacy.
1:52.0	Welcome to episode 50, The Vanderbilt Rape Case.
2:03.0	Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee is often referred to as the Harvard of the South.
2:11.0	I've covered the history of music city extensively in other episodes, but it's important to discuss the role of Vanderbilt University to Nashville.
2:20.0	Cornelius Vanderbilt gave a million dollar endowment to form Vanderbilt University in 1873.
	...

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