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In March 1998, a seventeen-year-old claimed to police that he had been sexually assaulted by Fashanu after a night of drinking. The age of consent in Maryland is 16 but homosexual acts were illegal in Maryland at the time and the youth stated the act was not consensual but being performed as he awoke. The assault was alleged to have taken place in Fashanu's apartment in Ellicott City, Maryland, United States. Fashanu was questioned about this by the police on 3 April, but he was not held in custody. The police later arrived at his flat with a warrant to arrest him on charges of second-degree sexual assault, first-degree assault, and second-degree assault; however, Fashanu had already fled to England.
On the morning of 3rd. May, he was found hanged in a deserted lock-up garage he had broken into, in Shoreditch, London, after visiting Chariots Roman Spa, a local gay sauna. In his suicide note, he denied the charges, stating that the sex was consensual and that he had fled to England because he felt he could not get a fair trial because of his homosexuality and he added: "I realised that I had already been presumed guilty. I do not want to give any more embarrassment to my friends and family."
An inquest held in London through 9th. September heard evidence from a Scotland Yard detective that the Americans made no request for Fashanu to be found or arrested, and the Coroner stated that he was not a wanted man at the time he hanged himself. However, The Times and the BBC reported that an arrest warrant had been issued by Howard County District Court on 3 April, that he had been charged with second-degree sexual assault and first-degree and second-degree assaults punishable by up to 20 years in jail, and that Howard County police would have requested his extradition had they known he fled to England. The inquest recorded a verdict of suicide.
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