She says football player sexually assaulted her at 17. She questions KU’s response
Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of sexual assault, medical examinations and graphic injuries. Information on the national sexual assault hotline can be found at rainn.org.
Gray clouds hung above the prairies and plains as Isabela Estes drove west on Interstate 70 toward her family’s home in Colorado. It was late July, and Lawrence was in the rear view.
Just shy of four years earlier, Estes had made the same drive in the opposite direction. She was 17 then, headed toward the University of Kansas to move into her freshman dorm. The high school softball player, hoping to major in psychology, was recruited to the KU women’s rowing team.
“I was honestly really excited,” Estes told The Star. “I had other schools that I was looking at for softball. And I was like, they’re OK, but KU was my dream school. Getting that recruitment call, it just all lined up. I’ve always wanted to be a DI athlete. This was my chance.”
But everything changed on a Saturday evening, just two weeks after she arrived in Lawrence.
Estes said she and a friend went over to Stouffer Place Apartments on the evening of Sept. 4, 2021, to watch a movie with three football players. It was there, she told The Star, that one of the players sexually assaulted her in his bedroom.
Hundreds of miles from home, Estes didn’t know what she was supposed to do.
“I was so immature and young,” Estes, now 22, said. “No one raises you to really know how to deal with any of this stuff, because you don’t expect it to happen to you.”
As KU employees — including trainers and a deputy athletic director — learned of the allegations, Estes said no one urged her to preserve possible evidence, get a rape kit collected or report the incident to police. Documents shared with The Star support Estes’ claim.
Scared and alone, Estes stayed quiet. In the first days after the alleged assault, she told those who knew what had happened she didn’t want to report the incident or tell anyone else.
Estes told The Star that decision only solidified when a nurse at KU’s Watkins Health Center, where she went for an evaluation 11 days after the incident, cautioned her she could report, but it would become a “he-said, she-said” situation.
This is the first time she has spoken publicly about the alleged assault and how it has affected her life. This summer, as Estes shared her story with The Star, she began tracking down records from the time.
Those records show that KU personnel and the athletic director’s office were notified of the alleged assault within 24 hours. Estes’ parents were not. Records indicate KU police weren’t either.
“I’ll be 22 in the fall, but at the time I was 17 and I was embarrassed,” Estes said in July. “I was scared. I was away from home for the first time ever, and I was like, these adults should be helping protect me.
“And so I felt like I had to do what they thought was best, and ... I just tried to forget about it and move on.”
Questions about KU’s response
What Estes didn’t know back in 2021 was despite her wishes not to report the incident, school policy required the adults around her to do more. KU’s Crime Reporting Policy says employees who become aware of an alleged assault of a minor “shall report that matter promptly to an appropriate law enforcement agency.”
“Looks to me like everyone working for KU that knew — that should have suspected that she was a minor and could have been the victim of a sexual assault — should have called the police,” said Dan Curry, a Kansas City attorney who reviewed the documents in this case at the request of The Star. “Across the board, that’s the policy. It doesn’t give any exception for kids who asked not to call the police. There’s just no exception for that.”
Estes told The Star she’s sharing her story in part to let those involved understand the lasting impact of what happened. She said she hopes to prevent other young students from going through what she did.
In addition to sharing documents from the time, including emails and text messages, Estes has made personal records requests to KU’s Title IX office, medical centers she received treatment at, KU police and the Kansas Department for Children and Families. The Star obtained additional documentation through the Kansas Open Records Act.
It took Estes more than seven weeks of advocating to see her full Title IX file. And when she finally did, she learned for the first time that the football player had contacted a team staff member within hours of the alleged incident.
He told that person he had consensual sex with a female, but “during the act she asked him to stop and he did.” When Estes left, he said he noticed blood on the floor, the report said.
The Star sent questions specific to Estes’ case to all offices mentioned in this article, though student privacy rules restrict their ability to answer. The Star also sent several policy questions, which do not violate student or medical privacy laws, to a University of Kansas spokesperson and each office. Those went unanswered.
Prior to publishing, The Star directly contacted leadership in KU’s Title IX office and at Watkins, as well as deputy athletic director Nicole Corcoran. The Star also addressed specific questions to athletic director Travis Goff and football coach Lance Leipold through Daniel Berk, associate athletic director for public communications and strategic communications, and extended the opportunity to discuss KU policy. No one responded.
