Nov 20, 2013 01:03 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The investigation into a sexual assault linked to Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston might not have been inactive for 11 months if the alleged victim had not "changed her mind."

The Tallahassee Democrat obtained emails from City Manager Anita Favors Thompson to City Commissioners on Nov. 12. The Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) does not have a permanent chief, so Favors Thompson is currently overseeing it while it operates with an interim chief.

The email said the alleged victim stopped corresponding with police and no longer actively pursued an investigation against her attacker, who she identified as being Winston. The email stated the case "against FSU football player Jameis Winston" was handed to the TPD from the FSU police.

Favors Thompson wrote in the email the alleged victim told FSU police she became intoxicated a local bar and was taken advantage sexually afterward. TPD began investigating immediately, but the young woman stopped responding to police and a representative of her family alerted the police she no longer wanted to pursue criminal charges.

"Shortly thereafter a representative of the young woman's family who is an attorney contacted TPD and said the young woman had changed her mind and did not wish to prosecute," Favors Thompson's email said.

The alleged sexual assault took place in Oct. 2012 and the TPD's police report was dated in Dec. of that year. The case was inactive for 11 months until Nov. 8 of this year when the Tampa Bay Times and TMZ began requesting information on it. At that point, the investigation, along with Winston's name attached to it, became public.

In her email, sent out a day before the news broke, was to update the city commission that there was media interest in the case and it would likely grab headlines. The city notified FSU president Eric Barron, the FSU police chief and the alleged victim's attorney. Tim Jansen, Winston's attorney, has previously said police told him of the case in February when the case was switched from open-active to open-inactive, which lead him to think it was being closed.

Then there was speculation that media inquiries caused the TPD to reactivate the case when they handed it over to the state attorney last week. TPD spokesman David Northway said this was not true and offered a different explanation.

"Someone integrally involved has (to have) given us a new piece of information," TPD spokesman David Northway told the Democrat. "It has to be someone involved in the case (who) provides a lead to reactivate it."

In other words, the media cannot directly influence the police to reactivate a case, but can publicize inactive cases all they want. The fact the TPD handed the case over to the office of William Meggs, the state attorney for the Second Circuit Court in Tallahassee, Fla., means there is more to investigate.

Meggs previously stated he is deciding what Winston's role in the matter was and his decision could be ready next week or some time shortly thereafter. Meggs cannot force Winston or the alleged victim to speak to his office, but he is still hoping they will submit to questioning.

Jansen said he provided witness affidavits to Meggs' office that support Winston's innocence, but TPD interim Police Chief Tom Coe said the truth in the case remains to be seen.

Said Coe, "We are trying to determine what happened that night and only two people know what happened."

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