Misinformation Correction - September 15, 2014

September 17, 2014 - Late September 15, WTKR News Channel 3 published a story citing an ODU Police investigation into anonymous Facebook posts where someone claimed to be an ODU student and said they had repeatedly drugged a roommate to make her ill.

WTKR's story "Old Dominion University student confesses on Facebook to poisoning roommate," which turned out to be a hoax carried out by a student at another Virginia university, was broadly disseminated by local and national media, including CNN. This story was based on limited information contained in a search warrant and in statements made by the administrator of the Facebook page, which is not affiliated with ODU.

These stories incorrectly stated that an ODU student was responsible for the claims.

ODU did not release a public statement about the investigation until the afternoon of Sept. 16, when the investigation concluded the claims were a hoax.

Even after Old Dominion University released a statement and shared it with WTKR affiliates WTVR, in Richmond, and CNN, the stations continue to run this false headline on their news websites.