After reading what the football player told KU employees, much of which Estes disputes, she “cried a lot about it because I feel very let down.” She said she knows there are things “that I could have done differently.”
“But I was so young, like I was such a baby,” Estes continued. “And it kind of really comes down to the fact that they protected their player here, they protected their athlete.
“I was also an athlete for KU, and it didn’t seem like they were protecting me at all. But he had like these people that came around him to make sure that nothing was gonna happen to him. … I wish that someone had helped me find help. Helped me go to the hospital, go to the police, like actually do something about it. Tell my parents. Anything.”
The Star’s Investigation
The Star has spent the past two months investigating what happened in September 2021 and since, including dozens of hours talking with Estes, who shared extensive details about her experience. Personal records shared by Estes, as well as documents obtained through KORA, contributed to this reporting.
The Star’s investigation found that across several offices at KU, employees didn’t appear to take Estes’ age as a minor into account when responding to allegations she was sexually assaulted. Among the findings:
- Despite KU employees — a deputy athletic director, trainers and resident assistants, among others — receiving information that Estes may have been sexually assaulted, there is no evidence anyone alerted law enforcement. Though Estes told them in the early days that she didn’t want to report the incident, her age alone should have prompted employees to report to law enforcement as required by university policy.
The Star made a request under KORA to the KU Police Department in July of this year for reported incidents of sexual assault in September 2021. The request returned documentation from two reported sexual assaults — neither of them Estes’. One was off campus and the other neither matched the dates nor Estes’ personal information.
- The nurse who treated Estes at Watkins Health Center 11 days after the alleged assault stated in the medical visit note that she would report the incident to the Kansas Department for Children and Families to fulfill her duty as a mandated reporter. Once a hotline call is made, that can prompt the involvement of law enforcement.
Estes has tried to find out if the alleged assault was ever reported to Kansas DCF as stated in documents. A request from The Star for that information was denied. Estes’ formal request was fulfilled after around nine weeks — and several calls.
On Sept. 22, a DCF legal assistant emailed Estes and said “there are no records (of such a report) available,” adding, generally, that “if a report was made but a case worker never made contact to initiate an investigation, it’s possible the report was screened out due to not meeting the requirements for follow up or investigation.”
- KU’s Title IX office initially withheld the majority of Estes’ personal file from her in a viewing appointment without disclosing it had done so. After questioning whether she was shown everything the office had regarding her alleged assault, she was told some information was held back per “office practice.” It took another seven weeks of Estes emailing and requesting information before she was shown everything, and the new information exposed the fact that the football player had reached out to a team staff member within hours of the incident and claimed the sex was consensual.
Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, a spokesperson for the University of Kansas, said she and other employees could not answer questions about specific cases, but pointed to general practice when it comes to alleged sexual assaults.
“The University has extensive resources for victims of sexual assault, and university policies require reporting of incidents of alleged sexual assault to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX,” Barcomb-Peterson said in an email. “The university also has robust procedures to investigate allegations of sexual assault. Those procedures are consistent with federal regulations that require due process to ensure the rights of all parties are respected.”
When The Star asked what is required when the student is a minor, Barcomb-Peterson did not respond.
The alleged assault occurred just a few years after a Title IX lawsuit was brought forward by former KU rowers Daisy Tackett and Sarah McClure in 2016. Like Estes, both women say they were raped by a KU football player — not the same one from Estes’ case — in his on-campus housing only weeks into their freshman year at KU. The university settled that lawsuit for $395,000 in 2017. Curry served as Tackett and McClure’s attorney.
In Estes’ case, she said she and her mother were planning to contact the athletic department after Estes graduates in December. But when a Star reporter reached out in mid-July on a different topic, Estes decided she was ready to talk.
“I even texted my mom this morning that I fear they’re gonna put the blame on me again, and I’m gonna feel the same way I felt in that moment,” Estes said during her second conversation with a Star reporter, which took place in a Lawrence coffee shop on July 21. “But it’s also like, I don’t have anything to lose anymore.”
Driving away from Lawrence in late July, Estes said she felt relieved knowing she would no longer see her alleged assaulter on campus. But, she said, there’s no distance that allows her to leave behind what happened.
“It ruined my entire college experience,” Estes said. “I’m still dealing with repercussions now.”
The night ‘Resident (Isabela) Estes was raped’
With blood streaking down her legs, Estes said she rushed from the apartment after the alleged assault. She ran toward her dorm in Ellsworth Hall, located a third of a mile away. Her teammate, who had gone over to the apartment with Estes, followed behind.
