With layers of academic regalia draped around his neck, senior class president Scott Kretzschmar stood before his Marine City High School classmates in June 2022 and remarked on all the friendships he made growing up in their tight-knit community.
“I can honestly say that I’ve had at least one interaction with all of you that I will remember forever,” the summa cum laude grad said while reading his commencement speech, noting he had been with much of the class since middle school. “Every one of you are my friends. ... I'm excited to see where everyone ends up in the future because I know it will be good."
But then came college, Greek life, partying — and the catastrophic night of Oct. 19, 2024, when a fellow Cornell University student alleges
she was gang raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house during a seven-hour drug-fueled sexual assault involving seven men.
Among the fraternity brothers she named was Kretzschmar, the Michigan wunderkind and aspiring surgeon who is now enmeshed in a national scandal that has sparked public outrage and reignited the debate over sexual consent — especially when drugs and alcohol are involved. It also highlighted the importance of speaking up and calling for help when someone potentially is in danger.
Kretzschmar did neither.
At the center of this case is a 20-year-old sophomore and Delta Delta Delta sorority member who alleges multiple fraternity brothers drugged her and sexually assaulted her inside the Chi Phi mansion on the Ivy League campus in Ithaca, New York. She accused them of putting out a call via Snapchat to dozens of fraternity members, beckoning them to a room upstairs where there was "Free pu--y" and where "you can walk in and whip it out."
Kretzschmar — whose mom and brother are cops, and whose dad served 30-plus years in law enforcement — acknowledged he briefly went into the room after he saw the Snapchat message, according to his testimony with university investigators. He insists he was looking for a vape pen, not sex, and never touched the woman, though he admitted to investigators that he wrote "immature and dumb" messages to the Snapchat group.
The woman says Kretzschmar did far worse, alleging in a lawsuit that he snorted ketamine off her naked torso.
He maintains that's not true.
A university investigation cleared Kretzschmar of sexual assault, issuing a 2025 report that cited a medical hair follicle test that was negative for ketamine. It also referenced the woman's testimony, noting that she "thought" Kretzschmar was among those snorting the drug off her body, "but did not actually observe him do so."
To date, none of the Cornell allegations have been tested in a court of law, as Kretzschmar and the others were not criminally charged. They all were disciplined by the university: Two were expelled, two were suspended and one was banned from campus.
Court records show Kretzschmar received among the lightest of punishments. He was ordered not to contact his accuser and was required to participate in studies on sexual harassment, social media use and bystander intervention, and to write a “reflection paper.”
Perhaps most difficult for Kretzschmar, who is now 22 years old and lives about 45 miles from Detroit in Casco Township, is reflecting not on what he did do that night, but what he didn't do.
He didn't call for help after seeing the vulgar message.
"I had no idea what the text meant. I was kind of befuddled," Kretzschmar would later say in testimony before university investigators, claiming he thought the message was "a joke."
"By no means were we going there to get free pu--y. ... That was not our intentions at all," Kretzschmar said. "We were just checking to see if everything was okay."
Now, the stakes are about to get much higher as New York prosecutors have reopened the criminal investigation, exposing Kretzschmar to yet more scrutiny on social media, in the news, and in the idyllic St. Clair County community he referenced in 2022, when he optimistically predicted a "good" future for his entire graduating class.
The support network that once voted Kretzschmar class president and cheered loudly at his basketball games, track meets and as he led his football team to the state finals at Ford Field in 2021 has largely fallen silent as it comes to grips with news that one of its best and brightest is accused of playing a role in heinous acts that have horrified the nation.
'Put down the pitchforks'
Known only as Jane Doe in her lawsuit, the woman in the case sued Cornell University in September, along with her alleged Chi Phi attackers, her own sorority and a local bar. She accused fraternity members of pressuring her to use ketamine, marijuana and alcohol, and said they sexually assaulted her when she was too intoxicated to consent.
As she told university investigators in a May 2025 interview, the ketamine — which she had never tried before — put her in a state of "vague consciousness" and she "didn't know what's going on."
"You look like an operating human being," she explained. "You don't look dead or asleep, necessarily. Lights are on, but nobody's home. Your brain is not functioning at its proper level."
The lawsuit prompted a county prosecutor in New York to reopen a criminal investigation that began two years earlier, when Jane Doe first went to university police with accusations about the Chi Phi fraternity brothers. Initially, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said the evidence didn't warrant criminal charges, maintainingin a Sept. 28 statement that Jane Doe "did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang raped" but rather "described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual."
Van Houten said new details have since surfaced, leading him to announce a grand jury investigation. New York Attorney General Letitia James has since been appointed special prosecutor in the case.
A key issue is consent, which Jane Doe and her lawyer have argued was impossible given all the booze, weed and ketamine she had — especially the ketamine. The drug is used as an anesthetic, but can also cause hallucinations and dissociation. It has been abused as a party and date rape drug, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Kretzschmar declined an interview with a Detroit Free Press reporter.
