LSU defensive end Damien Shanklin is under investigation by the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office and campus police over a student’s allegation that he raped her in an on-campus dormitory in 2025.
Shanklin, 20, is being investigated by East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III and the LSU Police Department for allegedly raping a female student in the early-morning hours of Oct. 18, 2025, the Los Angeles Times reported. The university’s own Title IX office found the redshirt freshman responsible for “forcible rape,” but an appeal cut his suspension to probation and let him stay on campus.
Moore announced the records request in a news release.
“I have requested all reports, interviews, evidence and other relevant records from LSU, the LSU Police Department, the Baton Rouge Police Department, the East Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office, and any other agency possessing information related to this matter,” the district attorney said.
The accuser, Kendall Danielle Francis, 19, made her allegations public in a Sept. 14 TikTok video, saying she filed a formal police report because Shanklin had appealed his campus ban and returned to school.
“Now I am just trying to speak on my story, because LSU does really protect their athletes, especially their football players,” Francis said.
The LSU Office of Civil Rights and Title IX found Shanklin responsible for forcible rape in July and handed him a two-semester suspension. Administrative law judge Janet Waguespack heard his appeal in August and reduced the penalty to four semesters of probation, ruling the original punishment “exceedingly harsh.”
“Respondent’s behavior, although nonconsensual, did not exhibit a deliberate disregard for the dignity and autonomy of Complainant but was instead an error in judgment,” Waguespack wrote.
Citing Title IX documents and police reports, ESPN reported the two engaged in consensual activity before Shanklin continued for roughly 20 seconds after Francis told him to stop. She alleges he sent her $1,000 after she obtained a rape kit, money she characterized in her video as “hush money.”
Shanklin’s attorneys, Grant L. Willis and Morgan H. Johnson, issued a statement Thursday proclaiming his innocence and asking the public to withhold judgment.
“We simply ask that the court of public opinion cease to make any assumptions about any person involved until more information is publicly available,” the attorneys said.
LSU told USA Today it “strictly followed” its Title IX policies and procedures.
The investigation follows a July Title IX sex-discrimination suit by an Ohio Dominican University graduate assistant who alleged one of her male players assaulted her and that school officials directed her to handle it internally. The Department of Education moved last month to formally remove the Biden administration’s Title IX regulations and restore rules issued during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Shanklin, a redshirt freshman from Indianapolis, has not been criminally charged. The case drew criticism on social media, where LSU-affiliated users faulted the university’s handling of the Title IX finding.