COLUMBIA, Mo., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe said Wednesday the suicide of a swimmer who said she was raped was "tragic" and promised a thorough review.
Wolfe held his first news conference since ESPN ran a story last week on Sasha Menu Courey's alleged rape in 2010 by university football players, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. He released a statement Sunday saying he was urging the board of curators to launch an independent investigation.
On Monday, the Columbia Police Department announced it was opening a criminal investigation.
"It's unfortunately a tragic situation that's kind of personal to me because I'm a parent of a female freshman student-athlete myself," Wolfe said. "What's important to us at the University of Missouri is the safety of our students. We take this very seriously."
ESPN reported records show Courey told a rape crisis counselor and other school staffers she had been raped. In her journal she said she also reported the assault to an administrator in the athletic department, which the university says did not happen.
Courey, from Toronto, took her life in June 2011 while she was a patient in a Boston psychiatric hospital.