Estes’ roommate noticed blood on her legs and called two friends for support. Five students — Estes, her roommate, the two friends and the teammate who had gone to Stouffer with Estes — gathered inside the Ellsworth dorm room.
The Student Housing incident report filed by resident assistants (RAs) provides insight into what unfolded after Estes returned. Estes was shown the report in July 2025 after she requested to see her Title IX file. The report was shared with The Star.
An Ellsworth RA reported they “opened the door to a crying resident” at 12:37 a.m. The RA asked the resident, Estes’ friend, whose name was redacted in the file due to federal student privacy laws, what was wrong.
She told the RA that “Estes was raped,” the report narrative said. It continues to explain that the resident told the RA she had asked Estes what happened.
“Resident Estes said nothing was wrong, and didn’t want to tell say who it was, and blamed it on self,” the report said. “Resident [redacted] also mentioned that Resident Estes did want help but was scared.”
That prompted Estes’ friend to discreetly go to the RA. Thinking back on that night, Estes believes the friend notified the RA while she was in the shower.
The report names four RAs who were present that night. One RA called the assistant complex director at 12:43 a.m. to share “the basics.” According to the report, that ACD advised the RA to “ask if they (Estes) need any resources” and said to contact the ACD if the RA needed additional help.
Estes was brought to the Ellsworth living room, where two RAs spoke to her and a friend “about the incident.” There are no details in the report about the assault or preceding events. The RAs did not document asking Estes specific questions.
The report states one resident told the RA that Estes and a friend had gone to Stouffer that night for a “fraternity party.” Estes said the latter detail was incorrect.
The report states Estes was “adamant about not involving any outside sources.” The RAs documented that they had disclosed their mandatory reporting requirement to Title IX and “explained where the report would go and would only take it to outside authorities if Resident Estes wished to do so.”
Unknown to Estes at the time, the decision to notify outside authorities was not hers to make.
She was 17 years old. A child under Kansas state law.
KU’s Crime Reporting Policy, which applies to all university employees and affiliates, states when “any employee has reason to suspect that a child under 18 years of age has been harmed as a result of sexual abuse, the employee shall report the matter promptly to an appropriate law enforcement agency, including either the University Public Safety Office in Lawrence or Kansas City or to local law enforcement officials, or both.”
This policy, which went into effect in 2012, applied to RAs and housing employees notified that night. And every KU employee, including those in the Title IX office and athletic director’s office, who subsequently learned of the alleged assault.
Estes’ personal information, including name, student number and birthday, are included atop the housing report.
The RAs said in the report that they searched for information about the CARE coordinator on campus, but there is no documented discussion of getting Estes medical care, collecting a rape kit or preserving evidence.
The evening ended when an RA walked Estes back to her room and RAs submitted the report at 2:53 a.m.
Text printed at the bottom of the report states it was routed to the Ellsworth complex director. It also states: “copies originally to:” and includes the email addresses of administrators including the assistant vice provost, the assistant director of the Student Conduct office and assistant director of resident life.
A series of questions was asked on the second page of the report copy provided to Estes. Under “reason for medical/EMS transportation” it states “Injury, Welfare/Mental Health.” There is no evidence Estes received any medical or EMS transportation.
Next, it asks: “Was KU Public Safety Called?” The RAs selected “No.”
Then: “Please provide the police report number here.”
It was left blank.
‘Female victim and male attacker are student-athletes’
A second report was made directly to KU’s Title IX office within 24 hours of the alleged assault. Estes learned of the report in July of this year when the Title IX office showed her two incident reports in her file.
The mother of one of Estes’ teammates — a teammate who had been called to Ellsworth Hall that night — made the report. She worked for KU at the time, which meant she was mandated to report the information shared by her daughter to the Title IX office.
KU’s Office of Civil Rights & Title IX acts on reports of discrimination, harassment and sexual violence. The office is also responsible for supporting victims. Most employees at KU are mandatory reporters, meaning they are required to report any known discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct or retaliation to the campus office.
Earlier this month, a Star reporter called the mother who made the report. She recalled being “panicked, very worried and very concerned” four years ago when her daughter told her about the incident. She described it as “the last thing that you would want to hear” from your child.
The mother said she called a faculty member associated with athletics, who was a close friend, to share “there was an incident” and “somebody got hurt.” The faculty member told the mother she had to report. The faculty member did not respond to The Star’s attempts to contact her via phone and email.
