Shannon called Marie and suggested she also contact the Kirkland police. Based on her answers and body language it was apparent that [Marie] was lying about the rape, Rittgarn later wrote. Galbraith began collaboration with Westminster Detective Edna Hendershot, who had investigated two cases in which women aged 59 and 65 were raped in similar ways. So nobody else would get hurt, she said. The detectives, Sgt. She had responded to a report of a rape at a blue-collar apartment complex in the northwest corner of her city. Lynnwood police found Marie south of Seattle, Washington and told her what had happened. Rittgarn asked Marie. The first victim, an 18-year-old woman known as Marie, reported to Sergeant Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn that she had been raped at her home in Lynnwood, Washington. It was a young woman far younger than the Colorado victims, perhaps a teenager. In 2011, her rapistMarc OLeary pleaded guilty to raping three women, including Marie, and trying to rape a fourth in Colorado. The two women who had helped raise Marie talked on the phone. He also realized police departments often did not communicate. But she did go online and look up what happened to the woman in Kirkland. Marie left Shannons home after a couple of weeks to move in with Peggy Cunningham, who worked as a childrens advocate at a homeless shelter and lived in Lynnwood, a smaller suburb about 15 miles north of Seattle. Both laces had come from Maries black tennis shoes, in the living room. He knew to avoid leaving his DNA at the scene. While the agents were following the man believed to be Marc OLeary, another FBI agent knocked on the door of the home. She would need to get mental health counseling for her lying. Marie received Zithromax and Suprax for possible exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, and an emergency contraceptive pill. Six hours on her feet didnt bother her. However, when the lawsuit was filed in June, the programs CEO, Cassie Franklin, issued a statement saying Our hearts go out to D.M. Despite the reviews tough language, no one in the Lynnwood Police Department was disciplined. She is subsequently charged with a gross misdemeanor for false reporting. [27], The Netflix miniseries Unbelievable is an eight-part adaptation of "An Unbelievable Story of Rape", also drawing from "An Anatomy of Doubt" and A False Report. The fear of false rape accusations has a long history in the legal system. There was something else she had to do. She just listened, then hung up. To Marie, he seemed sincere. A low chain-link fence surrounded it. She would need to keep straight, breaking no more laws. The judge signed it at 10 p.m. on Saturday. When she told police of her skepticism, she asked to be treated anonymously. And part of it was how Marie was saying it: She seemed so detached and removed emotionally.. In August 2008, 18-year-old Marie Adler reported being raped by a man at knifepoint in her apartment who had gagged her, blindfolded her, and bound her with her own shoe-laces. She came right away. Jeff Mason didnt believe her. And at the hunts end, before he committed, he would take a final pass through the home, or what he called precombat inspection, to make sure there werent any weapons within the targets reach. She did and then he straddled her, putting the knife near her face. But in fresh light, it appeared very much like a failed rape attempt, committed by an attacker who closely resembled the description of the rapist. According to police reports and statements filed with the lawsuit, D.M. OLeary had purchased a pornography website in September 2008. So many kids, institutionalized, wound up on drugs or in jail. Before that, he had served in the Marine Corps, specializing in helicopter avionics. I would venture to say we investigate our cases a lot more vigorously than many departments do, he said. In Lynnwood, Washington, an 18-year-old woman, referred to as "Marie," reported being bound, gagged and raped at knifepoint to police. We pride ourselves on the genuine care and technical excellence we provide for our valued guests and are . From a large black bag, he took out thigh-high stockings, clear plastic high heels with pink ribbons, lubrication, a box of moist towelettes and bottled water. Youre under arrest for burglary and sexual assault which occurred in the City of Golden on January 5, 2011, she told him. But Hendershot right away recognized the potential in collaborating and in using every tool possible. When the detectives returned, they saw that Maries new statement described the rape as a dream, not a lie. Marie said no. in a police car and took her to the station, where Rittgarn told her there were inconsistencies in her story. Receiving it crushed Marie. