Really!? I posted that as a hypothesis on the duplicate thread.
But mrustow posted this to me above:
At the time, they mentioned an accomplice named "Tony." Police only recently discovered that "Tony" was Matias Reyes' street name. You have to consider, as well, that these men -- then teenagers -- were part of a mob of some forty attackers, of whom only eight were ever arrested and six charged.
I honestly do not know what to think here. for some reason, my gut feeling says they were guilty of beating her. What their connection with teh serial rapist is, I have no clue.