Person of interest identified in sex assault at UChicago frat house

Key points

• The University of Chicago identified a person of interest in a sexual assault at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house over the weekend.
• The person of interest, who is not a student or affiliated with the university, has been banned from campus, and no one was in custody as of Thursday morning.
• The National AEPi organization told the chapter to pause events and programs while cooperating with the investigation.

The University of Chicago said Wednesday morning that it has identified a person of interest in a sexual assault reported at a fraternity house over the weekend. The person was identified through witness statements and video evidence, which the university said it shared with the Chicago Police Department.

The person of interest is not a student or affiliated with the university and has been banned from campus. A source with knowledge of the investigation told CBS News Chicago that the university also banned multiple other people connected to the incident, none of them students. No one was in custody as of Thursday morning.

What was reported

The assault happened at the Alpha Epsilon Pi house at 5625 S. University Ave., across the street from the west side of UChicago's Main Quad in Hyde Park. According to a university report, a 21-year-old woman said she was sexually assaulted in a bathroom during a frat party at 1:50 a.m. Sunday.

A UChicago alert said the woman was not affiliated with the university. The university said she did not know her attacker, and that the suspect ran off when someone intervened. Surveillance video in the area captured someone matching the description running from the house, and a UCPD officer on patrol was flagged down to respond. UCPD arranged for the woman to be taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Sexual violence, in my opinion, on college campus is not a series of isolated incidents. It is a pervasive public health crisis.

— Jillian Furey, clinical services supervisor for Resilience

Reaction and next steps

Video has surfaced online showing a woman identifying herself as a friend of the 21-year-old chasing a man she said was the attacker and yelling that he assaulted her friend in a frat bathroom. The friend later commented that the 21-year-old was "drugged and taken away from us against her will." CBS News Chicago said it was still trying to independently verify who was recorded and whether those people were involved.

The National AEPi organization told the chapter to pause events and programs while it cooperates with the investigation. In a statement, the fraternity said, "The chapter hurts for the person who was the victim in this incident." No charges have been filed against the person of interest.