Woman who accused rapper Nelly of rape won’t testify

A woman who said the rapper Nelly raped her on his tour bus in a Seattle suburb last weekend is dropping her pursuit of criminal charges. (Photo By Photobra|Adam Bielawski – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

SEATTLE — A woman who said the rapper Nelly raped her on his tour bus in a Seattle suburb last weekend is dropping her pursuit of criminal charges.

News outlets report that Karen Koehler said in a statement Friday that her client wanted to stop the investigation and would refuse to testify in court.

Koehler says the woman “wishes she had not called 911 because she believes the system is going to fail her.”

Auburn police arrested Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., early Saturday in his tour bus at a Walmart. He was booked into jail on suspicion of second-degree rape and released later that day.

He has not been charged with a crime.

Nelly’s attorney, Scott Rosenblum, has called the rape claim a “completely fabricated allegation.”