Jameis Winston's accuser decided shortly after an alleged incident in December of 2012 that she did not wish to go forward with a sexual battery complaint, bringing the investigation to a temporary halt, the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat reported Tuesday.
The newspaper obtained an email that Tallahasee City Manager Anita Favors Thompson sent to city commissioners, detailing the accuser's decision not to proceed with the case.
The Democrat reported that Favors Thompson emailed that the Tallahassee Police Department followed up on the case in a referral from Florida State University police "against FSU football player Jameis Winston." The case involved a woman who said she was intoxicated at a local bar and was taken advantage of while impaired.
The police began to investigate, interviewing witnesses and gathering facts in the case. The accuser, however, stopped responding to the police's queries and no longer could be reached.
"Shortly thereafter a representative of the young woman's family who is an attorney contacted TPD and said the young woman had changed her mind and did not wish to prosecute," the email said.
Favor Thompson indicated she expected the police report to have "national media impact and wrote that that woman had been told that media were requesting copies of the police report.
The attorney representing the woman, whom the Democrat did not name, said the accuser could be contacted only through her counsel.
According to the Democrat, TPD officials said the Nov. 8 media inquiry led to a standard department review of the sexual-battery case. The investigation then became active again. However, the Democrat added, the media inquiry itself was not responsible for the reactivation of the case against Winston.
"Someone integrally involved has (to have) given us a new piece of information," TPD spokesman David Northway told the Democrat this week. "It has to be someone involved in the case (who) provides a lead to reactivate it."
New information on the case came last week, Northway told the Democrat. It was not clear whether the media inquiry was coincidental.
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