“Even though deep down I knew that, I also had my parent hat on,” the mother said. She made a report of “Sexual Violence/Sexual Assault” to the Title IX office on Sept. 5, 2021, at 2:03 p.m.
“My daughter is a freshman,” read the report that Estes shared with The Star. “She told her parents (my husband and me) that she provided a ride home for one of her teammates early Sunday morning.
“The student was bleeding and covered with blood, and it was not her period. Student returned to residence hall and did shower. My daughter and another girl were able to grab the girl’s clothing and put it into a bag. The RA of Ellsworth was contacted and the female student did tell the RA what had happened.”
The mother explained she was relaying information shared by her daughter. “I have not spoken to the student or any of the other women that were there,” she wrote in the report.
Estes said the detail about a ride home was incorrect. But she was more surprised to learn her friends had preserved her clothing that night as she showered.
At the bottom of the report, the mother noted she had already contacted the faculty member. Then, there was a final detail: “The female victim and male attacker are student-athletes.”
Deputy athletic director reaches out
Before the mother of Estes’ teammate hit send on her report for the Title IX office, deputy athletic director Nicole Corcoran reached out to Estes via KU’s athlete messaging portal at 1:07 p.m. on Sept. 5, 2021.
Corcoran told Estes the situation “was reported to me as a possible Title IX issue,” according to a copy of the message reviewed by The Star. The administrator asked Estes if she was OK, and said she wanted to make sure Estes had “resources for help, support and reporting however you are comfortable.”
Corcoran explained the Title IX office would reach out, but it was up to Estes how to respond. The message ended asking Estes to reply and acknowledge she had received it. Estes replied via text within an hour and apologized that Corcoran had gotten involved.
Estes wrote she “did not want to report it and had no intentions of making it a thing,” according to text messages she shared with The Star. Corcoran told Estes not to apologize, and affirmed she was there to support the rower.
That evening, around 8 p.m., the two exchanged a final pair of messages, with Estes saying she felt really bad and thanking Corcoran again.
“Absolutely,” Corcoran replied.
The first Title IX outreach
A Title IX outreach email from Tamara Dixon, the investigator assigned to Estes’ case, was sent on Sept. 7, 2021, according to documents shared with The Star. Dixon wrote the office had “recently received information that shared that you may have experienced sexual violence.”
The email explained the office wanted to meet with Estes and outlined available resources. The final lines of the email noted “a lot of information is contained in this letter. As such, I have attached information about your rights.”
The second page of the attached PDF mentioned preservation of evidence, writing “physical evidence is best collected within 72 hours of an assault.” It said “evidence can be preserved by not showering/bathing or laundering your clothing.”
It appears to be the first time Estes received information on the topic. But the email came at 6 p.m. on that Tuesday — an estimated 66 hours after the alleged assault.
Estes, who was experiencing pain and bleeding from the alleged assault, was yet to receive medical attention. There had been no rape kit collected that night or in the days following.
She chose not to reply to that email.
“I think I was more scared,” Estes said. “I had just started at a new school, and it had felt like people didn’t want me to talk about it. I felt like it was gonna ruin my life more, and I would be in trouble.”
The decision of whether to pursue a formal Title IX complaint or investigation is often based on the wishes of the alleged victim.
“Importantly, the university’s process honors victims by respecting their choices,” KU spokesperson Barcomb-Peterson said. “This means that the initiation of the university’s procedures depends on complainants who indicate a desire to pursue those procedures. When complainants respond to outreach and indicate a desire to pursue a complaint, the university takes action. When complainants indicate they don’t want any action taken, the university respects that choice, too.”
But Estes was 17 at the time. While the Title IX office could weigh her wish not to move forward with an internal investigation, all KU employees with knowledge of the alleged assault of a minor were required by university policy to contact law enforcement.
Curry, the attorney who reviewed Estes’ Title IX file and related documents at The Star’s request, said he couldn’t place fault with the Title IX office for not initiating an investigation without Estes’ response.
“But people who knew she was a minor and heard the allegations, that’s a different story,” Curry said.
The Star emailed Barcomb-Peterson to confirm that the crime reporting policy, mandating that any employee with knowledge call law enforcement, would apply to an alleged sexual assault of a 17-year-old student. She did not respond to multiple inquiries.
The Star also asked Corcoran if she was aware of the crime reporting policy, and whether she had reported the allegations to law enforcement. Corcoran did not respond.