But his lawyer, Jeremy Saland, challenged Jane Doe's allegations and denied wrongdoing by his client. In a recent phone interview with the Free Press, he took issue with Kretzschmar being labeled a member of the Cornell 7, stressing his client was never accused of raping anyone, nor has he been held responsible for raping anyone "because he didn't do it."
"He’s been sucked up into this Cornell 7 ... and that’s really unjust," said Saland, who argues the "mob mentality" in America has gotten out of hand. "Instead of rushing to judgment, put down the pitchforks. ... He has taken ownership of ugly reprehensible Snapchats, but that by no means makes him a rapist or a sexual assaulter."
'I just didn't know what was really happening in the room'
At issue for Kretzschmar is a message he sent to his fraternity brothers at 2:29 a.m. Oct. 20, 2024 — about 45 minutes after the "Free pu--y" announcement went out, directing fraternity brothers to an upstairs alumni room.
"The alumni sh-- is not a bit. First hand pov not a bit," Kretzschmar wrote in the chat.
Seven months later, at a Title IX hearing before university investigators, Kretzschmar tried to explain himself.
"It was an immature and dumb kind of — just following along with what everybody else was saying in there," Kretzschmar testified. "I shouldn't have said it. And it is immature and a stupid text message for sure."
According to Kretzschmar's testimony, which is part of a state court file in New York, when he entered the alumni room that night, he didn't witness anything concerning. Jane Doe was on a bed under a sheet with another fraternity member, he said. When he asked if they were "all right," they responded that all was fine and he left the room.
During his testimony, Kretzschmar also maintained he was confused over what the vulgar Snapchat message meant: "The text could have meant anything. There was a lot of things going through my head. I didn't know if there was a lot of girls in there or what was going on. ... But again, 'Free pu--y' just seems like someone could have been in danger. It's just free. What does free mean? Again, I don't know. That's why it could have meant anything. ... I just didn't know what was really happening in the room. ... I just didn't think it was real."
In the end, the university concluded that Kretzschmar was not responsible for sexual assault or sexual exploitation. But it did find him guilty of attempted sexual exploitation, concluding that by the time he entered the room, he had confirmation via the Snapchat message that a "girl" was inside, that she was likely nude and/or having sex, and that he went in intending to see her, without her consent.
Kretzschmar appealed this finding and sought to have it expunged from his record, but the university denied his appeal.
The Chi Phi fraternity was shut down in 2024 and remains barred from campus.
"We must do everything we can to prevent what happened to Jane Doe and everyone before her and anyone after her from ever happening agaitn," Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff said two weeks after Jane Doe sued. "As a community we must foster a culture in which sexual assault is inexcusable."
Kretzschmar's ex-girlfriend: He 'would not hurt a fly'
Meanwhile, in the waterfront community of Marine City at the base of Michigan's Thumb, the subject of the Cornell 7 case has become somewhat taboo.
The Detroit Free Press knocked on doors, called, emailed and texted more than two dozen of Kretzschmar's friends, classmates, relatives and coaches. His family members have said nothing publicly.
But Kretzschmar's high school girlfriend, Ariana Desero, said somebody has to talk, especially given the social media backlash around the case.
"I was taken aback by the story because I don't think that he did it," Desero said in an interview with the Free Press. She described Kretzschmar as being kind and caring, and the kind of person who "would not hurt a fly." He also didn't use drugs, she said.
"When I was with him, if we were ever at a party or something, and somebody was drinking, he would be the one to offer a ride home or sit them down and go get them some water. He was the person who was helpful, who was looking out for other people."
Desero, who is 23 and now lives in Chesterfield Township, said they broke up before he left for Cornell and haven’t spoken recently, but she doubts that Kretzschmar would have done anything to jeopardize his education, "knowing that he worked so hard" to get into Cornell. "I don't see him throwing that away," she said.
But it's possible, she said, that he was afraid or felt too much peer pressure to intervene on the night in question.
"He was in the frat. He was on the rugby team," Desero said. "I think being intoxicated and going along with your friends, like, maybe he wanted to be cool, and didn't want to say anything because he didn't want to throw his friends under the bus."
Ex-football teammate: 'Keep that BS outta here bruh'
Some of Kretzschmar's former football teammates don't want to hear about the allegations at Cornell — if a recent Snapchat conversation is any indication.
“Keep that BS outta here bruh,” a former high school football player wrote in a group chat. A member of the chat corroborated the comment, which referenced a newspaper editorial about the Cornell case someone had posted in the chat.
One of Kretzschmar's former Marine City football teammates was dressed in full camouflage gear while bowhunting near his home in Cottrellville Township on the afternoon of Oct. 4. Initially, Daniel Zweng told a Detroit Free Press reporter that he didn't want to discuss Kretzschmar's situation.
