The records obtained through these requests included investigative reports filed by detectives in Lynnwood and elsewhere; crime-scene photos and surveillance footage collected by the various law-enforcement agencies; the two case reviews of how the Lynnwood police handled the investigation of Maries rape report; and video of Marc OLeary being interviewed by police after his arrest in Colorado. We went to the ocean, it was like 7 oclock at night, I dont know what we were thinking, I got in there and I jumped out and swung my hair back.". They told her the Lynnwood case was closed. He tied her hands behind her back with a lace from her tennis shoe, blindfolded her and gagged her. As portrayed in Unbelievable, Marie settled a lawsuit with Lynnwood after they tried to give her a measly $500 reimbursement of the court fees for her false reporting misdemeanor. He said he believed she had made the story up a spur-of-the-moment thing, not something planned out. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of itand I didnt." We reviewed Maries civil suit against Lynnwood, which included such legal exhibits as the medical report from the day she reported being raped and case notes from Project Ladder, the transitional housing program to which she belonged. We ran this calculation for all departments that met our criteria on a national level. was lying about the rape, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court. The victim, now 23, is living out of state and engaged to be married, according to her attorneys. With mounting pressure from the police, she recanted her statement and said she made. According to the ProPublica article, after Marie's rapist was apprehended, the Lynnwood. Some of his computer files remain encrypted. Rittgard left the police force before OLearys arrest, but the case review found that threatening her with imprisonment and the possible loss of her housing was coercive, cruel, and unbelievably unprofessional. In the book-length follow-up to their original reporting, journalists T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong said Rittgarn had objected to his work being labeled as bullying and wanted money to talk to them. The victim, who now lives in Wyoming, and her lawyer also declined to comment to the Seattle Times. Lynnwood, Washington No one came to court with her that day, except her public defender. Rittgarn, on the other hand, had been a detective for 11 years, but had a background in helicopters and the aerospace industry. Samantha Vincenty is the former senior staff writer at Oprah Daily. While no good came out of this for Marie at the time, her case has since helped shape how rapes are now processed, with Rider explaining, We learned a great deal from this. A Lynnwood woman was raped, only for police to call her a liar. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. Rittgarn, who has left the Lynnwood Police Department and works as a private investigator in San Diego, said he was unaware of the lawsuit. Rittgarn left the police department before Marie's rapist was caught in 2011, while Manson simply moved back to his position at narcotics. Jeff Mason didn't believe her. confessed to making up the incident, which her attorneys said was a result of a police interrogation. You cant republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. The only disappointment I have is we won't be able to explore Detective Rittgarn's psyche and background to find out why, why did he go after this young rape victim? Ward said. Between one-fourth to two-thirds of rapists are serial attackers, studies show. From JAMA Pediatrics, December 2015 and Violence and Victims, Vol 17, 2002 by David Lisak and Paul M. Miller. Without reading Marie her rights you have the right to an attorney, you have the right to remain silent the detectives asked Marie to write out the true story, admitting she had lied, admitting, in effect, that she had committed a crime. And I was told that probably no one ever will.. Along with praise for its nuanced performances and intelligent writing, it's been . The True Story Behind Netflix's Unbelievable, Beanie Feldstein & Kaitlyn Dever Talk 'Booksmart', 9 Books That Tackle Sexual Assault Head on, The Obamas First Netflix Project Is About Trump, Gayle Says March Is a Good Month for TV Lovers, A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. 2023 Cox Media Group. Even with the strong language used in the Lynnwood Police Department investigation cited in the ProPublica article, no one at the department lost their job. The victim was too attacked by a man in a black mask who took her pink camera to shoot pictures of her before forcing her to shower. Meanwhile, several years and states away, detectives Grace Rasmussen and Karen Duvall (Toni Colette and Merritt Wever) merge their investigations in a skilled search for a serial rapist. Covering Rammsteins Du Hast in Berlin. The victim of the Lynnwood attack last week filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the city of Lynnwood, claiming detectives disregarded evidence of the assault, bullied her into saying it didnt happen and then threatened to have her thrown out of her apartment when she insisted it did. