We reviewed Maries civil suit against Lynnwood, which included such legal exhibits as the medical report from the day she reported being raped and case notes from Project Ladder, the transitional housing program to which she belonged. 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. 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. None of the evidence police collected linked him to his brothers rapes. In his home, they found the pink Sony camera in addition to the women's underwear, wet wipes, lube, and a pistol. The other, Detective Jerry Rittgarn, left the department of his own accord. He tied her hands behind her back with a lace from her tennis shoe, blindfolded her and gagged her. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. The description of his background comes from his LinkedIn profile. Get our investigations delivered to your inbox with the Big Story newsletter. What Happened To Male Detectives In Unbelievable Case? 's photograph and ID card in his wallet. She's excited, because now she can go on in a whole new wonderful chapter of her life. Stacy Galbraith; Westminster, Colorado, Sgt. Though she found it hard to watch, she said the series was excellent and even encouraged both of her foster moms, with whom shes still in touch, to watch it. 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. with loss of housing benefits and made her tell other program participants that she lied. The detectives took pictures of the binding marks. She's soon accused of making it all up, and is subsequently punished for the "lie" again and again. In 2011, Galbraith worked on a Denver case where a young woman living alone was sexually assaulted by a man in a black mask who documented the rape with a digital camera. And even if you decide there's not enough evidence to convict, you don't go after an alleged rape victim, Ward said. According to an outside review of the investigation after Marie was cleared of her false report misdemeanor, "the manner in which she was treated by Sergeant Mason and Detective Rittgarn can only be labeled as bullying and coercive." 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. Rarely do. In December 2015, ProPublica and the Marshall Project co-published An Unbelievable Story of Rape. None of them had any firsthand knowledge of what had happened, the lawsuit says. She describes in the law suit the man, wielding a kitchen knife, warned her that he had taken photos of her and knew her name as he fled the apartment. Some of the way that she was acting was part of the reason why it had the outcome that it did, she said. FBI figures show that police annually declare around 5 percent of rape cases unfounded, or baseless. The trucks license plate led to OLeary. Violating her rights, Rittgarn and Mason told Marie to write out what "really" happened. The police on her case, Sgt. Our editors handpick the products that we feature. 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. You cant use our work to populate a website designed to improve rankings on search engines or solely to gain revenue from network-based advertisements. Former Lynnwood police Det. 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 previously noted, Detective Rittgarn left the department prior to Marie's rapist being caught. . 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. Jeffrey Mason, Sgt. By
The description of his background comes from his LinkedIn profile. He Fought Back, Exposing the Insurers Inner Workings. .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. 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. In a Netflix comedy by Katharine McPhees stepdaughter. 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. 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. On a scale of laminated-eyebrow drama to Lemon Lady Secrets. Cocoon House CEO Cassie Franklin told the Seattle Times this week: 'Our hearts go out to D.M. A police narrative from Detective Jerry Rittgarn states, "I talked with Sgt. After the attack, she says she was forced to stand up in front of a group of teens at a Cocoon House-run program and confess that she'd lied about the rape, something which resulted in her having to see a councilor. Detective Rittgarn refused an interview with the publication. Nonprofit journalism about criminal justice, A nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system, This story was produced in collaboration with, International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, Policing and Prosecuting Sexual Assault in Los Angeles City and County. "There was a particular photo that I really liked that she took. 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. With mounting pressure from the police, she recanted her statement and said she made it all up. In 2008, an 18-year-old from Lynnwood, Washington claimed that she was raped by an intruder in the middle of the night. Kristen Bell to Befriend an Unorthodox Rabbi. Rittgarn, on the other hand, had been a detective for 11 years, but had a background in helicopters and the aerospace industry. Jerry Rittgarn declined to be interviewed. But even before it received the Netflix treatment, the narrative emerged from "An Unbelievable Story of Rape," a seminal piece of reporting from The Marshall Project and ProPublica that earned writers Ken Armstrong and T. Christian Miller the Pulitzer Prize. Detective Jerry Rittgarn, who declined to be interviewed for the original news story, said he'd talk for the book "only under monetary compensation contract" a quid pro quo the authors. We have official accounts for ProPublica on. D.M.s lawsuit also names as defendants the agency that runs the program, Rittgarn wrote that, Based on her answer and body language it was apparent that D.M. Police gathered evidence from the house, including stained sheets, the shoelaces, blindfold and gag. 