BOULDER, Colo. -- A 20-year-old college student admitted to Boulder police that she fabricated a story about fighting off a knife-wielding black man because she wanted attention from her boyfriend, according to police reports obtained by 7NEWS.

Police on Thursday issued Nina Fiorillo a summons for false reporting after she admitted making up the story about being attacked while walking home early Sunday morning. False reporting to authorities is a misdemeanor carrying a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $750 fine.

The University of Colorado student's bogus claim about an armed attacker at large triggered alarm in the community and an intense investigation by police detectives and patrol officers, according to 43 pages of police reports generated by the manhunt.

Fiorillo told police that she was walking home alone just after midnight Sunday following a house party where her boyfriend had decided to go hang out with other friends, according to police reports.

The woman said that in the 1100 block of University Avenue, that she heard someone running up behind her and a black man grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her around, police said.

She said the man shoved her up against a brick wall and "she felt something cutting her left forearm," a police report said.

She said she yelled, "Stop!"

The man placed a 6-inch knife to her face, scraping her cheek with it while gripping her arm, she told police.

Fiorillo said she kneed the man in his groin and he doubled up in pain, the report said. She ran to her apartment, locked herself inside and called a girlfriend, who called police.

The girlfriend told police that a hysterical Fiorillo called her, saying, "Someone just attacked me. He had a knife."

The woman gave police a detailed description of an attacker who was a "college-age," black man, between 18 and 24 years old, a report said. He had short hair, was slightly under 6 feet tall, weighed about 200 pounds and was wearing a dark-colored jacket or hooded sweatshirt.

Yet, Fiorillo said she didn't think she could identify the man if she saw him again, the police report said.

Detectives said they soon noticed contradictions in the student's account.

She told police the attacker never said a word and didn't try to sexually assault or rob her, a police report said.

But when Fiorillo's friend called 911, she recounted that Fiorillo said the assailant "started trying to talk to her, then attacked her as she started to walk faster," a detective noted in a report.

Investigators noticed that the sleeves of Fiorillo's fleece jacket were not cut or damaged, where the attacker had supposedly cut her wrist. And police said the marks on her wrist looked more like red scratches than a knife cut, a report said. The woman replied she had her sleeves pushed up.

Fiorillo also told police that she didn't mind it when her boyfriend decided to leave the party with other friends and she walked home alone.

But a detective who checked the woman's cellphone texts noted in a report that "Fiorillo appears to be going through a very difficult break-up with (her boyfriend). I read messages addressed to (the boyfriend) in which Fiorillo was expressing her love for him and her frustration that the relationship wasn't working out."

The boyfriend told police things were slightly tense between him and Fiorillo at the party because they'd been having relationship problems, a report said.

Detective Jeremy Frenzen confronted Fiorillo Wednesday about inconsistencies in her story and the woman began changing her account.

She said a man running by that night had bumped her, possibly unintentionally, knocking her into a "prickly" bush, a police report said. The bush caused the scratches on her wrist.

Then she admitted that there was no black man, no knife and no attack, the report said.

"Fiorillo admitted at one point that she made up this story because she was looking for some level of attention from (her boyfriend)," the police report said.

"She also said things got out blown out of proportion" when the girlfriend who called police came over to console her that night, a report said. Fiorillo said her girlfriend "had brought up the idea of a knife, which Fiorillo just went along with. She denied mentioning a knife to (the girlfriend) when she made the first call to her."

The false report clearly wasted police resources and needlessly frightened residents.

The University of Colorado sent out an email alert, warning students about the reported attack and reminding them to take safety precautions.

A patrol officer questioned at least one black man who matched Fiorillo's description of the fictitious attacker, a police report said. The man, who was intoxicated and sitting at a bus stop that night, was taken to a night warming center. The man agreed to be photographed and searched, but an officer found no weapons.

Police also impounded an empty Land Rover found idling on the street near the reported attack, only to learn it was left parked there by a CU student. They also checked 32 businesses for surveillance camera video of the attack and collected DNA samples from Fiorillo.