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. Here is the harrowing story behind the series that you need to know. Between one-fourth to two-thirds of rapists are serial attackers, studies show. From JAMA Pediatrics, December 2015 and Violence and Victims, Vol 17, 2002 by David Lisak and Paul M. Miller. Mason now admits on record that Peggy's doubt was the main reason he fully shifted to disbelieving Marie. In real life, they are Sgt. Elsewhere in the country, two other female detectives are also tracking an influx of rapes and are working together to try and catch the guy, who ends up being the same one who harmed Marie. 's photograph and ID card in his wallet. Like Blake Elliss fictional fiend, Marc OLeary knew that police departments didnt talk to one another and that the Army had his DNA, so he meticulously cleaned his crime scenes and made his victims wash away any genetic material. Then there was an investigation. From there, the show continues to follow a true story reported by ProPublica. Can we count on your support today? Rittgarn told her that if she was lying she would go to jail and that he would not recommend Cocoon House keep her, the suit alleges. Marie dialed Stacy Galbraith in the fall of 2016; she'd been working as a truck driver by then and called from the road. Rittgarn asked. Cocoon House CEO Cassie Franklin told the Seattle Times this week: 'Our hearts go out to D.M. For more stories like this, sign up for our newsletter. After OLearys arrest in Colorado in February 2011, Lynnwood police Cmdr. Enter detectives Stacy Galbraith from Denver and Edna Hendershot from Westminster. 2015 Pulitzer Prizewinning ProPublica/Marshall Project story, she sued and settled with the city for $150,000, tweeted some of her thoughts about the show, the book-length follow-up to their original reporting, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. We have official accounts for ProPublica on. And while we dont know if she was really a Druid like Annaleigh Ashfords Lilly Darrow, a 46-year-old artist did distract OLeary long enough to escape by jumping out of her bedroom window, breaking several ribs and puncturing a lung in the process. Rodney Cohnheim and Commander Steve Rider; and Marc OLeary, who was interviewed at the Sterling Correctional Facility in Colorado. We reviewed Maries civil suit against Lynnwood, which included such legal exhibits as the medical report from the day she reported being raped and case notes from Project Ladder, the transitional housing program to which she belonged. Thats five times the national average of 4.3 percent for agencies covering similar-sized populations during that same period.". Marie, crying, said she believed the rape really happened. In this report a sex crimes supervisor noted that Marie's situation was nothing short of the victim being coerced into admitting that she lied about the rape. The investigation concluded that bullying and hounding led to Marie's admittance of false reporting. The police on her case, Sgt. Among the items Colorado detectives found in OLearys possession were photographs of the woman and her ID card. This, undoubtedly, turns her life upside down. Wesshe Montegumry The woman, identified only as D.M. As The Marshall Project article specifies, Manson (who was the lead investigator), had previously only worked on patrol and in narcotics, but had recently been promoted and transferred to the Criminal Investigations Division and had been in the position for only six weeks when Maries rape happened. If you use canonical metadata, please use the ProPublica URL. three days after the assault, officers picked up D.M. All rights reserved. Claiming police coerced her into recanting her story, the woman was charged with false reporting and fined $500 when she later tried to insist the rape did happen. He asked if there was really a rapist running around the neighborhood that the police should be looking for. Mission accomplished. "Based on her answers and body language it was apparent that [Marie] was lying about the rape," he wrote in a report. Words or thoughts attributed to anyone in this story are drawn from these interviews or documents. We examined five years of the Offenses Known and Cleared by Arrest data to smooth yearly fluctuations common in crime reporting. Now a married mother of two who turns 29 this year, shes a long-haul trucker, driving an 18-wheeler cross-country. Privacy Policy and The national average for "unfounded" cases is around five percent. Stacy Galbraith; Westminster, Colorado, Sgt. Knowing that youre behind us means so much. These female detectives (whose names are changed to Grace Rasmussen and Karen Duvall, played by Toni Collette and Merritt Weaver, in the Netflix series) actually do their job, and work to uncover the truth behind the rapes. 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FBI figures show that police annually declare around 5 percent of rape cases unfounded, or baseless. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. 'Ted Lasso' Season 3 Dropped Its First Trailer, 'Outer Banks' Season 4 Is Already In the Works. