Three and a half years after Lizzy Seeberg committed suicide after her sexual battery allegations were slowly investigated by Notre Dame, the identity of the football player accused of committing sexual battery against her has been revealed.
Prince Shembo, who has been a starting linebacker for Notre Dame since his sophomore season and is now an NFL draft prospect, admitted Saturday that he was the player at the center of the Seeberg case. Shembo says he’s been asked about it by teams who have interviewed him.
“I just tell [NFL team executives] the truth, I have nothing to hide,” Shembo said via Notre Dame 247. “No one’s heard from me one time. Do you go off of one person’s story?
“I’m still here, so I know I didn’t do anything. I tell them exactly what happened.”
Shembo says he wanted to speak about the incident while in college to clear his name, but he was advised by Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly not to. He trusted his coach’s advice and followed it.
The alleged incident occurred inside Shembo’s dorm room on Aug. 31, 2010. Seeberg, then 19 and a student at neighboring school St. Mary’s, was in Shembo’s room along with a friend of Shembo’s (who did not play football), and that person’s girlfriend. When the couple left, she says Shembo came on to her, and that’s when the sexual battery allegedly occurred.
Seeberg went to the hospital for a DNA evidence kit, consulted with a campus group that helps victims of sex crimes, and she reported the incident to campus police. She committed suicide by overdosing on pills 10 days later. It wasn’t until 15 days after she reported the crime that Shembo was even investigated.
Shembo may not have done anything wrong as he claims, but one thing seems to be consistent: Notre Dame did not handle the investigation properly.
