D.M. To calculate the rate, we summed the number of unfounded rapes and divided it by the number of reported rapes. Anyone with information is asked to call Lynnwood detective Jerry Rittgarn at 425-744-6924 or 425-744-6900. Marie dialed Stacy Galbraith in the fall of 2016; she'd been working as a truck driver by then and called from the road. He told This American Life that learning he'd been mistaken "was so shocking that this has been the one thing where I seriously step back and question if I should continue doing what I'm doing." Helmed by Erin Brokovich screenwriter Susannah Grant, the new miniseries follows the story of Marie, a young woman charged with lying about being raped, as well as that of two female detectives who, through a winding road of evidence, discover the truth. Mission accomplished. Among the items Colorado detectives found in OLearys possession were photographs of the woman and her ID card. We also ran the same calculation for Washington state law enforcement agencies that cover cities of the same size as Lynnwood to account for possible variations due to the size of a jurisdiction or local laws. reported when the victim sued the Lynnwood PD, including the Lynnwood attack and the rape of a 63-year-old Kirkland woman. 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. Netflixs latest true-crime series, Unbelievable, follows a group of detectives who try to get to the bottom of a string of rapes in the mid and northwest, along with figuring out if one girl whos reported a rape is telling the truth or not. Along with praise for its nuanced performances and intelligent writing, it's been . Grusing was the only officer to interview the serial rapist, perhaps because, as Taggart says to Karen and Grace about Chris in episode eight, women make him uncomfortable., Eric Langes detached Detective Parker is a surrogate for Sergeant Jeffrey Mason, who spent the bulk of his career on patrol and in narcotics and had little rape-investigation experience when he became the lead on Adlers case. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. Galbraith had admired her new partner, Edna Hendershot, from a distance ever since their paths crossed at a police briefing for a big drug bust Hendershot had taken part in. Jerry Rittgarn threatened Adler with . We just want to dive into a pool without having to hold onto our bottoms. Based on the story of a teenager whose rape was discounted by the male detectives investigating her case, the show also concentrates on the female detectives who, years later, connected her assault to a serial rapist they had caught. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, pressed on the inconsistencies in her story. Former Lynnwood police Det. was also taken to the emergency room at Providence Hospital in Everett, where a doctor made notes of rape trauma. UnitedHealthcare Tried to Deny Coverage to a Chronically Ill Patient. 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. Rarely do. His LinkedIn page indicates he works for a private investigation firm in San Diego. Marie said she didnt know of any discrepancies. 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 lawsuit alleges that, as soon as the detective concluded she was lying, the investigation ceased. 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. in a police car and took her to the station, where Rittgarn told her there were inconsistencies in her story. I give our client a tremendous amount of credit, said H. Richmond Fisher, one of her attorneys. Marie, crying, said she believed the rape really happened. According to police reports and statements filed with the lawsuit, D.M. , updated The woman, identified only as D.M., was gagged, bound and sexually assaulted in her Lynnwood, Washington, home by Marc O'Leary in 2008, 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 rape did take place, Case was reopened two years ago when O'Leary was found with her ID, He was later convicted of a string of rapes and is serving a 327-year sentence in a Colorado prison. 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. 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. He actually met with Marie again after the truth came. We ran this calculation for all departments that met our criteria on a national level. After I got off the phone with him, I started thinking about all things I was stressed out and I also was scared living on my own. The police called her a liar. It was also detailed in the "Anatomy of Doubt" episode of the podcast This American Life. All Rights Reserved. Helen Pow If you use canonical metadata, please use the ProPublica URL. Mason was put in the lead position, but at that time. 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. He then raped her. In a testament to her resilience, Marie's carved out a life for herself far from Lynnwood. This story was produced in collaboration with ProPublica. Can we count on your support today? and her family We strongly believe that Cocoon House and its employees acted appropriately on behalf of the client.'. Evidence proved her right. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, pressed on the inconsistencies in her story. . Rittgarn wrote that, Based on her answer and body language it was apparent that D.M. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. Neither officer faced any disciplinary action for the botched investigation. But she'd stayed in touch with two of her former foster mothers, Peggy Cunningham and Shannon McQuery, and had finally found hope for some permanence with an apartment and life of her own through a transitional program called Project Ladder. When Marie's rapist was caught, Detective Rittgarn had already left the Lynnwood police department. In 2016, she told This American Life that she regretted talking to the cops but still believed Marie need[ed] to take responsibility for her actions. 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. A stranger, later known to be OLeary, entered her Lynnwood apartment, threatened plaintiff D.M. In December 2015, ProPublica and the Marshall Project co-published An Unbelievable Story of Rape. It went to the FBI lab [in Quantico], Galbraith told 48 Hours in 2017. He had only worked on "one or two rape cases" before this, according to ProPublica. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. Rittgarn left the police department before Maries rapist was caught in 2011, while Manson simply moved back to his position at narcotics. Lynnwood, Washington, United States 3 connections. 