DA: Accuser's Mom Lied About Rape Kit In Patrick Kane Investigation
By Kate Shepherd in News on Sep 25, 2015 3:22PM
It's been an eventful and confusing few days in the Patrick Kane sexual assault investigation.
The bag shown to the public a couple days ago was not the rape kit bag, Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita III announced at a press conference Friday morning. Rape kits are placed in boxes not bags in Erie County, he said. The evidence was not tampered with or compromised and the chain of custody was not broken. This announcement comes a day after an attorney for the accuser claimed the rape kit evidence had been tampered with.
The bag was given to the accuser's mother by the hospital when she accompanied her daughter to the hospital for the rape kit examination on the morning of Aug. 2, according to Sedita. The mother lied when she brought the bag to the family's attorney earlier this week and claimed she found it at her door.
Officials from the DA's office and police in Hamburg, New York are continuing to investigate the open case.
The lawyer for Patrick Kane's accuser stepped down Thursday night just one day after he held a high-profile press conference alleging that the rape kit was tampered with.
Attorney Thomas Eoannou no longer feels comfortable representing the accuser because of "fabrications" in her mother's story of how she found an evidence bag that allegedly once held the rape kit, he told reporters at a press conference in Buffalo.
In Wednesday's press conference, Eoannou showed reporters the rape kit evidence bag which the accuser's mother told him was left at her front door.
"I can only say that I don't know what's true and what's not true," Eoannou said. "I received the storyline from the mother. And it's my position that I'm not comfortable with that version of the events."
Despite stepping down because of an alleged fabrication by the accuser's mother, Eoannou is still confident in the accuser's claims against Kane.
The rape kit results didn't turn up any traces of Kane's DNA but a new report claims that the exam was cut short because of equipment problems which may explain why none of his DNA was found.
Source says rape kit exam of Kane accuser was cut short because of problems with equipment. Could explain lack of DNA.
— Julie DiCaro (@JulieDiCaro) September 25, 2015