This, undoubtedly, turns her life upside down. A police narrative from Detective Jerry Rittgarn states, "I talked with Sgt. Social scientists examining police records in detail and using methodologically rigorous standards cite similar, single-digit rates. From research and studies summarized in a Department of Justice-funded study, Policing and Prosecuting Sexual Assault in Los Angeles City and County, 2012 by Cassia Spohn and Katharine Tellis and from an analysis by ProPublica and The Marshall Project of FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program data, 2008-2012. 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. Among the items Colorado detectives found in OLearys possession were photographs of the woman and her ID card. Jeff Mason didnt believe her. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. 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. Privacy Policy and 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. Since its debut last Friday, Netflix's Unbelievable has become one of the most acclaimed shows of the year. If you share republished stories on social media, wed appreciate being tagged in your posts. 22:39 GMT 11 Jun 2013. In it, a young woman named Marie (played by Booksmart's Kaitlyn Dever) tells police she's been the victim of rape by a masked stranger who broke into her home. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Neither officer faced any disciplinary action for the botched investigation. They told her the Lynnwood case was closed. 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. 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. The other, Detective Jerry Rittgarn, left the department of his own accord. Jerry Rittgarn threatened Adler with . This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. 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. Other reporting included pulling transcripts of television news coverage from when Marie was raped and later charged; having court transcripts prepared from when OLeary was sentenced in Colorado; reviewing grant documents for Project Ladder; and mining the criminal-justice literature for expert views on how rape investigations should be conducted. But even before it received the Netflix treatment, the narrative emerged from "An Unbelievable Story of Rape," a seminal piece of reporting from The Marshall Project and ProPublica that earned writers Ken Armstrong and T. Christian Miller the Pulitzer Prize. Meanwhile, Peggy thought Marie seemed too upset when she called her"It sounded like a lot of drama, too, in some ways," she said. Also named in the suit are Rittgarn . Trevor Materasso; Lakewood, Colorado, police detective Aaron Hassell; Kirkland, Washington, police officer Audra Weber; Lynnwood police Sgt. Sergeant Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn were the real-life investigators from the Lynnwood Police Department who took on Marie's case. She eventually left Washington, now working as a long-haul truck driver and married with two children. Anyone with information is asked to call Lynnwood detective Jerry Rittgarn at 425-744-6924 or 425-744-6900. The bulk of time is spent with Detectives Rasmussen and Duvall, two investigators who diligently work to solve a string of rapes throughout Colorado. The women of, Sam Levinson and the Weeknd Allegedly Turned, Theres No Red Button You Can Push to Stop. He Fought Back, Exposing the Insurers Inner Workings. 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. 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. No matter what, you can always turn to The Marshall Project as a source of trustworthy journalism about the criminal justice system. Seattleite, (mostly) retired arts/culture blogger. This story was produced in collaboration with ProPublica. And what might be the most unbelievable part of unbelievable is that the detectives who believed Marie was lying weren't reprimanded whatsoever, even though they deeply damaged this young woman emotionally. Neither one of them received any sort of formal punishment, even after an internal investigation was launched. The article also notes that Lynnwood reported 21.3 percent of rape cases "unfounded," or rather, lied about. (Jeff) Mason concerning his follow-up case. Former Lynnwood police Det. It was Marie. Parker says something similar to Rasmussen in the show. Samantha Vincenty is the former senior staff writer at Oprah Daily. She said it was about 7 a.m. when she woke to find a man standing over her bed with a butcher knife and wearing latex gloves. Los Angeles County said all litigation over the crash has now been resolved. Notably, Marie's rape claim was one of four that Lynnwood police deemed unfounded that year alone. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. While the other survivors of Marc OLearys crimes have been anonymized in Unbelievable, their experiences also reflect the true stories that allowed the detectives to connect their cases. 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. 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. Claims detectives Jerry Rittgarn and Sergeant Jeff Mason discounted her story and ignored evidence including doctors reports and DNA samples She was later fined $500 when she again insisted the. 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. Last Friday, Netflix released their latest true crime series entitled Unbelievable, which is centered around The Marshall Project and ProPublica's Pulitzer-prize-winning article, An . When the woman reported the attack to Lynnwood police, she says detectives Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. He then raped her. It was like she was telling me that shed made a sandwich." Edna Hendershot and Sgt. After claiming police coerced her into recanting her story,. Jeffrey Mason and Detective Jerry Rittgarn, and this is what happened to them after incorrectly seeking a false confession from Marie. According to the Seattle Times, two-and-a-half years later Lynnwood police reopened the investigation, after Marc O'Leary, a man wanted for a string of sex attacks in Washington state and Colorado, was found to have D.M. FBI figures show that police annually declare around 5 percent of rape cases unfounded, or baseless. 