Jeff Mason didn't believe her. The third doubter was an anonymous caller. 22:32 GMT 11 Jun 2013 . Los Angeles County said all litigation over the crash has now been resolved. Things you buy through our links may earnNew Yorka commission. The police called her a liar. 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. Anyone with information is asked to call Lynnwood detective Jerry Rittgarn at 425-744-6924 or 425-744-6900. Edna Hendershot and Sgt. When I went to sleep I dreamed that someone broke in and raped me. I give our client a tremendous amount of credit, said H. Richmond Fisher, one of her attorneys. To calculate the rate, we summed the number of unfounded rapes and divided it by the number of reported rapes. After OLearys arrest, the city returned the fine and the court struck the case from its files. confessed to making up the incident, which her attorneys said was a result of a police interrogation. A computer forensics specialist looked into O'Leary's hard drive files and found a folder named "girls," which had pictures of the victims. 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. And even if you decide there's not enough evidence to convict, you don't go after an alleged rape victim, Ward said. Of course, they weren't the only factors: The case wasnt helped by the fact that Maries foster mothers called to tell the police they also believed Marie was lying about the rape. Former Lynnwood police Det. Jeff Mason didn't believe her. Stacy Galbraith; Westminster, Colorado, Sgt. She got married and has two kids, and they live "somewhere in the middle of the country" as of 2018. Jeffrey Mason, Sgt. Rittgarn left the police department before Marie's rapist was caught in 2011, while Manson simply moved back to his position at narcotics. Who Is John Dutton's Grandfather in '1923'? Because of Adlers calm demeanor, McQuery also had doubts about the rape and, as portrayed in episode one, was confounded when Adler wanted to replicate her bedding. According to the suit, Rittgarn and Mason had D.M. Grusings search for similar rape cases turned up an old unsolved burglary (Lillys story) with evidence the honeycomb glove pattern, the Adidas shoe print, and the white Mazda pickup truck that connected all the known rapes. She agreed, so they left her alone for a few minutes. You cant republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. Some of his computer files remain encrypted. 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. Some of the way that she was acting was part of the reason why it had the outcome that it did, she said. The article also notes that Lynnwood reported 21.3 percent of rape cases "unfounded," or rather, lied about. 17-Down, Three Letters: Party for One artist Carly ___ Jepsen. The Netflix series opens with a disturbingly mishandled rape case. According to police reports and statements filed with the lawsuit, D.M. Thank you for your interest in republishing this story. From what Mason wrote up later, he wasted little time confronting Marie, telling her there were inconsistencies between her statements and accounts from other witnesses. It follows the initial investigation into a the assault of a young woman named Marie. 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. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. 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. . She has a fianc and she's looking forward to a fabulous life. with loss of housing benefits and made her tell other program participants that she lied. But nope. 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. She began crying and said she kept seeing visions of him on top of her, the lawsuit says. Unbelievable will debut on Netflix on Sept. 13. 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. 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. VIDEO: Rape victim was called a liar by police. Meanwhile, Peggy thought Marie seemed too upset when she called her"It sounded like a lot of drama, too, in some ways," she said. Jensen refused to comment to the newspaper because of the litigation and Rittgarn, who has since left the Lynnwood Police Department and now lives in San Diego, said he was unaware of the lawsuit and couldn't remember the case. D.M. OLeary was convicted of three rapes in Colorado and two in Washington, including the Lynnwood attack and the rape of a 63-year-old Kirkland woman, and is serving a 327-year sentence in a Colorado prison. 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. , updated 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. 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. Here is the harrowing story behind the series that you need to know. You cant state or imply that donations to your organization support ProPublicas work. Neither one of them received any sort of formal punishment, even after an internal investigation was launched. The victim, now 23, is living out of state and engaged to be married, according to her attorneys. Unbelievable will, suffice to say, shock you. But she went through the story again only this time, saying she believed the rape had happened instead of saying it for certain. Cocoon House, and two of its employees. 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. In 2014, she sued and settled with the city for $150,000. According to the ProPublica article, prior to the rape Marie's happiest memories were of time spent practicing photography with her then-best friend. 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 hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. Samantha Vincenty is the former senior staff writer at Oprah Daily. