Charlie Rogers was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of fabricating a violent hate crime against her. She maintains she's telling the truth.
Nebraska's Charlie Rogers guards Creighton's Corey Sweeney during a basketball game on Dec. 12, 1999, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Image by Lincoln Journal Star, William Lauer / AP
July 17: Charlie Rogers, a 33-year-old lesbian and former star of the University of Nebraska women’s basketball team, goes to a hardware store and buys a box cutter and zip ties — items that are later found in her living room at the scene of a violent attack she reported.
July 18: Rogers posts on Facebook: "So maybe I'm too idealistic but I believe way deep inside me that we can make things better for everyone. I will be a catalyst. I will do what it takes. I will. Watch me." Police later use this as a motive for Rogers staging her own hate crime.
Charlie Rogers, a former college basketball star, on KETV shortly after her attack.
July 22: Rogers is reportedly attacked. She tells police that three men in masks broke into her home, tied her up, carved anti-gay slurs into her stomach and arms, sliced up her chest, thighs, shins, and bottom, and then tried to light her apartment on fire. A neighbor told police that Rogers crawled from her home naked and bleeding.
July 26: Rogers speaks to the press for the first time. Her attorney Megan Mikolajczyk tells CNN that Rogers wants to emphasize her attack was not a hoax. When asked if anyone was alleging a hoax, Mikolajczyk says: "I think it's par for the course for any sort of high-profile incident for people to question what happened."
In response to a similar question, a police spokeswoman says: "We are investigating all aspects of the case, including the possibility that it is a false report. This type of evaluation is not uncommon and is necessary in completing an investigation." Meanwhile, more than a thousand people rally against violence for Rogers in Omaha.
