On Feb. 12, an anonymous GDS family publicly alleged their son was raped in November 2024 in a bathroom at GDS’ lower/middle school. In an email to many GDS parents, the family said the then–11 year old child was raped by two young male students who were wearing face coverings and disguised their voices.
The family said they learned of their child’s rape in January 2025 and unenrolled their two children from GDS in the winter of 2025.
A Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) spokesperson told the Bit that an MPD officer filed a report for the incident on Jan. 23, 2025.
On Feb. 12, at approximately 1:03 p.m., Head of School Russell Shaw sent an email to GDS parents providing what he called “an accurate representation of the facts.” In the email, Shaw said upon hearing of the allegation last winter, the school began internal and third-party investigations into the matter and contacted MPD and Child Protective Services. In the email, Shaw said, “Contrary to the information shared with you earlier, we can report that neither T&M (the independent investigator) nor the MPD found evidence during their investigations to substantiate the allegations.”
The GDS high school student body received the same email from Shaw at 2:15 p.m. Lower/middle school students did not receive an email from Shaw.
Shaw declined to comment for this story.
“Following an exhaustive investigation by MPD detectives,” an MPD spokesperson wrote to the Bit, “this case has been closed due to the absence of credible leads.” The spokesperson did not specify when the department closed the case. “The case would be reopened should new, credible evidence be presented to MPD,” the spokesperson wrote.
In the anonymous email on Feb. 12, the family of the alleged victim said MPD needed more evidence for an arrest. The family encouraged community members to send information they knew about the alleged assault to an MPD detective.
Administrators met with the lower, middle and high school students to address the email sent by the anonymous GDS family, according to an email Shaw sent to parents and high school students on Feb. 13. Shaw said administrators shared “accurate, age-appropriate information” with middle school students.
At a meeting in the Forum for high school students on Feb. 12, Shaw asked students not to spread “unverified information” about the alleged assault and explained how the school conducted the investigations.
In the Feb. 13 email, Shaw said the conversation with lower school students did not discuss the specifics of the allegation, and Lower School Principal Christy Diefenderfer “emphasized the School’s commitment to safety and reminded students how they can share concerns with trusted adults.”
The family said they told administrators and the Board of Trustees about the alleged incident in February 2025. The family then allegedly asked the GDS administration multiple times to send out information about the rape to the school community. In the Feb. 13 email, Shaw said MPD asked school administrators to “refrain from broad communication to our community to avoid interference with their investigation.”
CLARIFICATION (Feb. 15, 2026 at 1:10 a.m.): This article’s headline has been clarified to reflect the specific language an MPD spokesperson used to describe why the department closed its investigation into the alleged rape. A prior version of the headline said, “Developing: MPD Finds No Credible Evidence After Family Alleges Child Raped at Lower/Middle School.”
This article was updated on Feb. 13 and 15.
This is a developing story. Check back later for more updates.