Woman details abuse by former University of Delaware pitcher charged with raping 6

Court documents detail allegations against a former University of Delaware pitcher charged with raping six women over the past five years. 

Clay Conaway, 22, faces seven counts of rape of six victims. Court documents say the crimes occurred in Sussex County between 2013 and July of this year. 

Conaway was first arrested in August and charged with a single count of first-degree rape of a 20-year-old woman in June in Georgetown, police said at the time.

Since that arrest was made public, police received reports from five more women who said they were raped by Conaway. He was re-indicted on those charges Monday. 

The new accusations include two counts of second-degree rape from July, one count from May, one count from August 2017 and two counts from separate incidents in 2013 — when Conaway would have been 17 years old and a student at Sussex Central High School. 

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Arrest warrants detailing the allegations were not available in court records but his indictment indicates each of the crimes occurred in Sussex County. 

This past season, Conaway was a relief pitcher for the university's baseball team. A school spokeswoman said Monday he is no longer a student but could make no further comment. 

University correspondence reviewed by The News Journal show Conaway was expelled earlier this month following a university investigation into a woman's claim that he raped her in an off-campus apartment in November 2017.  

That correspondence was shared by the 22-year-old university student who accused him. Her name is being withheld because The News Journal does not reveal the name of sex crime victims. She reported the attack to police, who have not criminally charged Conaway in that case. 

She said she wanted people to know he was not expelled from the university because of the August criminal indictment. 

"People should know the truth," she said. "I feel like that will protect other women in the future and also just get the word out that he is a bad person and this is not a one-time thing." 

In an interview, she said she and Conaway had a mutual friend.

He was invited into her apartment by her roommate last November. He was outside her bedroom texting her for a while. She said they were sober. She let him into her room to talk. It was late, and she agreed he could sleep there with the understanding that nothing sexual would occur, she said. 

She woke up to him assaulting her, she said. She said 'no,' fought back, pulled his hair, but he did not relent.

She went to her parents' home after. Text messages between the two from that morning show she told him he violated her. 

The fact she let him into her bed is not a pass for him to violate her consent, she said. 

"It is easy for other people to blame me or make excuses for Clay," she said. "It is hard for them to admit we've been living in a culture where this sort of thing is overlooked or brushed off as 'boys will be boys,' but in reality it is never OK to assault, threaten or harm another woman." 

Joe Hurley, Conaway’s attorney, said he had spoken to his client briefly about the university investigation. He said that Conaway denied any wrongdoing. 

The woman said she told her therapist and friends about the attack and still regrets not immediately telling police, buying a rape kit or otherwise reporting him. 

"I didn't want to ruin his life," she said. 

She was also intimidated by engaging a legal process and feared nobody would believe her. She thought that his conduct was possibly a one-time thing, that he'd maybe feel remorse. 

She also felt weak and embarrassed. She wanted to "regain some power" and said that is partially why she continued to be involved with Conaway. 

"I thought if I hang out with him and it is normal, everything will be normal," she said.  

She said it never became normal. Conaway choked and threatened her in an effort to control who she spoke to, she said. 

"It is a power thing," she said. "He just doesn't like being told no and he likes having control over situations."

She reported him to university officials in May when she said she couldn't get the attack out of her head. She heard rumors about other abuse and felt she needed to speak up. 

"As long as he knows that I said something, that might help and he won't do this anymore," she remembers thinking. 

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Woman details abuse by former University of Delaware pitcher charged with raping 6

The university's Office of Equity and Inclusion investigated her claims. The school's Sexual Misconduct Sanctioning Panel reviewed the findings and expelled Conaway from the institution and banned him from school property, stating he had violated the school's Sexual Misconduct Policy for "sexual assault and dating violence," according to university correspondence reviewed by The News Journal.

Specifically, the investigation found that Conaway "more likely than not" penetrated the woman without her consent based on information from the victim and "several witnesses," according to the correspondence.

The investigation found Conaway "more likely than not" choked the victim and "may have" made a comment about "driving her dead body into the Delaware River," according to the correspondence. 

Conaway was informed of the university investigation in June. In Monday's indictment, he is accused of raping one woman later that month and another the following month. 

Hurley, Conaway's attorney, said Monday his client had not yet been arraigned on the rape charges and said it appeared the new charges "splintered" from the publicity of Conaway's August arrest.

"Why didn't these people come forward before?" Hurley said. "It is a daunting atmosphere right now because people jump to conclusions." 

The woman who reported him to the university said that sentiment ignores how difficult it is for people to report such conduct, a process that involves repeating to several strangers several times an event that is traumatic. 

"It is scary," she said. "You don't know what is going to happen."

She is speaking out because she wants people to know there is a pattern. 

"I want people to know the truth and I want to protect other women," she said. 

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.

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