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Maybe the rape happened and I blacked it out, Marie said. Over the next four hours, he raped her repeatedly. Even her foster parents now doubted her. One TV newscast announced, A Western Washington woman has confessed that she cried wolf when it came to her rape she reported earlier this week. She had been charged with filing a false report, which is why she was here today, to accept or turn down a plea deal. Marie left the state, got a commercial drivers license and took a job as a long-haul trucker. When he was finished, he said that if she told the police, he would post the photos online so that her kids, when she had kids, could see them. If Washington had just paid attention a little bit more, I probably would have been a person of interest earlier on, OLeary said. Their article, "An Unbelievable Story of Rape," tells the story of Marie (the middle name of the real victim) and Colorado detectives hunt for a serial predator. To Peggys mind, Marie had spent the afternoon trying to get attention so much so that Peggy now wondered if this was more of the same, only more desperate. On a window, they found honeycomb marks. I didnt want to give him the satisfaction. In 2008, 18-year-old Lynnwood, Washington woman Marie is attacked in her apartment by a man who ties her up and rapes her, taking photographs all the while. In the 1600s, Englands chief justice, Matthew Hale, warned that rape is an accusation easily to be made and hard to be proved, and harder to be defended by the party accused. Judges in the U.S. read the so-called Hale warning to juries until the 1980s. Marie had been sexually and physically abused in early life and was in foster care for most of her childhood. They wondered whether it contained photos of his victims. In 2008, 18-year-old Lynnwood, Washington woman Marie is attacked in her apartment by a man who ties her up and rapes her, taking photographs all the while. Two dogs, a small pit bull and a Shar-Pei, tumbled out ahead of him. The morning after the rape in Golden, Galbraith hurried to work to follow up her husbands lead. Rittgarn asked Marie what was going on. For Marie, Shannons home had long provided an escape or respite. ", Merritt Wever and Toni Collette in "Unbelievable. He is currently housed in the Sterling Correctional Facility in the barren, remote northeastern corner of Colorado. Investigators must have definitive proof of lying before doubting a rape report, and a charge of false reporting must now be reviewed with higher-ups. He had been punctilious. Roll back over, he told her and she did, and then he raped her, and while he raped her he ran his gloved hands over her. We strongly believe that Cocoon House and its employees acted appropriately on behalf of the client., Bob Christie, the attorney who represented Lynnwood police, said the settlement resolves an unfortunate situation for everyone involved.. [7], By August 2015, Miller was working on a report about the Washington and Colorado serial rape cases, with focus on the woman who recanted a report of rape after intense police interrogation, proven true years later by the rapist's convictionknown in the article by her middle name "Marie". She told police her attacker had broken into her apartment, which had been subsidized. The report detailed how a 46-year-old artist had been accosted in her home by a man with a knife. 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.. She's based (and born and raised) in Brooklyn, New York. Her father had been the chief of police in Kent, south of Seattle. Her birthplace is Lynnwood, Washington, USA, and she is 32 years old. They tailed the pair to a nearby restaurant, and watched them eat. Photography by Benjamin Rasmussen. She joined Project Ladder at age 18, a program designed for people transitioning from foster care to living alone. So did Zachor & Thomas, the law office that handled the prosecution of Marie on Lynnwood's behalf. Kirkland police abandoned this lead after Lynnwood police told them at least twice that Marie's account was a lie. Rittgarn had been with the department for 11 years, the last four as a detective. ", Discussing whether Marie was involved in making the series, Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Marie, told Good Housekeeping that she wasn't. Galbraith was younger. The hour-long episode features Ira Glass, Ken Armstrong and Robyn Semien and includes interviews with Marie, Mason and two of Marie's foster parents. Who Is John Dutton's Grandfather in '1923'? In 2008, Marie, from Lynnwood, Washington, reported to police an intruder had broken into her home, bound and gagged her, and raped her at knifepoint. I moved a lot when I was younger, Marie says in an interview. Investigators found a pair of Adidas ZX 700 shoes in OLearys closet. The city of Lynnwood will pay a woman $150,000 to settle a lawsuit she filed after police charged her with filing a false report because they didnt believe she had been raped. Analysts at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation got the samples. