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Thursday, January 2, 1997

Police to review videotapes in allegations against Irvin, Williams

By Robert Ingrassia and Jason Sickles / The Dallas Morning News (Jan. 2, 1997)

DALLAS (KRT) - Detectives investigating rape allegations against Cowboys stars Michael Irvin and Erik Williams said they will take their first detailed look Thursday at seized videotapes that may have captured portions of a reported attack on a 23-year-old woman.

Dallas police also want to question Irvin and Williams on Thursday, said Lt. David Goelden of the police sexual assaults unit. The two men and a third unidentified suspect have not been charged with a crime.

"We're not going to tell them what evidence we've got," Goelden said Wednesday. "We're going to ask the questions, and if they want to answer, that will be helpful."

The woman told police that Irvin held a gun to her head Sunday night while Williams and another man raped her at Williams' home in Far North Dallas. Irvin again denied the accusation. Williams has declined to comment.

"I'm looking forward to talking to the police," Irvin said. "I wasn't even at Erik's house."

The woman, whose name is being withheld to protect her identity, remained in police-sponsored seclusion Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

Her estranged husband, a 22-year-old Plano man, told The Dallas Morning News that he doubts her story.

The husband said he has no first-hand knowledge of the incident, saying he learned from news reporters that his estranged wife had reported the rape. "It seems very reasonable that she is making this up," said the man, whose name is being withheld to protect the woman's identity. "She's very melodramatic."

The estranged husband said he would be willing to recount his past with the woman for police if contacted. "I just want to expose the truth," he said. "I know her, and I can give info; I don't want to hold it back."

Two friends of the woman, who asked not to be identified, have said they doubt she faked the report. The friends, who said they consoled the woman the morning after the reported rape, described her as bruised, distraught and fearful.

Wednesday, detectives spoke again with the woman, who remains upset, police said.

"At this point in time, we have not found anything to show it did not happen," said Sgt. Ross Salverino, who is supervising a team of three detectives assigned to the case.

Detectives have watched only a small portion of one of three videotapes seized Tuesday from Williams' home, Lieutenant Goelden said. The viewing happened inside Williams' house when a detective looked through a viewfinder of a camera to determine if the tape inside would be needed as evidence, he said.

The tapes, camera and three guns have remained with police crime analysis experts since being seized by investigators. Police said they have not viewed the tapes because they are processing the evidence and are lifting fingerprints from the items.

"We are investigating the case," Salverino said. "We're not going fast, we're not going slow, we're moving at our normal pace because that's what we do."

The rape report has touched off another storm of national media exposure for the Cowboys, who on Sunday will play the Carolina Panthers in an NFC playoff game. Both Irvin, a wide receiver, and Williams, an offensive tackle, practiced with the team Wednesday at Valley Ranch.

Irvin, who was sentenced to four years' probation after pleading no contest in July to cocaine possession, could face a 20-year prison term if he is charged with a crime.

Williams recently completed two years of probation for a 1994 drunken driving charge. Sunday's reported rape happened at the same house where a 17-year-old girl reported being sexually assaulted in April 1995. She later dropped charges against Williams and a friend, neither of whom was indicted.

The woman reporting the recent attack has been friends with many Cowboys players for several years, friends said. Her estranged husband, who married the woman in 1992 and separated from her two years later, said she told him she met the players while working as a waitress and dancer at a Dallas topless club.

The husband said the woman briefly lived with two players, one of whom let her drive his Corvette.

"She would brag to me about living with the Cowboys," he said. "She was very materialistic. She's trying to make money or get popularity maybe, because that's what she loves."

The two friends of the woman said she never spoke about working at a topless dance club. They said she works at a mall.

One of her friends described her as "a wonderful young lady."

The friends said the woman met Irvin and Williams while working as a makeup artist for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. They said the woman told them that she stopped by Williams' home Sunday to offer holiday greetings. She did not have a sexual relationship with any of the players, they said.

Police declined to say how the woman left Williams' home after the reported attack. Police received the report Monday night when a Dallas police detective the woman contacted called the department's sexual assaults unit.

The woman first called a Dallas television news reporter, whom she has known for the past several months, police said. The reporter referred her to a detective they both know, police said.

Based on the woman's account, police obtained a search warrant for Williams' home. Detectives found Williams at the house early Tuesday, and he cooperated with the search, police said.

Dallas Morning News staff writer Jean-Jacques Taylor contributed to this report.

(c) 1997, The Dallas Morning News.

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