The University of Missouri says it will launch an investigation into the alleged rape of a straight-A student and competitive swimmer from Etobicoke who later committed suicide.

“Athletic officials take these situations very seriously,” Mary Jo Banken, a spokesperson for the University, told the Star, referring to the allegation involving Sasha Menu Courey.

The renewed push for answers comes following an investigative report by U.S. sports network ESPN on Friday. It alleged that University of Missouri officials learned about the incident more than a year ago, but failed to take action.

Menu Courey of Etobicoke was 20 years old when she died in June 2011, two days after consuming a bottle of over-the-counter pain killers. It was about 16 months after she was allegedly raped by a University of Missouri football player.

“We definitely want this investigation to happen,” her father, Mike Menu, said in an interview on Saturday. “Better late than never.”

The school did not know about the alleged rape until it turned over thousands of pages of documents under a special request by ESPN in late 2012, Banken said.

“There was just an accusation of a sexual assault. We didn’t have enough information to launch an investigation at that point,” Banken said.

According to the ESPN report, Menu Courey shared details of the alleged assault with a campus nurse and doctor, and in an online chat with a rape crisis counsellor. She did not go to the police.

“After the assault, she was seeing her assailant during lunch time. It was the not kind of situation where you can just go and tell. She was really afraid,” Menu said.

Her parents learned of the alleged rape after her death.

Menu Courey suffered from borderline personality disorder, a condition marked by extreme high and low mood swings and erratic behaviour.

The couple says that student athletes need more access to mental health support. Their daughter, in particular, found relief from her symptoms in the routines and discipline of competitive swimming.

But by January 2011, she was no longer attending swimming practice, in part because of a back injury. At the same time, she struggled with the emotional fallout from the alleged sexual assault.

“Being an athlete, you’re really put on a pedestal. You’re not supposed to have problems. It’s difficult to find a person to talk to,” her mother, Lynn Courey, said. “By keeping everything inside, it ate her alive.”

Menu Courey was hospitalized in Kansas in April 2011 following a suicide attempt. The family was unable to find help for their daughter in Canada. They were repeatedly told that in-patient programs were full and it would take months just to get on the waiting list for outpatient care.

They eventually found a private facility outside Boston that cost $44,000 for 28 days. Menu Courey spent two months there.

Menu Courey’s family has started a fund to raise awareness about borderline personality disorder. More information is available at the website.

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“This is really unacceptable. When you’re in pain like this and you have to fight to find care, it doesn’t make sense,” Courey said. “The system failed her. We’re really hoping the legacy of her story will help transform the system to help save other lives.”

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