Here's a look at how Unbelievable is different from the cases that inspired it, and what stayed the same. Marie later sued the city of Lynnwood and received a $150,000 settlement. Her record would be expunged, and she also received a $500 refund for court costs. Jensen, the Lynnwood police chief, said he could not comment because of the litigation. 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. The facility and two of its employees are also named in the lawsuit. Also named in the suit are Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven J. Jensen. But like her fictional counterpart, the real officer was more seasoned than Galbraith, having investigated more than 100 rapes by the time the two partnered up. 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 debut on Netflix on Sept. 13. This includes publishing or syndicating our work on platforms or apps such as Apple News, Google News, etc. 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. 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. 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. 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. It was one of many friendships she lost after the Lynnwood charged her as a false accuser. According to police reports and statements filed with the lawsuit, D.M. Jeffrey Mason in real life. 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." Sep 21, 2019. Rittgarn asked. Wesshe Montegumry Here is the harrowing story behind the series that you need to know. 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. 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. Parker. But, as they continuously press the young woman to repeatedly tell her story.css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}as she's showing clear signs of someone traumatized by the assaultthe detectives grow suspicious and eventually coerce a false confession out of her that she made up the assault. 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, who has left the Lynnwood Police Department and works as a private investigator in San Diego, said he was unaware of the lawsuit. The lawsuit also states that the Cocoon House, a place for at-risk youth, threatened D.M. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. She named Mason and. Donations from readers like you are essential to sustaining this work. Also named in the suit are Rittgarn . 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. 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. "I would spend hours at the beach watching the sunset go down and that was one of my favorite things," she said. Some of the way that she was acting was part of the reason why it had the outcome that it did, she said. 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. (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. Unbelievable is based, almost word for words at times, off of The Marshall Projects An Unbelievable Story of Rape, published in 2015. She was fined $500 in 2009 after entering into a diversionary agreement. The program's counselors had made Marie stand in front of the other program members to tell them she'd lied, and said she'd be evicted unless she underwent more counseling. The Seattle Times reported when the victim sued the Lynnwood PD (which was ultimately settled for $150,000): In August 2008, a stranger broke into the apartment of an 18-year-old Lynnwood woman, gagged her, bound her hands with a shoelace and raped her. Privacy Policy and 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. View the profiles of people named Jerry Rittgarn. A timeline of the (alleged) drama involving Olivia Wilde, Harry Styles, and Florence Pugh. 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. The Lynnwood police told her the news, giving her an envelope on counseling for rape victims. had been arguing, and the other a friend who had spoken to D.M. 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. Cocoon House CEO Cassie Franklin told the Seattle Times this week: 'Our hearts go out to D.M. Lynnwood, Washington, United States 3 connections. The woman claims she signed that statement under duress after having been questioned for hours without an attorney. Its nun versus AI in Damon Lindelofs new series. 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. 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. Rittgarn, who has left the Lynnwood Police Department and works as a private investigator in San Diego, said he was unaware of the lawsuit. Edna Hendershot and Sgt. HMH 361 ComNav CH-53 Helicopters. In 2014, she sued and settled with the city for $150,000. FBI figures show that police annually declare around 5 percent of rape cases unfounded, or baseless. Can we count on your support today? 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. in a police car and took her to the station, where Rittgarn told her there were inconsistencies in her story. Since its debut last Friday, Netflix's Unbelievable has become one of the most acclaimed shows of the year. They told her the Lynnwood case was closed. Former Lynnwood police Det. But she went through the story again only this time, saying she believed the rape had happened instead of saying it for certain. In a Netflix comedy by Katharine McPhees stepdaughter. It wasnt her job to try to convince me, he said in 2015. Jerry Rittgarn, were focused more on Marie than on the felony crime. While Hendershot never suspected or chatted up an off-duty police officer in a bar to get his DNA, as Grace does in episode six, she did stay behind so Galbraith could arrest OLeary solo, as seen in episode seven. Toni Collettes intensity as Detective Grace Rasmussen doesnt line up with Edna