He laboriously counted 261 vehicles and people coming and going on the night of the incident. "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" is a 2015 article about a series of rapes in the American states of Washington and Colorado that occurred between 2008 and 2011, and the subsequent police investigations. Tearfully, she described her past all the foster parents, being raped when she was 7, getting her own place and feeling alone. Gina is survived by her parents, Terrance and Jennifer; her husband, Andy; her children, Carter (19), Noah (17) and Chase (13 . We all got into this job to help people, not to hurt them. Lynnwood Sgt. The man is arrested in February 2011, and subsequent evidence on his hard drive reveals that Marie, not previously known to the local investigative team, was raped by him. When Detectives Stacy Galbraith and Edna Hendershot found Marc O'Leary (Christopher McCarthy in the show) guilty of raping 27 women, only then did they learn that one of those women was Marie. We would always hug and she would look you right in the eye. In the bedroom, Marie seemed casual, with nothing to suggest that something horrible had happened there. The interviews were made late in the process, the department having refused earlier requests for comment. View Michelle Marie Barnes results in Lynnwood, WA including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. told police that, early on Aug. 11, 2008, she awoke to find a stranger in her apartment. He tied her hands behind her back with a lace from her tennis shoe, blindfolded her and gagged her. She was charged with filing a false report, later forced to pay $500, and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote a piece about her called, Police: Lynnwood rape report was a hoax., I was mad at God, Marie said. He was rubbing his head and literally looked like he was ashamed about what they had done. He told Marie he was sorry deeply sorry, Marie says. At the hospital, medical staff collected more than a dozen swabs from Marie. In 2015, the commander of Lynnwood's Criminal Investigations Division said that practices had since changed. After looking through the images, she found an answer. And when the two went to buy new bedding Maries old bedding having been taken as evidence Marie became furious when she couldnt find the same set. Rittgarn, who left the Lynnwood Police Department before OLearys arrest, declined to be interviewed for this story. Though the degraded DNA lifted from the crime scenes could not definitively match OLearys DNA, it could show that a male from his family line had most likely committed the crime. But no matter her affection for Marie, Shannon knew they couldnt keep her, because the foster child already in their home required so much care. Marie sued the city, winning $150,000. Marie sued the city of Lynnwood and the . Galbraith felt sick. How would she identify her? An internal review also concluded that Mason and Rittgarn's behaviour was "designed to elicit a confession of false reporting." You might be surprised", "Golden Globes: Full List of Nominations", "Critics' Choice Awards 2020: Fleabag, Watchmen, When They See Us, Unbelievable Among TV Nominees", "Critics' Choice Awards: 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' Wins Best Picture, Netflix And HBO Among Top Honorees Full Winners List", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=An_Unbelievable_Story_of_Rape&oldid=1113526009, This page was last edited on 1 October 2022, at 22:55. The sections are ordered alternately, with an opening paragraph about the woman in Washington being charged with false reporting. He had served in the Army. The Marshall Project article reports that "Marie left the state, got a commercial drivers license and took a job as a long-haul trucker. He would rifle a targets personal documents. Just keep working! Galbraith insisted. It had cost her sense of worth. She emailed a crime analyst at another police department, I so want to see this guys leg! She called police to share her concerns. She didnt have to be pushed out the door to school. Both had smudges on the back in the same place perhaps a bumper sticker that had been torn off. However, two of Marie's former foster parents began to disbelieve her due to her seemingly calm demeanour, one reporting doubts to the police. Mariegot her GED at age 17 in 2008. The Lynnwood Police Department had 79 sworn officers, serving a city of about 34,000 people. So did Galbraith. Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report. Confused, the agent fell back on a practiced ruse. Hendershot asked one of her departments crime analysts to scour nearby agencies for similar crimes. It had her name. Lynnwood WA, Livingston MT Possible Relatives: Kirsten Marie Gilliam, Jo Darlene Hagen. Labs were taken for hepatitis, chlamydia, HIV. The first draft was 15,000 words in length,[9] shortened to 12,000 in the final version. I basically had 20 minutes to pack my stuff and go.. Celebrate the life of Marie Arzer, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information. But the man was familiar with the ways of law enforcement, perhaps even a cop. Through friends, Marie met Jordan Schweitzer, a high school student working at a McDonalds. Recognizing that Maries high school wasnt a great fit pretty cliquey, Peggy says Peggy found an alternative school that was. Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture. He got a hit. Hold it in. The first day of the first year of high school fills many students with anxiety. After Marie approached Mason, he offered an apology. Hendershot was more experienced. OLeary had been stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord from November 2006 through September 2009, when he moved to Colorado, according to prosecutors in King and Snohomish counties. Marie liked dogs. A K-9 officer was outside, his dog trying to pick up a scent. [6][8] Miller called the woman's lawyer and discovered she was in contact with Ken Armstrong of The Marshall Project, who had been working on an article about the case for several months. When she read the story, she cried. T. Christian Miller joined ProPublica in 2008 as a senior reporter. Marie was into boys, drawing and music, be it rock, country, or Christian. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. In that way, rape cases were unlike most other crimes. They gave her an envelope with information on counseling for rape victims. Marie agreed to speak to Armstrong after six months of communication. Marie's foster parents and police in Lynnwood have since apologized to her. He was promoted to sergeant and transferred to the Criminal Investigations Division six weeks before the report of Marie's assault. The true-crime drama tells the real story of Marie Adler, an 18-year-old girl from Lynnwood, Washington, who was wrongfully charged with a gross misdemeanour in 2008 after police believed that she lied to them about being raped. "Theres a lot of detail about his background, his life and about what he did, and if you were writing a true-crime novel, you would put all that stuff in there," said Miller during the Longform interview. [9] As the two reporters and two primary editors were all male, the team ensured that they consulted various women, some with knowledge of the case and some without, particularly in regards to how graphic or detailed to make the description of Marie's rape. By early March, a forensic computer specialist cracked into files that OLeary had stored on his hard drive. He ordered the women to shower. Outside, Marie was on the grass, rolling around and giggling and laughing, Shannon says. Instead of finishing high school, Marie went for her GED. Photography by Benjamin Rasmussen. It was just nice to be on my own and not have all the rules that I had had being in foster care, Marie said, according toProPublica. I was in group homes, too. Cops can be protective about their cases, fearing that information could be leaked that would jeopardize their investigations. Ken Armstrong is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who previously worked at The Seattle Times and Chicago Tribune, where his work helped prompt the Illinois governor to suspend executions and later empty death row. Maybe the rape happened and I blacked it out, Marie said. I dont know why I couldnt have done something different. I went into this dark hole.. He wore a gray hoodie, baggy gray sweatpants and gray slip-on houseshoes. [1][2] Colorado publication Westword reprinted the article as their cover story on May 19, 2016. But then Galbraith stumbled across an image of a woman she didnt recognize. Thats awful. A couple of other officers were already there, protecting the crime scene. The officer filed a brief report on the vehicle. The eight-episode series, entitled "Unbelievable," isan adaptation of the 2015 Pulitzer-winning ProPublica and Marshall Project in-depth story about the case. You can contact the court in which the case was filed to view the court record or to order . "It was just nice to be on my own and not have all the rules that I had had being in foster care," Marie said, according to ProPublica. [9] The other officer, Rittgarn, declined to be interviewed. He knew to avoid leaving his DNA at the scene. The main characters are based on Marie (Kaitlyn Dever), known in the series as Marie Adler, and Detectives Edna Hendershot and Stacy Galbraith, who were renamed as Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette) and Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever). So he took steps to avoid leaving any traces of genetic material. She belongs to a Caucasian family. Warning: This material may be disturbing to some listeners. So, too, did OLearys truck. At around 8 a.m., she was jolted awake by a man who had jumped on her back, pinning her to the bed. She claims the officers interrogated her and put words in her mouth.. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, found the victim, Marie, on a couch, in a blanket, crying off and on. The criminal citation was signed by Sgt. Masons judgment was unduly swayed by Peggys phone call. Marie ended up suing the city of. [12][11] It also won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, the article being described as "a startling examination and expos of law enforcement's enduring failures to investigate reports of rape properly and to comprehend the traumatic effects on its victims". 