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, pressed on the inconsistencies in her story. At the hospital, a doctor noted injuries to both her wrists and abrasions on her genitals. For more information about canonical metadata, You cant edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. Tearfully, she described her past all the foster parents, being raped when she was 7, getting her own place and feeling alone. In Marie's case, neither of her foster moms thought she was behaving like it really happened, for different reasons: Shannon decided Marie didn't seem sad enough just hours after the crime, telling ProPublica, "There was just no emotion. She also accuses them of threatening to have her thrown out of her apartment, owned by an at-risk youth home called Cocoon House, when she insisted it did take place. Parker says something similar to Rasmussen in the show. Unbelievable, a Netflix original series that debuts on September 13, is "a story about a rape investigation gone horribly wrong, and then a rape investigation gone brilliantly right," as showrunner .css-9cezh6{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#E61957;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-9cezh6:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Susannah Grant puts it. Rittgarn asked. Pruitt and Eric Lange played Det. He had only worked on "one or two rape cases" before this, according to ProPublica. Everything You Never Thought to Ask About In-flight Entertainment, Warner Bros. Discoverys licensing chief on how movies and TV get on planes, editing decisions, and the curious case of. After the media caught wind of Marie's false report misdemeanor, that same best friend created a website devoted to eviscerating her reputation, sharing Marie's photo and full name as well as police reports that alleged she was a liar. None of them had any firsthand knowledge of what had happened, the lawsuit says. Helen Pow She spoke to a friend on the phone for several hours early Aug. 11, 2008, finally going to bed around 5:30 a.m. She said she left the sliding-glass patio door ajar. The police on her case, Sgt. Notably, Marie's rape claim was one of four that Lynnwood police deemed unfounded that year alone. Steve Rider told The Herald of Everett: Suffice it to say, certain pieces of information just led investigators to the wrong conclusion., Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com, Seattle still the nations saddest large metro area, survey shows, Feds award money to study removing Highway 99 in one Seattle neighborhood, Plan to reduce homelessness in downtown Seattle picks up after slow start, Driver killed after crashing off Seattle overpass, WA's pay-per-mile tax is not the culture war we need right now, including the Lynnwood attack and the rape of a 63-year-old Kirkland woman. According to the ProPublica article, after Marie's rapist was apprehended, the Lynnwood Police Department opened up an outside review into the department. Knowing all of this including the fact that Marie was telling the truth youd tend to think both of these detectives would be suffer some consequence for the whole ordeal. A Full Recap of the Infuriating True Story Behind Netflix's New Miniseries, Unbelievable. After the Lynnwood, Washington, police coerced her recantation and charged her with a "gross misdemeanor," Adler took a plea deal and paid a $500 fine. In December 2015, ProPublica and the Marshall Project co-published An Unbelievable Story of Rape. He actually met with Marie again after the truth came. She's soon accused of making it all up, and is subsequently punished for the "lie" again and again. But most recent research suggests that false reporting is relatively rare. The bulk of time is spent with Detectives Rasmussen and Duvall, two investigators who diligently work to solve a string of rapes throughout Colorado. One of the officers named in the lawsuit, Mason, still works for Lynnwood police. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. It wasnt until 2 years later, when former Washington state resident Marc OLeary was arrested for several rapes in Colorado, that Lynnwood police reopened their investigation. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. Virtually every real-life detail of the rape and the Lynnwood police investigation plays out onscreen in Unbelievable. What Happened To Male Detectives In Unbelievable Case? We are no longer accepting comments on this article. We excluded agencies that did not report crime statistics in any given month, as well as those that reported no crimes of any kind in a year. The lawsuit alleges that the woman was required to stand up in front of other program participants and say that she had lied about being raped or risk being evicted, according to the lawsuit. Why didnt you write that you made the story up? Nonprofit journalism about criminal justice, A nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system, This story was produced in collaboration with, International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, Policing and Prosecuting Sexual Assault in Los Angeles City and County. 22:32 GMT 11 Jun 2013 Los Angeles County said all litigation over the crash has now been resolved. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, pressed on the inconsistencies in her story. The real woman known as Marie in the original articleMarie is her middle namereported her rape to Lynnwood, Washington police on August 11, 2008. The Lynnwood detectives, Pruitt and Parker, are Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. 