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. The attack seemed to last a long time, Marie told police, but she couldnt say for sure. The lawsuit alleges police ignored or disregarded evidence once they convinced themselves she was not telling the truth. The technicians recovered three samples of so-called touch DNA, as few as seven or eight cells of skin that can be analyzed with modern laboratory techniques. Marie said on an episode of This American Life in an episode devoted to this case entitled Anatomy of Doubt that she was raped as a child, but notedshe didnt talk about it much and pretty much suppressed that it had happened. Marie said that after the rapist left she had managed, with her feet, to retrieve some scissors from a cabinets bottom drawer; she cut herself free, then tried calling Jordan. The trail started in Aurora, east of Denver, on Oct. 4, 2009, with the 65-year-old woman. The treads matched the footprints in the snow in Golden and outside the window in Lakewood. 2008-09 Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey season - Wikipedia . A Lakewood patrol car had snapped a picture of OLeary standing by his white Mazda in the driveway of his house only two hours after the August attack on the widow in Westminster. Really, it was as simple as that. Seattle still the nations saddest large metro area, survey shows, Plan to reduce homelessness in downtown Seattle picks up after slow start, Former Seattle deputy mayor heads to Biden administration, Microsoft employee charged with attempted murder in unprovoked stabbing, Seattle's lowland snow was hit and miss expect more of the same this week, claimed Lynnwood detectives disregarded evidence. Carefully, she compared OLearys white Mazda to the surveillance tape. Rittgarn had already left the department, but Mason came in, looking like a lost little puppy, Marie says. At a little before sunrise, he heard the phone conversation end. I n the summer of 2008, a teenager woke up to find a man in her Lynnwood, Washington, apartment, standing over her with a . Galbraith rushed to a Safeway near her house to send the warrant. It was just like, freedom. As the meeting drew to a close, a young crime analyst from the Lakewood police department stood up. The woman told Galbraith she was 26 years old, an engineering student on winter break from a nearby college. Later that month, there was a final surprise. You should get help, the woman, a house mother at a local fraternity, told the man. They mentioned that he had stolen their underwear. One sample was collected from the kitchen timer in Westminster. In 2008, Marie, from Lynnwood, Washington, reported to police an intruder had broken into her home, bound and gagged her, and raped her at knifepoint. Then, in 2012, he was given another 62 years after pleading guilty to two rapes in the Washington towns of Lynnwood and Kirkland,KOMO News in Seattle reported. Frustration grew. It only made sense to join forces. One was her former foster mother, with whom D.M. She crackled energy. They used laptops to search for any references to OLeary, each using a different search engine. The police officers walked her downstairs, where the Project Ladder representatives asked if she had been raped. At the time, police had labeled the case a burglary. She had been alone in her apartment the previous evening. and her family. Nobody collects such data. He tied her hands with a ribbon. The Project Ladder managers told Marie that if she wanted to stay in the program if she wanted to keep her subsidized apartment she would have to confess to someone else. Her story hadnt hurt anyone no suspects arrested, or even questioned. Sitting close to her in the front seat of the car, Galbraith carefully brushed the womans face with long cotton swabs to collect any DNA traces that might remain. Marie Adler was born on 01 Jan 1990. Lie-detector tests are especially unreliable with people who have been traumatized, and can destroy the victims trust in law enforcement. She had no family nearby. Peggy actually told the police that she believed Marie was lying about the rape. I was in group homes, too. He knew that the Army had a sample of his DNA. But then Galbraith stumbled across an image of a woman she didnt recognize. Galbraith and her husband David once again faced each other on the couches in their living room. Aaron Hassell, the detective on the Lakewood case, raced back to his office. Golden and Westminster were middle class bedroom towns wedged between Denvers downtown skyscrapers and the looming Rockies. Hassell transmitted the image to Galbraith. 