Rolling Stone magazine has apologized for a damning article documenting an alleged brutal gang rape at the University of Virginia and admitted its trust in the source was 'misplaced'.

It comes as Phi Kappa Psi fraternity issued a statement revealing it did not have a party the night of the alleged rape and it did not have a member who was a 'lifeguard' at the time.

The horrifying account, saw a current junior identified only as 'Jackie', claim she was assaulted by a seven Phi Kappa Psi brothers - one of which was a lifeguard - after accepting an invitation to a 'date night' function at the house.

But on Friday Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana apologized in a letter to readers, admitting there were discrepancies in Jackie's account about the incident at the Charlottesville, Virginia school and saying that the magazine has now 'come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced.'

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Rolling Stone magazine has apologized for trusting the subject of rape article after the University of Virginia fraternity revealed they did not have a party the night of alleged rape and no 'lifeguard' is a member. Pictured: Students walk to campus past the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house

On Friday Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana apologized in a letter (pictured) to readers, admitting there were discrepancies in Jackie's account about the incident at the Charlottesville, Virginia school and saying that the magazine has now 'come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced'

On Friday afternoon, Phi Kappa Psi released a statement denying the attack took place in its house.

The fraternity said that it was working with police, but said it had found out several aspects of the account were inaccurate - it said Phi Kappa Psi did not host party the night of the alleged assault.

The statement said the fraternity had reviewed 'the 2012 roster of employees at the Aquatic and Fitness Center does not list a Phi Kappa Psi as a lifeguard. As far as we have determined, no member of our fraternity worked there in any capacity during this time period.'

Phi Kappa Psi said the house does not have pledges during the fall semester - Jackie claimed she was allegedly raped as part of a initiation pledge - it stated 'no ritualized sexual assault is part of our pledging or initiation process. This notion is vile, and we vehemently refute this claim.'

Tagged: The house was sprayed with graffiti hours after the Rolling Stone article was published detailing the gang-rape allegations against the fraternity

Some of the subject's friends, told the Washington Post, they believe Jackie did endure a traumatizing incident, but parts of her account do not add up.

They said Jackie told them for the first time the alleged attacker's name recently, but no-one by that name has been a member of Phi Kappa Psi - it turned out to be similar to the name of a student who belongs to a different fraternity, and no one by that name has been a member of Phi Kappa Psi.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Jackie admitted she did not know if her main attacker actually was a member of Phi Kappa Psi.

'He never said he was in Phi Psi. I know it was Phi Psi because a year afterward my friend pointed out the building to me and said that's where it happened,' she told the newspaper.

But she said she was positive the attack happened at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house.

'DOUBTS OF ACCURACY': UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA'S STATEMENT IN FULL 'Over the past two weeks the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi has been working tirelessly and openly with the Charlottesville Police Department as they investigate the allegations detailed in the November 19, 2012 Rolling Stone article. We continue to be shocked by the allegations and saddened by this story. We have no knowledge of these alleged acts being committed at our house or by our members. Anyone who commits any form of sexual assault, wherever or whenever, should be identified and brought to justice. 'In tandem with the Charlottesville Police Department's investigation, the Chapter's undergraduate members have made efforts to contribute with internal fact-finding. Our initial doubts as to the accuracy of the article have only been strengthened as alumni and undergraduate members have delved deeper. 'Given the ongoing nature of the criminal investigation, which we fully support, we do not feel it would be appropriate at this time to provide more than the following: 'First, the 2012 roster of employees at the Aquatic and Fitness Center does not list a Phi Kappa Psi as a lifeguard. As far as we have determined, no member of our fraternity worked there in any capacity during this time period. 'Second, the Chapter did not have a date function or a social event during the weekend of September 28th, 2012. 'Third, our Chapter's pledging and initiation periods, as required by the University and Inter-Fraternity Council, take place solely in the spring semester and not in the fall semester. 'We document the initiation of new members at the end of each spring. Moreover, no ritualized sexual assault is part of our pledging or initiation process. This notion is vile, and we vehemently refute this claim. 'It is our hope that this information will encourage people who may know anything relevant to this case to contact the Charlottesville Police Department as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will continue to assist investigators in whatever way we can.' Advertisement

The international fall-out from the report on one of University of Virginia's most illustrious fraternities was extremely damaging - it accused the school of repeatedly hushing up sexual assault victims in order to protect their reputation and the fraternity house was sprayed with graffiti reading 'Suspend us!' and 'UVA Center for RAPE Studies'.

University president Teresa Sullivan promised a full investigation and said it would examine the way the school responds to sexual assault allegations.

In a statement today about the article, titled 'A Rape on Campus' by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, Managing Editor Will Dana wrote: 'Because of the sensitive nature of Jackie's story, we decided to honor her request not to contact the man she claimed orchestrated the attack on her nor any of the men she claimed participated in the attack for fear of retaliation against her.

