Police: case closed on Sasha Menu Courey case

Columbia police confirmed on Wednesday the sexual assault case opened for Sasha Menu Courey is now closed with no arrests, due to a lack of evidence involving the claims made by the former University of Missouri student athlete.

The Columbia police department first started their investigation January 27, 2014, a day after ESPN aired a report on the rape allegations.

Detectives stated there were several obstacles in their investigation, including Sasha’s suicide in 2011. They believe the incident happened in February of 2010. Officials said they could not find any video evidence and cited the fact ESPN had Sasha’s phone for an extended period of time before it was delivered to police. They also said Sasha’s journals do not name a specific suspect.

ABC 17 News reached out to Menu-Courey’s parents Wednesday, who said they need time to process all of the information.

Sasha’s father, Mike Menu, said, “This is a very sad day for us as we believe that someone, somewhere has additional information to bring closure about this incident. Very disappointing results and at the same time, perhaps not surprising.”

Menu also told ABC 17 news he thought there was important information left out of Wednesday’s report. Columbia Police destroyed journal entries and a suicide note from Sasha’s attempted suicide in 2011. Menu said he was not notified of that and that the evidence was destroyed before the investigation started.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a failure. With all our evidence, there is a time frame that evidence is destroyed if it’s not pertinent to a case. So again, I believe that is a conversation the deputy chief is having with the parents,” said Bryana Maupin with CPD.

Police interviewed two of Menu-Courey’s friends, Rolandis Woodland and Felix Cote. The informational memo stated Menu-Courey told Cote she was in her dorm room when three football players pressured her to have sex. According to Cote, Menu-Courey did not identify the players or provide more details about the encounter.

Woodland, a former Mizzou football player, was also interviewed by detectives. He said, in the informational memo, he and Menu-Courey dated for approximately six months starting in November 2009. He said he believes her assault took place in February 2010. He added Menu-Courey was upset and asked Woodland to not be be mad, but did not go into details.

After Menu-Courey died in June 2011, Woodland said he got a package from Menu-Courey, which he presumed was sent from a treatment facility in Boston before she died. The memo states Woodland said one letter expressed Menu-Courey’s feelings for the former Mizzou football player and another letter described her sexual assault. In that second letter, Menu-Courey requests that Woodland not disclose details of the assault. In addition, Woodland also received a CD from Menu-Courey that contained video of the sexual assault.

The memo states Woodland was unable to locate the letter or video detailing the assault. Police state they could not find the video of the assault.

According to the police’s informational memo about the case, Woodland said he watched the video but it was too dark to make out the face. However, he was able to identify Menu-Courey in the video. He said he could see several men trying to have sex with the former Mizzou swimmer, even though he could hear her say no.

The following day, Woodland said he confronted four teammates who were talking about how Menu-Courey liked to be filmed during sex. The players in question were Carl Gettis, Gil Moye, Jasper Simmons and Trey Hobson. According to Woodland, all but Moye denied having sex with Menu-Courey. Moye told Woodland his sexual encounter was consensual.

Woodland adds he believes Moye and another former Mizzou football player, La’Roderick Thomas, were in the room when Menu-Courey was assaulted.

Police state they made contact with Gil Moye. Moye adds he believes her assault took place in either the spring of 2010 or 2011. The former Mizzou football player said he remembers drifting in and out of sleep after he and Menu-Courey had consensual sex. Later that night, Moye said Menu-Courey went back into the bed they shared and was upset. She asked Moye ‘why he would let him do that’ after Moye saw Thomas leave the bedroom. Thomas was a roommate of Moye.

Thomas said he never had made sexual advances on Menu-Courey or walked in Moye’s bedroom that night. Moye also adds he was unaware of video of the sexual assault.

Police also said investigators could not find the video. They also state they reviewed Menu-Courey’s journal and it did not provide new information. That journal details a sexual assault. It said Moye was in the room and knew of the suspect’s identity. The entry states it Moye and the unidentified person were in the room.

Investigators state they did not have plausible evidence to locate and identify a suspect.