2701 184th Street SW, Suite A101. It's that article, "An Unbelievable Story of Rape," that serves as the source material for Netflix's drama co-created by Oscar-nominated Eric Brockovich screenwriter Susannah Grant, executive produced by Katie Couric, and featuring Emmy award-winning actors Toni Collette and Merritt Wever. So he deliberately committed each rape in a different jurisdiction. He had previously worked only one or two rape cases. She agreed, so they left her alone for a few minutes. Another former foster mom, Peggy Cunningham, thought that maybe Marie got sexual with someone and they took pictures (Marie said her rapist took photos of her) and this rape story was a way to cover that up, according to This American Life.. Gina is survived by her parents, Terrance and Jennifer; her husband, Andy; her children, Carter (19), Noah (17) and Chase (13 . Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, found the victim, Marie, on a couch, in a blanket, crying off and on. After Marie left, accompanied by her foster mom and case manager, the detectives helped process the scene. She remained close with Shannon, who would joke that she and Peggy were raising Marie together Shannon the fun one (lets go boating), Peggy the disciplinarian (be home by ). Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. Maries account, in her own words. And for him to know that we figured you out.. By the time of the article, Marie was married with two children. returned to the police station with Cocoon House representatives and asked to withdraw the denial and insisted that she had been attacked. Shut down. D.M. Galbraith listened to the woman with a sense of alarm. Marie couldnt wait for it. As for threatening jail and a possible withdrawal of housing assistance if Marie failed a polygraph: These statements are coercive, cruel, and unbelievably unprofessional, Rinta wrote. Labs were taken for hepatitis, chlamydia, HIV. The piece states: "[Marie] does not know if she attended kindergarten. [18][19], In December 2015, ProPublica published a podcast episode where Miller and Armstrong discussed the article. The third doubter was an anonymous caller. Unexpectedly, a man came to the door. "But we jointly decided that this story wasnt about [OLeary], it was about the police and their investigation and Marie. Credited as a collaboration with The Marshall Project and ProPublica, it debuted on February 26, 2016. This reluctance stems from the belief that in rape cases, the biggest problem is not false reporting, but no reporting. But the hunt for the rapist united them. "The focus of the investigation became her credibility. Nor should police get lost in stereotypes believing, for example, that an adult victim will be more believable than an adolescent. OLeary, in addition to assaulting D.M., also admitted he raped a 63-year-old Kirkland woman. Details of that settlement are confidential, according to the womans lawyers. She married, and in October she and her husband had their second child. Their suspicions were based on comments from three people who said that they doubted her story, according to the suit. She and I speak fairly often. Marie broke down, experiencing, all at once, shock, relief and anger. 1. ProPublica and Marshall Project in-depth story. There was something about how she said it just made me question whether or not shed actually been raped, Shannon said on Anatomy of Doubt.. Likewise, She is a long-haul trucker by profession. They compared investigations. When Galbraith talked to her husband, also a police officer, he observed similarity with an incident reported to his police department in Westminster. Mariegot her GED at age 17 in 2008. OLeary thanked the officer for the information and closed the door. The night was dry, letting him settle in. At Elle Marie Hair Studio, we believe your experience should be empowering and transformative. Lynnwood WA, Livingston MT Possible Relatives: Kirsten Marie Gilliam, Jo Darlene Hagen. News coverage, criminal justice guidelines and court transcripts were also consulted. The police had spent a lot of resources chasing that lie. If you aren't already clued in on Marie's story, read on: The series takes its inspiration from a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 ProPublica and The Marshall Project article about a woman who experienced a horrific sexual assault aged 18 but later recanted her story. Marie said she really had been raped and began to cry, saying she was having visions of the man on top of her. It was so organized, we were like, Oh, thank God.. [20] At the Investigative Reporters and Editors' 2016 conference, the pair gave a talk about their experience writing the article. At around 8 a.m., she was jolted awake by a man who had jumped on her back, pinning her to the bed. Around 7 a.m., he stood in her bedroom doorway, holding, at shoulder height, a knife in his left hand. Shannon saw an account of the attack on the television news and was taken aback. It had cost her the newfound independence she was savoring after a life in foster homes. 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