After the release of an ESPN "Outside the Lines" report, Missouri police opened an investigation into the alleged sexual assault and subsequent suicide of a former University of Missouri student.
Sasha Menu Courey, who was a swimmer for the university, was allegedly attacked by at least one football player after a night out with her friends in February of 2010. She wrote about the incident in a journal and spoke about it to Rolandis Woodland, a former Missouri football receiver and friend of Menu Courey's. Woodland stated that Menu Courey confided to him the day after the incident that something bad had happened. After her death, Woodland says he saw a videotape of three of his former teammates assaulting the swimmer.
Menu Courey also described the incident to university counselors, according to the report. However, the university failed to file an investigation or inform law enforcement officials of the incident.
Following the incident, Menu Courey, who had a history of struggling with depression, continued to spiral downward, according to her parents. In 2011, she committed suicide.
On Sunday, the university president sent a letter to school officials detailing his intention to conduct an investigation of the school's handling of the case. Menu Courey's family, who stated "the system failed Sasha in many ways," are glad that an investigation is finally being launched.
"The family feels that it is not until universities are willing to take responsibility for the seriousness of these issues that young people will be safe on campuses and families can rest easy knowing that others will not have to go through the horror that they and Sasha went through,"her family said in a statement.