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. The Lynnwood police told her the news, giving her an envelope on counseling for rape victims. You cant republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. Former Lynnwood police Det. O'Leary was convicted of five rapes, including the Lynnwood one, and is serving a 327-year sentence in a Colorado prison. 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. What do you think should happen to someone who would lie about something like this? Its okay to put our stories on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. This led to them completely mismanaging Maries case and caused them to believe that she had made up the whole story for attention. She began crying and said she kept seeing visions of him on top of her, the lawsuit says. FBI figures show that police annually declare around 5 percent of rape cases unfounded, or baseless. After claiming police coerced her into recanting her story,. He's declined to speak with any outlets and told Miller and Armstrong he'd only discuss the case if they paid him towhile maintaining his non-factual beliefs about "victims who lie" and a "biased story.". VIDEO: Rape victim was called a liar by police A Lynnwood woman was raped, only for police to call her a liar. As for the people Marie initially deals with, in the series they are Detectives Parker and Pruitt. Knowing that youre behind us means so much. We do not generally permit translation of our stories into another language. Rittgarn left the police department before Marie's rapist was caught in 2011, while Manson simply moved back to his position at narcotics. Unbelievable will, suffice to say, shock you. 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. .css-gk9meg{display:block;font-family:Lausanne,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding-top:0.25rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-gk9meg:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.15;margin-bottom:0.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}Facts You Didn't Know About That '70s Show, The Cast of 'The Mandalorian' in Real Life, 'The Mandalorian' Season 3, Episode 1 Recap, 'The Mandalorian' Season 3 is About to Commence, The Underworld Crossover of the Century Is Coming. 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. 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. The women of, Sam Levinson and the Weeknd Allegedly Turned, Theres No Red Button You Can Push to Stop. 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. As Chris says in the finale, had Adlers case been better investigated, police would likely have caught the rapist sooner. You cant sell our material separately or syndicate it. 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. They told her the Lynnwood case was closed. 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. When youre watching Unbelievable, its hard not to wonder about the accuracy of the Netflix true-crime drama. Unbelievable is based, almost word for words at times, off of The Marshall Projects An Unbelievable Story of Rape, published in 2015. 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. At the hospital, a doctor noted injuries to both her wrists and abrasions on her genitals. (Warning: Unbelievable spoilers below). 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. 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He had only investigated one rape before working with Marie. For more stories like this, sign up for our newsletter. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. We may earn commission from the links on this page. You cant state or imply that donations to your organization support ProPublicas work. 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 . 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. Galbraith came across a victim she didn't recognize while looking through the images. Rittgarn, who has left the Lynnwood Police Department and works as a private investigator in San Diego, said he was unaware of the lawsuit. Samantha Vincenty is the former senior staff writer at Oprah Daily. 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. So lets just state the obvious: Neither one of these men was the best man for the job as neither of them were all that qualified to work on a rape case. We also restricted our examination to only those agencies that reported at least one rape over this timespan. But most recent research suggests that false reporting is relatively rare. Rittgarn, who has left the Lynnwood Police Department and works as a private investigator in San Diego, said he was unaware of the lawsuit. She agreed, so they left her alone for a few minutes. Unbelievable will debut on Netflix on Sept. 13. . Jeff Mason didnt believe her. 2023 Cox Media Group. No matter what, you can always turn to The Marshall Project as a source of trustworthy journalism about the criminal justice system. She pounded the table and said she was pretty positive.. From the crime scene, they identified muddy track marks that came from Adidas ZX 700 mesh shoes. (For example, yesterday can be changed to last week, and Portland, Ore. to Portland or here.), You cannot republish our photographs or illustrations without specific permission. 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. University of . Hendershot also remembered a similar case in 2009 when a 65-year-old woman in nearby Aurora had been raped by a man wearing a black scarf around his face who also took pictures of her. . Some of his computer files remain encrypted. When her counselors at Project Ladder marched her back to the station upon hearing her account of what happened, Rittgarn told Marie that if she took a lie detector test and failed, she'd go to jail and probably lose her housing. After OLeary was caught, McQuery apologized to Adler and later told This American Life she was shocked that Adler was willing to forgive her for such a huge thing., Like Scott Lawrences effective Fed, FBI special agent Jonny Grusing was a crucial part of the task force that aided the detectives work. and her family We strongly believe that Cocoon House and its employees acted appropriately on behalf of the client.. The whole show is in a silly, goofy mood. 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And Pruitt i didnt to put our stories into another language news, giving her an on! Show is in a silly, goofy mood herself far from Lynnwood resilience, Marie 's carved out a for... More about the people Marie initially deals with, jerry rittgarn lynnwood the finale had...