Prosecutor suspects "hoax" in rape probe of NHL star Patrick Kane
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The prosecutor overseeing the sexual assault investigation of Chicago Blackhawks NHL star Patrick Kane says the accuser's mother lied about finding an evidence bag in her doorway.
Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita said during a news conference Friday that the mother was given the bag at a hospital when her daughter was examined, but it never contained a rape kit.
"Obviously there has been an effort to create a hoax," Sedita said. "I gotta figure out who was in on that, why they would do that and what it means vis-a-vis all the other evidence."
Sedita says the mother was given the bag when the examining nurse learned that the accuser changed her top before going to the hospital. He says the mother was to put the top in the bag and turn it in to authorities, but never did.
Questions about the bag were raised publicly by the accuser's former attorney, Thomas Eoannou, who abruptly quit the case Thursday night, saying he didn't believe the story about how the bag was found.
Eoannou said he was still confident in the woman's allegations against Kane. The accuser, in her 20s, says Kane sexually assaulted her in her 20s at his waterfront mansion outside of Buffalo on Aug. 2.
Kane has not been charged.