Lizzy Seeberg was a 19-year-old freshman at Saint Mary's College when she died by suicide, after accusing a Notre Dame football player named Prince Shembo of sexual assault. After she filed a complaint with the police she received several frightening texts from a friend of the accused, including "Don't do anything you would regret, messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea." She died by suicide that September, 10 days after making the complaint to the campus police.[1] 13 members of the Seeberg family have attended either Notre Dame or Saint Mary's.[2]
Prosecutors did not file criminal charges due to Lizzy not being alive to testify and also because of what they described as inconsistencies in witness accounts and cellphone records.[1] The school determined that Lizzy lied because she said the player stopped attacking her after receiving a call or a text, but phone records showed that it was the accused who called his friend. An expert from the police department told The Washington Post that victims often get some details mixed up because of the way the brain processes information in traumatic situations.[2]