Hendershots reportedly easygoing demeanor. Rittgarn, on the other hand, had been a detective for 11 years, but had a background in helicopters and the aerospace industry. She's excited, because now she can go on in a whole new wonderful chapter of her life. Words or thoughts attributed to anyone in this story are drawn from these interviews or documents. By 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. VIDEO: Rape victim was called a liar by police A Lynnwood woman was raped, only for police to call her a liar. Netflix The detectives who disbelieved Marie and coerced her into recanting her story also faced fairly minimal repercussions in real life. .css-ssumvd{display:block;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.0625rem;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.25;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-ssumvd:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-ssumvd{letter-spacing:0rem;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}Gayle Says March Is a Good Month for TV Lovers, Sheryl Lee Ralphs Definition of True Love, What We Know About The Little Mermaid Remake, Oprah Congratulates Kimmel on 20 Years of His Show, Nikole Hannah-Jones on "The 1619 Project", Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Wakanda Forever Podcast, Oprah Is Acting in Tyler Perrys Next Netflix Film, Gayle Wears the Same Dress on CBS 11 Years Later. She has a fianc and she's looking forward to a fabulous life. 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. Rapes by strangers were uncommon maybe about 13 percent of cases. From the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2011, Only about one-fifth to one-third of rapes get reported to police, national surveys show. From National Crime and Victimization Survey, 2014 and National Violence Against Women Survey, 2006. 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. With mounting pressure from the police, she recanted her statement and said she made. 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. From the crime scene, they identified muddy track marks that came from Adidas ZX 700 mesh shoes. Jerry Rittgarn declined to be interviewed. Hendershot is now a sergeant in the Westminster Police Department. To calculate the rate, we summed the number of unfounded rapes and divided it by the number of reported rapes. "Based on her answers and body language it was apparent that [Marie] was lying about the rape," he wrote in a report. An Unbelievable Story of Rape He was strategically stalking and attacking women who lived alone. Justin Kirkland is a Brooklyn-based writer who covers culture, food, and the South. Neither man followed standard protocol when it came to the initial investigation into Marie's report. Michael was tailed by members of Grusings team to get his DNA. The victim, now 23, is living out of state and engaged to be married, according to her attorneys. In a testament to her resilience, Marie's carved out a life for herself far from Lynnwood. And even if you decide there's not enough evidence to convict, you don't go after an alleged rape victim, Ward said. Along with a formidable cast that includes Hereditary's Toni Colette and Booksmart's Kaitlyn Dever, the project has many big names attached to it, with Katie Couric as an executive producer and novelist power couple Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon as contributing writers. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. Virtually every real-life detail of the rape and the Lynnwood police investigation plays out onscreen in Unbelievable. Detective Stacy Galbraith and Sergeant Edna Hendershot. Marie had a horrific childhood, bouncing around various foster and group homes from around age 6, and was sexually and physically abused throughout. 17-Down, Three Letters: Party for One artist Carly ___ Jepsen. The national average for "unfounded" cases is around five percent. This case is where I went full-on ACAB. Jerry Rittgarn declined to be interviewed. 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. In real life, they are Sgt. D.M.s lawsuit also names as defendants the agency that runs the program, The detectives saw the scene, said Yvonne Ward, one of the victims attorneys. The rapist, Marc OLeary, is currently serving a 327 1/2-year sentence in Colorado for raping multiple women, including the Lynnwood woman and a Kirkland woman. As Chris says in the finale, had Adlers case been better investigated, police would likely have caught the rapist sooner. Knowing that youre behind us means so much. called a neighbor, who called police. She agreed, so they left her alone for a few minutes. The real woman known as Marie in the original articleMarie is her middle namereported her rape to Lynnwood, Washington police on August 11, 2008. After the man left, Marie maneuvered a drawer open with her feet, cut herself free with scissors, and called for help. When the detectives returned, they saw that Maries new statement described the rape as a dream, not a lie. . 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.". 