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. If you havent read it yet, I recommend reading the whole thing soon. The lawsuit also states that the Cocoon House, a place for at-risk youth, threatened D.M. Edna Hendershot and Sgt. with a butcher knife, bound her wrists with a shoe string he had removed from her shoes, stuffed a pair of underwear in her mouth as a gag, blindfolded her, and took photographs of her, according to the lawsuit she filed. The police on her case, Sgt. If anyone is at all (still) curious as to why so many sexual assaults go unreported, this should be exhibit A. I have watched videos of police officers planting evidence on innocent people that are less infuriating. He was strategically stalking and attacking women who lived alone. Jerry Rittgarn declined to be interviewed. (Warning: Unbelievable spoilers below). 2023 Cox Media Group. Now he was leading one. I wrote about it last year here. Pruitt and Eric Lange played Det. From the crime scene, they identified muddy track marks that came from Adidas ZX 700 mesh shoes. You do a full investigation. Years later, an external review characterized the police interrogations of her as bullying and coercive with minor inconsistencies in her statements misjudged and strong evidence ignored. Virtually every real-life detail of the rape and the Lynnwood police investigation plays out onscreen in Unbelievable. Knowing that youre behind us means so much. 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. Rittgarn, on the other hand, had been a detective for 11 years, but had a background in helicopters and the aerospace industry. The people interviewed for this story include Marie (in our story, we agreed to use only her middle name); Maries foster mothers Peggy Cunningham and Shannon McQuery; Maries friend Jordan Schweitzer; James Feldman, Maries public defender when she was charged with filing a false police report; H. Richmond Fisher, Maries attorney in her civil suit against Lynnwood, Washington; Golden, Colorado, police Det. 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. We received thousands of pages of documents through public-records requests filed with the following agencies: the police departments in Lynnwood and Kirkland, Washington; the police departments in Golden, Westminster, Aurora and Lakewood, Colorado; and the prosecuting attorneys offices in Snohomish County, Washington, King County, Washington, and Jefferson County, Colorado. One of the officers named in the lawsuit, Mason, still works for Lynnwood police. 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. University of . No matter what, you can always turn to The Marshall Project as a source of trustworthy journalism about the criminal justice system. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn. 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. Jerry Rittgarn Detective at Lynnwood PD Lynnwood, WA. As Chris says in the finale, had Adlers case been better investigated, police would likely have caught the rapist sooner. Rittgarn wrote that, Based on her answer and body language it was apparent that D.M. 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. 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. D.M. KIRO 7 News Seattle facebook feed(Opens a new window), KIRO 7 News Seattle twitter feed(Opens a new window), KIRO 7 News Seattle youtube feed(Opens a new window), Woman loses $29K after being targeted by banking scam with victims in 9 states, Driver killed after car goes off overpass in Georgetown, Tacoma police looking for two alleged retail thieves, Man caught with nearly $3K in stolen fragrance, allegedly planned to trade for fentanyl pills, Cheerleader performs solo after team quits before state championships. 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. At first he could not recall the case, except that he. (Jeffrey) Masons experience, when someone asked if they were in trouble, almost always, they were. When the woman reported the attack to Lynnwood police, she says detectives Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. For more information about canonical metadata, You cant edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. 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. You don't just go with some family member who was not even a witness. Mission accomplished. 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. 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. She was 18 at the time. 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. Mason told ProPublica, "It wasnt her job to try to convince me. 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Also named in the suit are Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven J. Jensen. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). An 18 year old girl reported a brutal assault. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. View Jerry Rittgarn's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. Rittgarn asked Marie. The Lynnwood police told her the news, giving her an envelope on counseling for rape victims. Lynnwood PD, +1 more 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. She was charged with filing a false report and went through court-ordered counseling for lying to police. As in the series, Cunningham and Maries transitional housing case manager were with Marie when police arrived after the rape, and she later shared her doubts about it with them. Former Lynnwood police Det. When she wouldn't, they pressured her further until she ultimately reneged on her confession. Sgt. Peggy's lack of faith in her former foster daughter's account moved her to tell Detective Mason that this was probably just one of Marie's gambits for attention. LYNNWOOD, Wash. The city of Lynnwood will pay $150,000 in a settlement with a rape victim, after Lynnwood police claimed she lied about the attack in 2008. But the only unsavory loose end from the finale is what happened to the men who discredited Marie. 'Ted Lasso' Season 3 Dropped Its First Trailer, 'Outer Banks' Season 4 Is Already In the Works. Jeffrey Mason, Sgt. , I recommend reading the whole thing soon believe her job to try to convince.! 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