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.. View Leonard Hansen results in Lynnwood, WA including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. OLeary thanked the officer for the information and closed the door. He told the man he was canvassing the neighborhood to warn of a burglar in the area. Default; Distance; Rating; Name (A - Z) Sponsored Links. "I wanted to talk about it and get it out.. He had previously worked as a technician in the aerospace industry. The next morning, Mason went to Jordans home to interview him. He tried to bind her wrists. I mean, I get shiver bumps thinking about it, just even now, Hendershot said. Marie had been sexually and physically abused in early life and was in foster care for most of her childhood. After the meeting, Marie started walking to a friends place. Galbraith pulled him to the side and patted him down. [6] The teams decided to collaborate. awoke in her Lynnwood apartment to find a man holding a kitchen knife. "I didnt want it to ruin the rest of my life. In August 2008, 18-year-old Marie (her middle name) called the police in Lynnwood, Washington, to report . They received thousands of pages of documents, including investigative reports, case reviews, crime scene photographs and footage of surveillance and O'Leary after his arrest. The trail started in Aurora, east of Denver, on Oct. 4, 2009, with the 65-year-old woman. Armstrong and Miller reported the story in part by interviewing almost everyone involvedMarie, her one-time foster parents, the Colorado detectives who solved the case and one of the Washington cops who bungled it, and the rapist. For the last two or three months, the woman told police, she felt as if someone had been following her. Just like in the Netflix series, Marie was a foster child, with a troubled upbringing. He was 32 years old and 220 pounds. She had turned up something. and her ID card. According to the ProPublica story, on Aug. 11, 2008, an 18-year-old woman who was identified in court documents as D.M. During the attack, he knocked a yellow teddy bear off a desk in her bedroom. Marie agreed to those conditions. It was parked half a block from the Lakewood victims house, by an empty field adjacent to her backyard. The real woman known as Marie in the original articleMarie is her middle namereported her rape to Lynnwood, Washington police on August 11, 2008. Masons telephone rang. When she told police of her skepticism, she asked to be treated anonymously. It was so organized, we were like, Oh, thank God.. Marie thats her middle name, Marie didnt say anything. Galbraith checked out the footprints left at the Lakewood scene. Winning $150,000 in a lawsuit against Lynnwood WA, Marie gets the fuel she needs to leave Washington and start anew. The detectives doubled back to what she had said before about being stressed, being lonely and, eventually, Marie appeared to relax. In time, they became boyfriend and girlfriend. In the kitchen, when Shannon walked in, Marie didnt meet her gaze. Search warrant. There was a particular photo that I really liked that she took. It was a collaboration between two American, non-profit news organizations, The Marshall Project and ProPublica. YEARS IN BUSINESS (425) 672-1137. We pride ourselves on the genuine care and technical excellence we provide for our valued guests and are . Westminster crime scene investigators had discovered similar marks on the window of the victims apartment. Afterward, she smiled. She was eighteen years old, charged with a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year. Galbraith listened to the woman with a sense of alarm. She crackled energy. The investigators confronted her, and under their pressure, Marie said that she made up her initial claim. The counselor couldnt offer any more details. Marie, crying, said she believed the rape really happened. She wanted to help the police. Self-esteem gave way to self-loathing. Between 2008 and 2011, a series of rapes in the suburbs around Seattle and Denver were perpetrated by Marc Patrick O'Leary, an Army veteran who had been stationed near Tacoma. Pretty positive or actually positive? She also landed her first job, offering food samples to customers at Costco. Shannon, a real estate agent and longtime foster mom, had met Marie through meetings for kids with troubled pasts and had sensed a kindred spirit. But something. I pretty much just cried, Marie says. He then raped her. Westminster Detective Edna Hendershot had settled into her morning with her Starbucks usual: a Venti, upside-down, skinny caramel macchiato. ", The reporters adapted the story for audio for an episode of This American Life and wrote a book about the case called, A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. His guess was, the police felt used. She went to analternative high school where she met her boyfriend, Jordan Schweitzer, who later told the journalists behind the piece that she was just a nice person to have around. Because she craved normalcy, she would bury the hurt. But years later, she was vindicated. And one came from the teddy bear in Aurora. She had been charged with false reporting, punishable by up to a year in jail. Galbraith hastily typed up a search warrant to enter the brothers home. She flipped the switch, as she called it, suppressing all the feelings she didnt know what to do with. She went into the bathroom and cleaned up. I have no qualms with asking for help, Galbraith said. But there was still the issue of the womans story. 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. But in this case, they worked through the night. FBI figures show that police annually declare around 5 percent of rape cases unfounded, or baseless. Kaitlyn Dever stars as the victim of a serial rapist in Netflix's new series "Unbelievable.". Afterward, Shannon took Marie for a walk in the woods, and told her, Im so sorry I doubted you. Marie forgave, immediately. 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