'In the months Erdely spent reporting the story, Jackie neither said nor did anything that made Erdely, or Rolling Stone's editors and fact-checkers, question Jackie's credibility.

'Her friends and rape activists on campus strongly supported Jackie's account. She had spoken of the assault in campus forums.

'We reached out to both the local branch and the national leadership of the fraternity where Jackie said she was attacked.

'They responded that they couldn't confirm or deny her story but had concerns about the evidence.

But he added after receiving new information, the pop culture magazine was led to conclude it needed to issue an apology.

'We were trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault and now regret the decision to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account,' wrote Dana.

'We are taking this seriously and apologize to anyone who was affected by the story.'

In the piece published last month, it was claimed that Jackie decided not to press charges when the incident first happened, but she felt she needed to go public with her story after hearing from two other women who were gang raped at the fraternity, which counts President Woodrow Wilson as one of their distinguished alumni.

In her account she spoke of the difficulty in breaking her silence, and said in some cases it was met with opposition by her friends at UVA.

'One of my roommates said, 'Do you want to be responsible for something that's gonna paint UVA in a bad light?''' Jackie told the magazine.

'But I said, 'UVA has flown under the radar for so long, someone has to say something about it, or else it's gonna be this system that keeps perpetuating!'

'My friend just said, 'You have to remember where your loyalty lies.''

In the account Jackie claimed she was just a few weeks into her freshman year at UVA when she met a junior boy named Drew, through their shifts working as lifeguards at the university pool.

When Drew asked her out to dinner and a 'date night' function at his fraternity, Jackie claimed she accepted and spent three hours getting ready for the night out on September 28, 2012.

Back at the fraternity house after dinner, she claimed the two spent some time at the party before Drew asked if she wanted to go upstairs where it was quieter.

A member of the audience holds a sign during a board of visitors meeting about sexual assault at the University of Virginia on November 25, 2014 in Charlottesville following the damning article's publication

The meeting was called after the magazine published the article describing a woman's account of a brutal gang rape, and what the magazine called a hidden culture of sexual violence at the school

Members of the audience hold signs during a board of visitors meeting in November

But when Drew led her into his bedroom and shut the door, the room was pitch black and she could hear others moving around. That's when the nightmare started, she claimed.

She said a man tackled her down and onto a glass table which shattered and tore up her back.

Others held her down and for the next three hours, she lay helpless as seven men allegedly raped her while two others, including her date Drew, watched and gave direction.

She claimed the men swigged beers and called each other nicknames like 'Armpit' and 'Blanket'.

Jackie claimed she was able to identiy the last man who assaulted her from her anthropology discussion group, and his friends started taunting him because he couldn't get an erection, asking 'What, she's not hot enough for you?' and 'Don't you want to be a brother?'

Scandal: The Rolling Stone article accused the school of repeatedly hushing up sexual assault victims in order to protect their reputation. An aerial view of the campus, designed by Thomas Jefferson, above

When Jackie came to at 3am, the room was deserted but the party was still going on downstairs. She claimed she fled the house in her bloodied dress, barefoot because she was too afraid to look around for her shoes.

She said she then called her three best friends at the time, two guys and a girl, who found her beaten and in shock.

While her friends were distraught at her condition, she claimed they debated calling the police fearing the impact it would have on Jackie's and their reputation (the two boys wanted to rush a fraternity).

The school was also the focus of a recent missing persons case involving 18-year-old Hannah Graham (pictured). Graham went missing last September after a night out with friends, and her remains were found several weeks later

She claimed she finally opened up to Dean Nicole Eramo, the head of UVA's Sexual Misconduct Board, but she was told she could go to the police with her story, or treat the incident internally by either filing a complaint with the school's Sexual Misconduct Board, or sit down for an informal resolution' with her attackers in a meeting mediated by Eramo.

Jackie said she decided on neither option, and claimed Dean Eramo did not open an investigation into the fraternity.

She told the magazine she was now coming forward two years later, because she had recently discovered that two other women experienced similar assaults at Phi Kappa Psi.

The first account came from a woman who graduated in 2013 who said she was raped by a group of men at the house when she was a freshman.

The other was a first-year whose friends called Jackie one night when she came back to her apartment wearing no pants, and said she'd been attacked by four men in the Phi Kappa Psi bathroom while another watched.

Perhaps most startling about the allegations is what Dean Eramo allegedly said in a meeting with Jackie last May.

Jackie claimed she and her friend Alex went to speak with Eramo in her office, and Eramo said that she heard it 'through the grapevine' that 'all the boys involved [in the gang rape] had graduated'.

Jackie claimed that was false since she saw one of her attackers on a campus riding a bike recently.

In a statement posted to the school's website following the accusations, UVA President Teresa A Sullivan said that the school has asked the Charlottesville police to investigate a fraternity based on new details from the article.