“Why have a policy if nobody knows what it is?” said Curry, who added that employees should reasonably be aware that each freshman class has some 17-year-olds. “I think that there was a reason why they adopted this policy, as it pertains to minors, and that’s because I would think … minors, you know, really aren’t in the position to make that call.”
Estes seeks medical help
By Sept. 10, 2021, it had become clear to Estes that she needed medical care. Estes (who goes by Izzy) explained that athletes’ medical care was managed by team physicians and staff, but for a non-rowing and highly personal health issue, the 17-year-old far from home was unsure of where to go.
So she reached out to Corcoran and shared that she might need to see a doctor while also expressing privacy concerns.
Copies of the messages provided to The Star show that Corcoran collected and shared information about services available at Watkins Health Center — including sexually transmitted infection tests and exams. Corcoran, who expressed concern after Estes reached out, also texted a link to a KU student health webpage with resources for sexual assault.
“This is your private health info -no one is notified of your visit,” one of the texts from Corcoran on Sept. 10 read, in part.
Messages provided to The Star show Estes also texted one of the rowing team’s athletic trainers shortly after the conversation with Corcoran. She told the trainer she was “going through a title 9 kind (of) thing right now” before asking if she could go to Watkins. Estes added “the civil rights office and everyone already know. I’m so sorry.”
The trainer assured Estes it was “absolutely fine to go to Watkins” and asked Estes if she needed support or resources, like a mental health counselor. The trainer also disclosed her status as a mandatory reporter to Title IX.
‘Sexual assault of a child’
Estes walked into Watkins Health Center on the morning of Sept. 15, 2021, where she was seen by an advanced registered nurse practitioner.
A copy of Estes’ medical record from the visit shows she was given three diagnoses that day: “nausea, possible exposure to STD and sexual assault of child.”
Each diagnosis has a universal medical code used in health care settings for records and billing purposes. Estes’ record from that day includes the ICD-10 code T74.22XA, which is used to denote “child sexual abuse, confirmed, initial encounter.” A different code, T76.22XA, would have been used in the case that the sexual abuse was suspected but not confirmed.
The Star emailed Watkins leadership and KU spokesperson Barcomb-Peterson to ask how providers determine whether sexual assault is suspected or confirmed. Neither answered.
The chief complaint on the medical visit record, which Estes shared with The Star, read: “pt (patient) reports sexual assault over a week ago pt reports pain and bleeding since event.”
Estes told The Star that when she shared she had been assaulted by a KU football player, the nurse responded by saying Estes could report it, but it would be a “he-said, she-said” situation and that KU would “do anything to protect their athletes.”
Estes said the nurse’s words affirmed her immediate decision not to report.
“One of my rower friends had kind of been like … maybe you should talk to someone” about reporting, Estes said, recalling a conversation after her Watkins visit. “And I was like, well, she (the nurse) said there’s nothing that can be done, and they won’t do anything about it.”
The Star emailed KU and Watkins leadership asking them to respond to what Estes alleges was said to her that day — along with questions about standard practices. Privacy laws prevent them from speaking on aspects of a patient’s individual care, but neither replied.
The medical report narrative from the health center mentions limited details about the assault, including that Estes was “assaulted by one person, does not really know person well” and that the assault happened in “Lawrence.”
“Was having heavy vaginal bleeding Saturday and Sunday ‘running down leg’, then daily following this until yesterday, none today,” the nurse wrote. She also noted that Estes “has not talk(ed) to really anyone about it, parents do not know, athletics does.”
Health care providers, like the nurse who saw Estes, are mandated reporters of child abuse. State law requires they call DCF and/or law enforcement if they have “reason to suspect” a child has been sexually abused.
Estes was three days shy of her 18th birthday at the visit. According to the nurse’s note, Estes said she did not want to report or speak to the police. But the nurse “did inform patient that I am (a) mandatory reporter and since she is a minor I may have to report, will not if do not have to as we discussed.”
Because Estes was a minor, the Watkins nurse was obligated to report to DCF.
The visit note indicates it was updated with additional comments: The nurse noted she spoke with her management and a “report was made to child protective services since patient is a minor.” It added that Merrill Evans, the CARE coordinator, was attempting to contact Estes.
But Estes said she never heard from Evans, DCF or law enforcement. She said her parents never heard from a state authority either. Both The Star and Estes have been unable to confirm if the call to DCF was made. Evans declined to speak with The Star, citing concerns about respecting a survivor’s privacy.
