DURHAM — Semen found in the house where three Duke lacrosse players allegedly raped an exotic dancer matches the DNA of two team members, but lawyers disagree about its potential impact on the unfolding case.

The previously undisclosed matches, one involving indicted rape suspect David Evans and the other involving a player not charged, have been confirmed by several sources close to the case.

According to the sources, semen on a towel was DNA-linked to Evans.

The towel was retrieved from a hallway at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., where Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann are accused of raping an exotic dancer during an off-campus lacrosse party in mid-March.

The towel also contained non-semen-based DNA from someone else, the sources said. They said the other DNA did not match the alleged rape victim or any of more than 40 Duke lacrosse players who gave bodily samples for analyses.

The implication is that Evans had sex with someone other than the accuser, then used the towel to clean himself, defense sources contend.

The only previously reported DNA link to Evans involved a fake acrylic fingernail found in a trashcan at the North Buchanan Boulevard house.

Tissue “consistent” with Evans’ genetic makeup was on the fingernail, but the match was not 100 percent conclusive, earlier reports indicated.

The sources said that, in addition to the Evans connection, semen from an unindicted lacrosse player was discovered on the bathroom floor — the same bathroom where the exotic dancer claimed she was raped.

Attorneys disagree on the impact of the new DNA information.
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One of the DNA samples, semen recovered from a bathroom where the woman said she was raped, belonged to Matt Zash, a team captain, his attorney said Tuesday.

Zash, who has been eliminated as a suspect, apparently was watching television in his room while the March party went on. Nifong has said that none of the state’s evidence implicates any player other than the three who were indicted earlier this year.
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Another specimen matched to Evans was recovered from a towel found in a hallway near Evans’ room and the second bathroom in the house. The towel also contained DNA from another person, and SBI testing has conclusively determined that the second specimen did not match the accuser or the 46 members of the lacrosse team who submitted DNA samples, Sutton said.
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