But then, he offered this: "All I know is he's a very honest, very smart person. What he did was obviously wrong, but I don't think he did anything to harm her."
Zweng then turned around, and walked back out to the field, bow in hand.
For Preston Kodet, who also graduated with Kretzschmar, what's especially troubling about the Cornell case is what happened in the fraternity house after that vulgar chat went out.
“They were entirely silent," Kodet, a 22-year-old film and video editor, said of the fraternity members.
According to court records, the “free pu--y” comment did not come to light until several days after the night in question. Jane Doe got a hold of the Snapchat messages, as did police, and they were included in her lawsuit.
Kodet said he has struggled to comprehend the allegations against a classmate he's known since the sixth grade, noting: "It’s really been weighing on me.”
According to Kodet, he and Kretzschmar did not run in the same circles in high school, but they were in the same Advanced Placement classes. He recalled Kretzschmar being "very academically intelligent" and "super ambitious."
“I did generally think that he was a nice kid. He never was outwardly rude or hateful, or physically hurting anybody," Kodet said.
But what he did notice, he said, was that Kretzschmar acted differently around his athletic clique. So, when he heard about the Cornell case, he suspected that Kretzschmar may have caved to peer pressure.
'I remember lying down and covering my face up'
According to court documents, Title IX records, lawyers, Snapchat records and law enforcement interviews with dozens of college students, here is a glimpse into what Jane Doe experienced that night that upended her life:
About 8:30 p.m. Oct. 19, 2024, Jane Doe began drinking vodka at her sorority house. Even before she left to attend a social event at a bar, she said she was drunk. Yet she had another drink at the bar, and then went to another bar with her sorority sisters.
She said she "stumble[d] alone" to the Chi Phi house about 11 p.m., and was already 10 drinks in and "visibly intoxicated," her lawsuit states. A small group of fraternity brothers greeted her at the door and led her inside. One who allegedly gave her more beer and danced with her before pulling her aside and asking whether she'd like to have a threesome with him and another frat brother.
“In her drunken state, [she] was incapable of consenting to this proposition,” her lawsuit states. Still, she went upstairs with two men, where she allegedly was pressured into snorting ketamine, followed by swigs of high-proof rum and marijuana. The two men had sex with her.
Then, two more men came. She hid under the covers as they kissed, groped and they tried to initiate sex while she pushed them away. She covered her face. One ordered her to snort drugs off his genitals. At some point, she ended up in another room, where two men had sex with her again.
By 5:30 a.m. Oct. 20, 2024, she was unconscious.
In the days that followed, Jane Doe would recount this story to her sorority sisters, who convinced her to go to the police. She filed a report. A rape kit was conducted. An investigation took place. But no one was charged.
A once bright future now in limbo
The 2022 Marine City High School yearbook spelled out Kretzschmar's five-year plan: "Scott sees himself 'starting pre-med, hopefully at Harvard Medical School.'"
His vision and determination were not lost on his parents.
"You are, and always have been, a stellar student with an amazing mind and your intellect sometimes leaves the rest of us in the family shaking our heads," they wrote in a yearbook ad celebrating their son. "You are good at EVERYTHING that you do. From a young age you've known what you want to be when you 'grow up' and that is a rare thing."
Desero, his former girlfriend, recalled Kretzschmar's unrelenting drive to succeed, how he applied to all of the Ivy League universities, and how thrilled he was when he got the call that he'd been accepted to Cornell.
"He went and toured it with his mom, and he was like, 'Yep. I'm going. This is all I wanted. This is all I worked for,' " she said.
Kretzschmar graduated from Cornell this spring, she said, and is now taking a "gap year" with hopes of continuing on to medical school — if this predicament ends as he hopes it will.
Yet, a single night of partying may have derailed that plan.
Against his will, Kretzschmar now finds his name listed among the infamous Cornell 7 — a number he once proudly wore on his football jersey at Marine City High School, where he was also president of the National Honor Society chapter and student government, captain of the football, basketball and track teams, and a 4.13 grade-point-average student who aspired to become a pediatric surgeon.
He maintains he did not hurt Jane Doe. And believes he will be exonerated. Yet in his own testimony in the Title IX investigation, he shows regret.
“I was sorry that maybe if it wasn’t consensual and she was victimized, I was sorry for not stopping it,” Kretzschmar said in testimony in May 2025. “And that I’m sorry I couldn’t tell if she was under the influence … just sorry that I felt like if something actually bad happened, I didn’t stop it.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, or is the victim of domestic violence or human trafficking, support is available 24 hours a day by calling or texting 855-864-2374 through the confidential Michigan VOICES4 hotline. Online chat also is available through the website www.michigan.gov/voices4, which offers immediate, anonymous crisis counseling and referrals to local advocates and other support.
Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com. Contact Kristen Shamus: kshamus@freepress.com. Subscribe to the Detroit Free Press.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How a Michigan wunderkind landed among the infamous 'Cornell 7'