Erin LaRow, a spokesperson for DCF, Kansas’ child welfare agency, said state privacy laws prevented her from confirming whether a hotline call from the nurse was received. The Star submitted a KORA request based on the Watkins medical note. It was denied. When responding to questions sent by The Star, LaRow said, “DCF will direct reports of sexual assault to law enforcement.”
Records provided by Estes show she asked — through Kansas DCF’s personal records request form — on July 23 for her records to see if anyone had made a hotline call to report her alleged assault. Nearly nine weeks later she received the email reply, but still does not have clarity if such a call was made.
Estes heard from Corcoran via text message again on Sept. 21, 2021. Six days had passed since the Watkins visit, and Estes had turned 18 over the weekend.
“Hi, I’ve been thinking about you,” Corcoran wrote to Estes just before 7 p.m. “How are you? I was very upset last week when I learned Watkins Health handled things differently than how all their guidance, information and instruction has indicated with your situation. Apparently, it had to do with your age…it sounds as if it was completely mishandled by staff at Watkins. I’m so sorry you had to go through additional stress and worry on top of everything you’re already dealing with. Please tell me if I can help support you in any way Izzy.”
It is unclear what part of the visit Corcoran was referring to in her comments about things being “mishandled.” Corcoran declined to answer all questions sent to her by The Star, including about how she learned information about Estes’ personal medical visit and what she meant by “apparently it had to do with your age…”
Sought medical care for second time
The Title IX office reached out to Estes again on Sept. 27, 2021, with an email explaining that the office remained interested in meeting with her to “learn about what you experienced, share information about support resources and support measures that are available to help you, and review the processes within the University to address this situation.”
The email stated that “should we not hear from you, the OCRTIX will not take any further action at this time.” Estes said she doesn’t remember seeing the follow-up email.
At the same time, Estes said she was continuing to struggle with the same, and worsening, symptoms since her visit to Watkins. On Sept. 29, Estes sought medical care for the second time.
“It was a few weeks later, I had been in a lot more pain,” Estes recalled. “I was kind of just getting a lot of hot flashes and all of that stuff. I was in tutoring at the time and I couldn’t sit there anymore.”
That night, Estes reached out to the team trainer she’d previously texted and explained she was “having a lot of pain with something related to the whole situation.” Before the trainer could respond, Estes sent a second message saying she was going to the ER.
Estes also contacted a team medical staff member that night, according to emails provided to The Star.
“I don’t know if you remember me telling you about the lump that was causing me pain,” Estes wrote in the email, describing her symptoms as worsening and “extremely painful.”
The reply was short: “Hey. Yes I recall go to the ER. If it is a hematoma it could be getting worse and may need drained.”
Estes arrived at Lawrence Memorial Hospital’s emergency room around 9 p.m., according to a copy of the visit record that Estes requested. The history section of the report stated: “The patient presents with vaginal pain and Pt reports that 3 weeks ago was sexually assaulted.”
Estes’ differential diagnoses that night were listed as vaginitis (inflammation of the vagina), cervicitis (inflammation of the cervix), a urinary tract infection, a sexually transmitted disease and a vaginal abscess. A minor procedure, which included placing a catheter, was done in the emergency room.
Struggling to get answers
After Estes decided to tell her story, she wanted to know more about what happened in the days after her alleged assault. Hoping to find answers, she requested documents from several places this summer, including KU’s Title IX office.
When Estes went in person, on July 24, to view her file, she was shown three total pages, made up of the two incident reports — she said there was no indication it was not her full file. However, when Estes emailed a few days later to confirm that was everything, the office told her it was not, but they had shared “the portion we are permitted to disclose,” which was the initial incident report.
KU’s Title IX office did not cite a policy that prevented them from showing Estes her whole file, according to emails shared with The Star. Instead, they responded they were only permitted to show initial reports because that was an “office practice” developed a few years ago.
Estes spent seven weeks pushing to see her entire file, a right granted to her by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). She exchanged about two dozen emails with the Title IX office, made calls on several occasions and went up to eight days without receiving a response.
On August 15, the office agreed to show her a redacted copy of the file if she came for an in-person viewing appointment. The offer was no longer feasible for Estes, who had moved home to Colorado since the prior viewing.