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.". When Marie's rapist was caught, Detective Rittgarn had already left the Lynnwood police department. Stacy Galbraith (left) has been lightly fictionalized as Karen Duvall, played by Merritt Wever (right), in, This password will be used to sign into all, Photo: Vulture, Benjamin Rasmussen/Getty Images and Netflix, Stacy Galbraith/Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever), Edna Hendershot/Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette), Peggy Cunningham/Judith (Elizabeth Marvel), Shannon McQuery/Colleen (Bridget Everett), FBI Special Agent Jonny Grusing/Billy Taggart (Scott Lawrence), Detective Jeffrey Mason/Robert Parker (Eric Lange), Detective Jerry Rittgarn/Pruitt (Bill Fagerbakke), Michael OLeary/Curtis McCarthy (Aaron Staton), Marc OLeary/Christopher McCarthy (Blake Ellis), Okay, TikTok, You Can Calm Down About Aubrey Plaza at the SAG Awards Now, All 165 Pink Floyd Songs Ranked, From Worst to Best, Vanessa Bryant Settles Helicopter-Crash Photo Lawsuit for $28.85 Million. According to the ProPublica article, prior to the rape Marie's happiest memories were of time spent practicing photography with her then-best friend. Looking into similar crimes, the women discovered a case in Lakewood, another Denver suburb, where a masked man attacked and bound a woman at knifepoint in her home. His LinkedIn page indicates he works for a private investigation firm in San Diego. If you havent read it yet, I recommend reading the whole thing soon. 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. 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. 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. The description of his background comes from his LinkedIn profile. 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. 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. 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. Miller and Armstrong used previously unreleased police records and their own interviews with all of the principle people involved to unfurl the complicated chain events, ProPublica explains. Our editors handpick the products that we feature. "There was a particular photo that I really liked that she took. View Jerry Rittgarn's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. 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. Its okay to put our stories on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. You cant state or imply that donations to your organization support ProPublicas work. 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. Mason moved to his post working on narcotics cases. For more stories like this, sign up for our newsletter. She was 18 at the time. No matter what, you can always turn to The Marshall Project as a source of trustworthy journalism about the criminal justice system. Based on her answers and body language it was apparent that [Marie] was lying about the rape, Rittgarn later wrote. Some of his computer files remain encrypted. The police on her case, Sgt. 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. Neither officer faced any disciplinary action for the botched investigation. A stranger, later known to be OLeary, entered her Lynnwood apartment, threatened plaintiff D.M. 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. was living in a small Cocoon House-sponsored apartment after having spent her youth moving among as many as 20 foster homes. She eventually left Washington, now working as a long-haul truck driver and married with two children. Evidence proved her right. 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. Well never put our work behind a paywall, and well never put a limit on the number of articles you can read. . The trucks license plate led to OLeary. With mounting pressure from the police, she recanted her statement and said she made it . When she wouldn't, they pressured her further until she ultimately reneged on her confession. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn. Rittgarn told Marie that her story and the evidence didnt match. We may earn commission from the links on this page. Marie was then charged with a gross misdemeanor for false reporting. 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. When youre watching Unbelievable, its hard not to wonder about the accuracy of the Netflix true-crime drama. 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. 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. 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. Jayne Tainis Doris Laird is based on the 65-year-old fraternity housemother whose teddy bear, like her fictional counterparts, yielded some DNA. At first he could not recall the case, except that he. 2 yr. ago The LinkedIn profile looked abandoned to me, but he does show up on other sites. Bill Fagerbakke played Det. We have official accounts for ProPublica on. had made up the story.". In it she claims the detectives ignored her account of events and bullied her into saying the rape never happened. Then there was an investigation. 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. You do a full investigation. As previously noted, Detective Rittgarn left the department prior to Marie's rapist being caught. Trevor Materasso; Lakewood, Colorado, police detective Aaron Hassell; Kirkland, Washington, police officer Audra Weber; Lynnwood police Sgt. In 2008, an 18-year-old from Lynnwood, Washington claimed that she was raped by an intruder in the middle of the night. They themselves took those pictures. Detectives Pruitt and Parker are based on real people named Sgt. was also taken to the emergency room at Providence Hospital in Everett, where a doctor made notes of rape trauma. 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. This led to them completely mismanaging Maries case and caused them to believe that she had made up the whole story for attention. She pounded the table and said she was pretty positive.. 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'' cases is around five percent made notes of rape trauma investigation firm in San Diego city $. And body language it was my job to try to convince me, he said in 2015 Ore. to or. Problem signing you up publishing or syndicating our work on platforms or apps such as Apple,.