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. Now he was leading one. The detectives took pictures of the binding marks. American History Has Been Whitewashed, But, Black Teen Girls On TV Are A Mess Finally, the detectives dont believe the story Marie, The Marshall Projects An Unbelievable Story of Rape. But she went through the story again only this time, saying she believed the rape had happened instead of saying it for certain. As Marie told Sergeant Jerry Mason and Detective Jerry Rittgarn, she'd fallen asleep after a late-night phone chat with her friend Jordan, an ex. 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. 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. Trevor Materasso; Lakewood, Colorado, police detective Aaron Hassell; Kirkland, Washington, police officer Audra Weber; Lynnwood police Sgt. It was also detailed in the "Anatomy of Doubt" episode of the podcast This American Life. Marie later sued the city of Lynnwood and received a $150,000 settlement. Along with Esquire, his work has appeared in NYLON, Vulture, and USA Today. Galbraith first learned of Hendershot's similar case through her police officer husband (just as Duvall, Merritt Wever's character, did). Marie dialed Stacy Galbraith in the fall of 2016; she'd been working as a truck driver by then and called from the road. Join to connect Lynnwood PD. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. 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. The victim, who now lives in Wyoming, and her lawyer also declined to comment to the Seattle Times. Social scientists examining police records in detail and using methodologically rigorous standards cite similar, single-digit rates. From research and studies summarized in a Department of Justice-funded study, Policing and Prosecuting Sexual Assault in Los Angeles City and County, 2012 by Cassia Spohn and Katharine Tellis and from an analysis by ProPublica and The Marshall Project of FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program data, 20082012. In real life, Jerry had already left the Lynnwood Police Department before Marie's attacker was convicted, and as far as we can tell, he has declined requests to be interviewed in the time. 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. In 2008, an 18-year-old from Lynnwood, Washington claimed that she was raped by an intruder in the middle of the night. She was charged with filing a false report and went through court-ordered counseling for lying to police. D.M., who now lives in Wyoming, declined to comment for this story, said her attorney, H. Richmond Fisher. The woman, identified only as D.M. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. The series shows her driving off in a new Jeep in hopes of establishing a better life elsewhere. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. Pruitt and Eric Lange played Det. Jerry Rittgarn, were focused more on Marie than on the felony crime. Neither man followed standard protocol when it came to the initial investigation into Marie's report. In a testament to her resilience, Marie's carved out a life for herself far from Lynnwood. 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. The lawsuit alleges that, as soon as the detective concluded she was lying, the investigation ceased. charged with making a false report in Lynnwood Municipal Court when she tried to take back a statement in which she had recanted her story of being raped. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, pressed on the inconsistencies in her story. She says the officers bullied her for hours, without a lawyer present, into recanting her account and, when she later tried to insist the rape did take place, she was charged $500 for false reporting. And I am not the only person that didnt believe her., Bridget Everetts amiable Colleen is a stand-in for Adlers real-life foster mother Shannon McQuery. I think you pull it, Joshua Jackson says to Lizzy Caplan sensually. The reporting by ProPublica and The Marshall Project spanned several months and involved numerous interviews, a review of previously undisclosed law enforcement records and exchanges with experts on investigating rape. Jeffrey Mason, Sgt. Mason now admits on record that Peggy's doubt was the main reason he fully shifted to disbelieving Marie. As for how she felt arresting OLeary after discovering the birthmark on his leg that her victim had remembered, Galbraith said, I wanted to see the look on his face. A timeline of the (alleged) drama involving Olivia Wilde, Harry Styles, and Florence Pugh. Rittgarn, who has left the Lynnwood Police Department and works as a private investigator in San Diego, said he was unaware of the lawsuit. When Mason, accompanied by Detective (Jerry) Rittgarn, went to pick up Marie at about 3:30 p.m., they found her outside her apartment, sitting on the grass. She has a fianc and she's looking forward to a fabulous life. 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. Unbelievable will debut on Netflix on Sept. 13. 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. Please contact. 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.". We consulted police training guidelines by various organizations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police and End Violence Against Women International. 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. was also taken to the emergency room at Providence Hospital in Everett, where a doctor made notes of rape trauma. 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