The Documented
Record

ESPN now identifies LSU defensive end Damien Shanklin as the football player at the center of Kendall Francis's allegation and reports that LSU Police and the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office are investigating the rape allegation.

Earlier WAFB reports did not name the player, and LSU's public Title IX tables remain anonymized. LSU Odyssey had previously connected Shanklin to the matter using conditional language. ESPN's reporting is the strongest direct public identification currently located by this archive.

Kendall Francis says she went to an LSU dorm around 4:30 a.m. to visit a football player she had met through social media. She says the encounter became nonconsensual and that she was sexually assaulted.

Francis has said she returned to her apartment in shock. She was later taken to a hospital by LSU Police, where she says she remained for roughly seven hours and underwent a sexual-assault examination.

WAFB reported from an LSU Police incident report that an officer initially classified the matter as a mental-health call and transported Francis to a local hospital.

LSU later said the student-athlete was the person who initially reported the incident to police and that no criminal complaint was filed at that time. Francis subsequently pursued LSU's Title IX process and later filed a criminal complaint.

WAFB reported that LSU's Title IX office did not receive the initial police report until December 9, 2025 - nearly two months after the October incident.

LSU's public Spring 2026 Title IX table contains an anonymized entry with a December 8, 2025 report date and a January 12, 2026 formal complaint for Sexual Assault - Forcible Rape involving a female complainant and male respondent. That entry closely tracks the public timeline, but LSU does not identify the parties in the table.

Francis told WAFB that she filed a formal Title IX complaint in January 2026. During LSU's process, Francis and the student-athlete gave conflicting accounts about the encounter, including whether she consented.

LSU's anonymized Spring 2026 reporting table contains a January 12 formal complaint for Sexual Assault - Forcible Rape that remained pending hearing as of March 31. The companion biannual power-based-violence report also lists a January 12 Title IX complaint for Sexual Assault - Forcible Rape as pending.

WAFB's I-TEAM reported that internal LSU documents show the university's Title IX process determined that a rostered LSU football player was responsible for sexual assault and forcible rape after an investigation and hearings.

The university process is administrative rather than criminal. The initial university sanction was publicly reported as a two-semester suspension.

The student-athlete appealed LSU's decision. WAFB reported that the appeal did not overturn the finding of sexual assault and forcible rape. LSU instead changed the sanction to four semesters of disciplinary probation without restrictions.

The Reveille, citing internal records obtained by The Advocate, reported that the appeal rationale referenced an absence of "malice" or "force" and characterized the conduct as an "error in judgment." The responsibility finding nevertheless remained in place.

In her public account, Francis said the player's mother contacted her after the incident and asked her not to press charges because of his career. Francis said the player then sent her $1,000, which she has publicly described as hush money.

WAFB separately reported that the Title IX materials contain the student-athlete's competing allegation that Francis accepted $1,000 from a family member in return for not pursuing criminal charges. Francis declined to address that characterization with WAFB while the criminal investigation was active.

Francis posted a TikTok on September 14 describing the alleged assault, the Title IX process, the effect on her mental health and education, and her frustration that the player was able to return after the sanction was changed.

She has said she developed severe anxiety, required medication and therapy, lost significant weight, and failed both semesters of her freshman year. Francis has said losing that year of college was a major reason she decided to speak publicly.

In her WAFB interview, Francis described the alleged assault, the Title IX process, the emotional and academic impact, and why she believed LSU failed her. She also explained that she had misunderstood the separation between LSU's administrative Title IX process and a criminal prosecution.

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore confirmed that the case had been brought to his office for review on September 22. Moore said his office requested reports, interviews, evidence, and other relevant records from LSU, LSU Police, Baton Rouge Police, the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office, and other agencies with information about the matter.

On October 1, ESPN publicly identified LSU defensive end Damien Shanklin as the player under investigation and reported that LSU Police and the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office are investigating the rape allegation.

As of October 1, 2026, the investigation remains open and no arrest or criminal charge has been publicly announced.

Louisiana State Rep. Vanessa Caston LaFleur told WAFB that she wanted lawmakers to examine what happens after a university Title IX process ends and discuss whether additional criminal or civil review mechanisms are appropriate while respecting survivor choice.

Her comments are a legislative response to the case, not a finding about LSU's legal liability or the criminal investigation.

NBC News reported nationally on Francis's account, LSU's responsibility finding, the reduced sanction, and details from the LSU Police incident report. TheGrio also examined Francis's case alongside the Cornell Seven case in a broader story about the experiences of Black women who report sexual violence.

ESPN reported on October 1 that LSU defensive end Damien Shanklin is the football player whose Title IX case and rape allegation are being investigated by LSU Police and the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office.

Before ESPN's direct identification, LSU Odyssey had publicly connected Shanklin to the matter while using conditional language about whether he was the player referenced in the Title IX case. LSU's official athletics site independently confirms that Shanklin is a defensive end on the LSU roster and that he appeared in five games during the 2025 season.

WAFB's earlier principal reports did not publish the player's name, and LSU's own public Title IX and power-based-violence tables do not identify either party. Those earlier records remain useful because they document the underlying case timeline independently of the later public identification.

In 2021, LSU commissioned Husch Blackwell to review the university's handling of sexual and domestic misconduct after public reporting raised concerns about multiple cases, including matters involving student-athletes.

The review said LSU's institutional reporting policy and training had been unclear for years, that the Title IX Office had never been appropriately staffed or given the independence and resources needed to carry out its responsibilities, and that LSU had been slow to address concerns raised by community members and earlier reviews.

The recommendations were unusually specific. Husch Blackwell said the Athletics gatekeeper system for discrimination reports should end, Athletics employees should report directly to the Title IX Coordinator, the football team was long overdue for targeted training, recordkeeping needed major improvement, and the university needed continuing monitoring and public reporting.

The review also addressed sanctions. It said there had been a clear community consensus that LSU's sanctioning guidelines were too lenient and that the reviewers had seen cases in which sanctions were not sufficiently serious. Husch Blackwell recommended reconsidering the sanctioning framework and examining presumptively appropriate sanctions for serious sexual misconduct.