2 yr. ago The LinkedIn profile looked abandoned to me, but he does show up on other sites. A Washington state woman who was a victim of a serial sex offender is suing police after they allegedly discounted her story, ignored evidence proving she was raped and then slapped her with a $500 fine for making a false statement. After attacking her, he forced the woman to shower, took her bedding with him before leaving, and cleaned his ejaculate with moist towelettes. In his home, they found the pink Sony camera in addition to the women's underwear, wet wipes, lube, and a pistol. They ignored all the objective evidence collected by the Lynnwood Police Department and Providence Hospital on the day of the rape, the lawsuit alleges. The opening episode of Netflix's new series Unbelievable is difficult to watch. She eventually left Washington, now working as a long-haul truck driver and married with two children. In a testament to her resilience, Marie's carved out a life for herself far from Lynnwood. Police gathered evidence from the house, including stained sheets, the shoelaces, blindfold and gag. (Jeff) Mason concerning his follow-up case. The whole show is in a silly, goofy mood. No, Marie told him, her voice soft, her eyes down. T. Christian Miller is a senior editor for ProPublica. with loss of housing benefits and made her tell other program participants that she lied. With mounting pressure from the police, she recanted her statement and said she made it . It was like she was telling me that shed made a sandwich." Miller and Armstrong write, "They didn't talk for long, fifteen minutes maybe, but all Marie wanted, all she really needed, was to tell Galbraith how much her work had meant.". You cant use our work to populate a website designed to improve rankings on search engines or solely to gain revenue from network-based advertisements. Also named in the suit are Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven J. Jensen. As with Merritt Wevers compassionate detective, it was a fluke that Galbraiths police-officer husband, David not the karaoke-singing Max the Knife remembered that his Colorado department had seen a similar rape in which the attacker had made his victim shower and scrupulously cleaned her. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google He actually met with Marie again after the truth came out and later told The Marshall Project, It wasnt her job to try to convince me. However, based on those statements, Justin Kirkland is a Brooklyn-based writer who covers culture, food, and the South. HMH 361 ComNav CH-53 Helicopters. The description of his background comes from his LinkedIn profile. Rasmussen and Duvall catch the serial rapist, and Marie's original report is proved to have been true. The (male) detectives Marie goes to see after shes raped believe shes lying and get a coerced confession out of her recanting what shes already reported. Jeffrey Mason, the Lynnwood officer heading up Marie's rape investigation (and subsequently charged her for a false report) was transferred to his department from a narcotics task force just six weeks before the call came from Marie. In 2008, Marie, as the article refers to her, was an 18-year-old woman who lived in subsidized housing in Lynnwood, WA, for young adults previously in the fostercare system. To determine the rate of rape crimes declared unfounded, or groundless, by law enforcement agencies, we analyzed Uniform Crime Reporting data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We used the 2015 Pulitzer Prizewinning ProPublica/Marshall Project story (and its follow-up reporting) that inspired Unbelievable as a road map to make this character-by-character guide to the facts behind the Unbelievable fictionalizations. It wasnt until 2 years later, when former Washington state resident Marc OLeary was arrested for several rapes in Colorado, that Lynnwood police reopened their investigation. According to an outside review of the investigation after Marie was cleared of her false report misdemeanor, "the manner in which she was treated by Sergeant Mason and Detective Rittgarn can only be labeled as bullying and coercive." Though the series hews closely to a true story that may at times seem stranger than fiction, showrunner Susannah Grant decided early on to fictionalize the real-life sources because, she says, we didnt think there was any value in the actual names being broadcast as widely as Netflix has the capacity to do. Nevertheless, its natural to want to know more about the people on whom the characters are based. Please contact. D.M.s lawsuit also names as defendants the agency that runs the program, Mason has since returned to working in narcotics. Virtually every real-life detail of the rape and the Lynnwood police investigation plays out onscreen in Unbelievable. 22:39 GMT 11 Jun 2013. As in the series, Michael OLeary was mistaken for his similar-looking older brother because the cops didnt know they lived together. When the woman reported the attack to Lynnwood police, she says detectives Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. She is charged with false reporting, ostracized from friends and family, and made a pariah by local media. We may earn a commission from these links. He had only investigated one rape before working with Marie. When the woman reported the attack to Lynnwood police, she says detectives Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. Jeff Mason didnt believe her. It explains the background and ins and outs of the case concerning Marie (whos identified as Marie in the story was well its the real victim's middle name), along with other rapes in the area of Lynwood, Washington. 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