Prosecutor says Patrick Kane accuser's mom lied about bag

The prosecutor overseeing the sexual assault investigation of Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane said Friday there was an "elaborate hoax" when the accuser's mother lied about finding an evidence bag in the doorway of her home in Buffalo, N.Y.

Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita said during a news conference that the mother was given the bag at a hospital when her daughter was examined but that it never contained a rape kit.

"We believe that a person, the complainant's mother, has engaged in an elaborate hoax," Sedita said.

Sedita said the forensic evidence in the case was not compromised or tampered with, including the brown paper bag that was allegedly left at the home of the accuser's mother.

Sedita said his investigators learned over the last 48 hours that the bag is actually a hospital bag given to the mother of the alleged victim at Erie County Medical Center.

Sedita said the mother was given the bag when the examining nurse learned that the accuser changed her top before going to the hospital. He said the mother was to put the top in the bag and turn it into authorities but never did.

"The rape kit was never in any kind of bag," Sedita said Friday, "and it has never left the custody of ... the laboratory since.

"A rape kit is a box. This is a rape kit," Sedita said, holding up a box. "Rape kits in Erie County are not placed in bags and they are not submitted in bags."

Sedita said that the rape kit was opened by the sex assault nurse manager and was sealed by her and turned over to the Hamburg Police Department.

The lawyer representing the accuser abruptly quit Thursday because of questions over evidence he previously believed was tampered with by someone.

"I have an ethical responsibility to withdraw from the case, and I wished them the best of luck," Thomas J. Eoannou said at a Thursday news conference.

Eoannou said he still believes the accuser was assaulted, but "no longer has confidence in the manner and means that the bag came to my office."

Kane, 26, has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman at his waterfront mansion outside Buffalo on Aug. 2. He has not been charged. The Erie County district attorney's office recently delayed grand jury proceedings.

"The issue here is the integrity of the criminal justice system and the public's confidence in the criminal justice system," Sedita said. "This office is not responsible for this circus.

"The question in my mind is not when this case will go to a grand jury, it's if this will go to a grand jury."

Sedita said he doesn't think the mother did anything illegal because she was not under oath and it is not illegal to lie to her daughter's lawyer.

"What she did, though clearly immoral, is not illegal under New York law," Sedita said.

Kane has helped lead the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup championships in the past six seasons and has scored 205 goals in eight NHL seasons. He signed an eight-year, $84 million contract extension in 2014.