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. 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. When Marie's rapist was caught, Detective Rittgarn had already left the Lynnwood police department. The victim, who now lives in Wyoming, and her lawyer also declined to comment to the Seattle Times. 22:39 GMT 11 Jun 2013. Talk to us You can tell us about news and ask us about our journalism by emailing . 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. She recently watched the series, according to ProPublica reporter Ken Armstrong; with Adlers permission, he tweeted some of her thoughts about the show. The description of his background comes from his LinkedIn profile. He actually met with Marie again after the truth came. 22:32 GMT 11 Jun 2013 Along with Esquire, his work has appeared in NYLON, Vulture, and USA Today. They exchanged tidbits about their liveslike how they both had two kids. 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 . 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. At first he could not recall the case, except that he. D.M. 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. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. UnitedHealthcare Tried to Deny Coverage to a Chronically Ill Patient. He was strategically stalking and attacking women who lived alone. Read the story here. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. Yet, after conversations with the victims stepmother, her friend, and anonymous caller, police began to have doubts. This includes publishing or syndicating our work on platforms or apps such as Apple News, Google News, etc. In August 2008, the victim, identified only as D.M., was in transitional housing after being in foster homes. 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. 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. At the hospital, a doctor noted injuries to both her wrists and abrasions on her genitals. The woman, identified in the lawsuit by the initials D.M., says she was forced to undergo counseling when Lynnwood police told managers of the at-risk youth program where she was living in 2008 that they didnt believe shed been raped, according to court documents. All rights reserved. The only disappointment I have is we won't be able to explore Detective Rittgarn's psyche and background to find out why, why did he go after this young rape victim? Ward said. 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. . Jerry Rittgarn declined to be interviewed. In real life, they are Sgt. 17-Down, Three Letters: Party for One artist Carly ___ Jepsen. 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 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. Mission accomplished. We examined five years of the "Offenses Known and Cleared by Arrest" data to smooth yearly fluctuations common in crime reporting. It wasnt her job to try to convince me, he said in 2015. One was her former foster mother, with whom D.M. The police called her a liar. Rasmussen and Duvall catch the serial rapist, and Marie's original report is proved to have been true. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. His LinkedIn page indicates he works for a private investigation firm in San Diego. Thats five times the national average of 4.3 percent for agencies covering similar-sized populations during that same period.". T. Christian Miller is a senior editor for ProPublica. Its nun versus AI in Damon Lindelofs new series. The Lynnwood police told her the news, giving her an envelope on counseling for rape victims. The eight-episode series works on two different timelines. Its okay to put our stories on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. When the woman reported the attack to Lynnwood police, she says detectives Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. This story was produced in collaboration with ProPublica. Cocoon House, and two of its employees. 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. You cant republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. 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.". He asked if there was really a rapist running around the neighborhood that the police should be looking for. What do you think should happen to someone who would lie about something like this? 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. 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. A computer forensics specialist looked into O'Leary's hard drive files and found a folder named "girls," which had pictures of the victims. Trevor Materasso; Lakewood, Colorado, police detective Aaron Hassell; Kirkland, Washington, police officer Audra Weber; Lynnwood police Sgt. Rittgarn asked. We also restricted our examination to only those agencies that reported at least one rape over this timespan. 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. Pressure from the House, including stained sheets, the lawsuit says lie about something like this behind her with... In 2008, an 18-year-old from Lynnwood, Washington, police began have! Email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from.... Mother, with whom D.M brothers rapes examining police records in detail using... 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