FERPA guidance issued by the Department of Education specifically states that offices must arrange an alternative viewing method if someone is not within commuting distance. On Sept. 8, Lauren Jones McKown, the associate vice chancellor of the Office of Civil Rights & Title IX, emailed Estes and agreed “to meet virtually to provide your FERPA review of the documents.”
Estes viewed her entire file on Sept. 11, 2025.
‘He said he had consent’
For four years, Estes said she believed the Title IX office, and the athletic department, did not know the identity of her alleged assaulter. She had never been directly asked.
Emails included in her full Title IX file revealed his identity was known to Corcoran before she first contacted Estes. An email from Corcoran to the interim head of the Title IX office at the time explained that Estes’ alleged assaulter had attempted to call a member of the football team’s staff at 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2021 — likely within an hour of Estes leaving.
The staff member, Tory Teykl, who then served as the assistant athletics director for football operations and director of player development, had been asleep when he called. She did not speak with the player until the morning.
Corcoran’s email recounting Teykl’s conversation with the player was included in Estes’ full file.
“This morning at 6:45am I received a text to call a member of the football staff,” Corcoran’s email sent at 1:39 p.m. on Sept. 5 said. “Tory Teykl was told by one of her young men on FB team that he had consensual sex with a female last night but during the act she asked him to stop and he did.
“After the young woman left Tory said he noticed blood on the floor and he reached out via snap and asked if she was okay. Tory said he didn’t know if ‘it was her period or if he was too big’. He said she responded with ‘what did you do to me’? And then later she said, ‘yeah, I’m okay.’”
Corcoran’s email continued, “Tory shared:
“The young man said the young woman snapped (Snapchat) him last night saying she wanted to come over. He asked if she was drunk and she said no. He made it known that if she came over he wanted to have sex with her. He said he had consent. He said his mom raised him and talked to him about how this should be handled.”
Then the email states: “His name [redacted].”
Corcoran’s email included in Estes’ file continued to explain that on Sept. 5, 2021, she also received a call from the previously mentioned faculty member — that the mother who reported to Title IX had called.
The faculty member had called Corcoran around noon, and asked if she was “aware of an issue in Housing-Stouffer Place,” according to Corcoran’s email.
“I first said I wasn’t-and was surprised she was-but as she spoke it became clear that was the same incident,” Corcoran wrote. “She spoke of a Rower-who had sex with a Football player and had blood running down her legs.”
Reading all the information from September 2021 was extremely upsetting, Estes said. But she was glad to have seen her records.
“I’m very, very happy that I got to see the file and the entirety of it,” Estes said. “I mean, most of it was not surprising, but there was stuff in it that I was kind of astonished about. I guess the side that he had said something to someone.”
Estes said the football player’s comments, about her going over with the expectation of sex and that the ultimate interaction was consensual, are not true. The contents of her full file strengthened Estes’ feelings that law enforcement should have been involved — even though it wasn’t what she wanted at 17 years old.
Had law enforcement been called, the likelihood of Estes receiving timely medical care and having evidence preserved and her parents contacted would have gone up significantly. Those steps give alleged victims more resources to pursue action at a later date, should they change their minds.
Four classes from graduation
Estes remained on the rowing team through her sophomore fall. She quit in December 2022 after she said she developed a severe eating disorder.
Estes said she was admitted to McCallum Place Eating Disorder Center in St. Louis for inpatient treatment, which was initially expected to be two weeks. Her stay was ultimately five months, she said, forcing her to withdraw from classes her sophomore spring semester.
About three months in, Estes said she saw her mother during a family therapy appointment.
“We had one therapy session with my mom, and I was actually forced to tell her about it,” Estes said. “Not, you know, what I wanted to do. But I’m thankful for it, because now she knows. She is the only one that knows in my life right now, except for the other rowers and stuff.”
After McCallum, Estes went back to Lawrence and enrolled in summer classes. Estes spent the next two years on campus. She was no longer an athlete, and her social circle shifted. There was another big change.
She had come to Lawrence pursuing a psychology degree, and remained on that track for three years. Ultimately, it was Estes’ reflection on the Watkins visit that changed her course.
“I think that this event ruined just a lot of my life,” Estes said.
“I decided to pursue nursing,” she continued. “So that I can do better from the ways that I was treated in the medical field.”
Back home in Colorado, Estes spends about two hours a day commuting to her shifts at a Colorado hospital. In the evenings, she works on her four online classes she needs to graduate this December.
Estes submitted her application for nursing school last month. If admitted, she’ll attend classes across the street from where she works.
This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
