Mason told ProPublica, "It wasnt her job to try to convince me. 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. 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. He had only investigated one rape before working with Marie. Terms of Service apply. All rights reserved. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn. The three went to the Lynnwood police station, where the detectives escorted Marie to a conference room. Also named in the suit are Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven J. Jensen. She was charged with filing a false report and went through court-ordered counseling for lying to police. To calculate the rate, we summed the number of unfounded rapes and divided it by the number of reported rapes. 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. Jeff Mason didn't believe her. The character of Detective Pruitt (played by Bill Fagerbakke) is loosely based on Jerry Rittgarn, who was the one who first blatantly told Marie he didn't believe her story. 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. This case is where I went full-on ACAB. The article also notes that Lynnwood reported 21.3 percent of rape cases "unfounded," or rather, lied about. The facility and two of its employees are also named in the lawsuit. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. In Unbelievable, the detectives that team up to catch the serial rapist who also attacked Marie are a breath of fresh air compared to Lynnwood's botched operation. 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. Rarely do. This led to them completely mismanaging Maries case and caused them to believe that she had made up the whole story for attention. She was eventually awarded $150,000 from the state after settling a suit out of court. You do a full investigation. In January 2011, rapist Marc OLeary was apprehended, and the head of the criminal-investigations division showed up at Adlers door to tell her that her photo had been found among his things. It was one of many friendships she lost after the Lynnwood charged her as a false accuser. From there, the show continues to follow a true story reported by ProPublica. Hendershot is now a sergeant in the Westminster Police Department. After I got off the phone with him, I started thinking about all things I was stressed out and I also was scared living on my own. Join Facebook to connect with Jerry Rittgarn and others you may know. The events of Unbelievableand what Marie went through, in particularare jaw-dropping, and they're all based on a true story. The police on her case, Sgt. It was Marie. Justin Kirkland is a Brooklyn-based writer who covers culture, food, and the South. 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. The Lynnwood police told her the news, giving her an envelope on counseling for rape victims. Jeff Mason didnt believe her. He tied her hands behind her back with a lace from her tennis shoe, blindfolded her and gagged her. In August 2008, the victim, identified only as D.M., was in transitional housing after being in foster homes. Jerry Rittgarn declined to be interviewed. Rittgarn left the police department before Maries rapist was caught in 2011, while Manson simply moved back to his position at narcotics. According to A False Report, she became a long-haul trucker. 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. The description of his background comes from his LinkedIn profile. When I went to sleep I dreamed that someone broke in and raped me. 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. on the phone that night, before the alleged attack. 22:32 GMT 11 Jun 2013 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. Rittgarn wrote that, Based on her answer and body language it was apparent that D.M. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. They ignored all the objective evidence collected by the Lynnwood Police Department and Providence Hospital on the day of the rape, the lawsuit alleges. Lynnwood, Washington No one came to court with her that day, except her public defender. Who Is John Dutton's Grandfather in '1923'? Jerry Rittgarn Detective at Lynnwood PD Lynnwood, WA. 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. On Aug. 18, D.M. Marie said she didnt know of any discrepancies. O'Leary, however, had taken a picture of her with a learner's permit on the woman's chest. The police on her case, Sgt. . Some of his computer files remain encrypted. 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. The Lynnwood detectives, Pruitt and Parker, are Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. 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One was her former foster mother, with whom D.M. When she wouldn't, they pressured her further until she ultimately reneged on her confession. USMC. 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. Rittgarn, who has left the Lynnwood Police Department and works as a private investigator in San Diego, said he was unaware of the lawsuit. Jeff Mason didnt believe her. 'Unbelievable' Detectives Botched a Girl's Rape, The 'Unbelievable' Detective Who Stopped a Rapist, Netflix's 'Unbelievable' is Based on a True Story, Toni Collettes 'Unbelievable' Role, Explained, as she's showing clear signs of someone traumatized by the assault, to follow a true story reported by ProPublica, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. (Jeffrey) Masons experience, when someone asked if they were in trouble, almost always, they were. FBI figures show that police annually declare around 5 percent of rape cases unfounded, or baseless. When Marie's rapist was caught, Detective Rittgarn had already left the Lynnwood police department. You cant sell our material separately or syndicate it. 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. UnitedHealthcare Tried to Deny Coverage to a Chronically Ill Patient. We also restricted our examination to only those agencies that reported at least one rape over this timespan. She is charged with false reporting, ostracized from friends and family, and made a pariah by local media. According to the Seattle Times, two-and-a-half years later Lynnwood police reopened the investigation, after Marc O'Leary, a man wanted for a string of sex attacks in Washington state and Colorado, was found to have D.M. But she went through the story again only this time, saying she believed the rape had happened instead of saying it for certain. 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. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, pressed on the inconsistencies in her story. 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. Parker says something similar to Rasmussen in the show. 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. He told me that based on subsequent interviews and inconsistencies with D.M., her foster mother, and her friendwho [sic] she had talked with on the phone prior to the report, he believed and others believed that D.M. He also told her he had taken photos of her and knew her name, and left. Facebook gives people the power. The description of his background comes from his LinkedIn profile. Mason has since returned to working in narcotics. Jeffrey Mason and Detective Jerry Rittgarn, and this is what happened to them after incorrectly seeking a false confession from Marie. The article earned a 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, and eventually became a book called A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America. 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. Pretty positive or actually positive? 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. Among the items Colorado detectives found in OLearys possession were photographs of the woman and her ID card. 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. D.M., the detective wrote in a police report, would not look him in the eye, repeatedly said she believed she had been raped and, when initially asked if people should be worried that a rapist was on the loose, she reportedly said no. They themselves took those pictures. 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. Nobody can get into it. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google The third doubter was an anonymous caller. 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. Netflix The detectives who disbelieved Marie and coerced her into recanting her story also faced fairly minimal repercussions in real life. 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. At first he could not recall the case, except that he. in court documents, was gagged, bound and sexually assaulted at knife-point in her Lynnwood apartment by an intruder five years ago. 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. Her record would be expunged, and she also received a $500 refund for court costs. Jeffrey Mason, Sgt. Words or thoughts attributed to anyone in this story are drawn from these interviews or documents. Jayne Tainis Doris Laird is based on the 65-year-old fraternity housemother whose teddy bear, like her fictional counterparts, yielded some DNA. 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. A computer forensics specialist looked into O'Leary's hard drive files and found a folder named "girls," which had pictures of the victims. After the man left, Marie maneuvered a drawer open with her feet, cut herself free with scissors, and called for help. He told police that hed fantasized about rape since he was a kid and that his assaults were a type of rape theater inspired by the Star Wars scene in which Jabba the Hutt chains up Princess Leia. Along with praise for its nuanced performances and intelligent writing, it's been . Neither man followed standard protocol when it came to the initial investigation into Marie's report. Galbraith came across a victim she didn't recognize while looking through the images. Former Lynnwood police Det. Unlike her avatar, she left her Costco job handing out food samples days after her 2008 rape. Their suspicions were based on comments from three people who said that they doubted her story, according to the suit. 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. 2 yr. ago The LinkedIn profile looked abandoned to me, but he does show up on other sites. The description of his background comes from his LinkedIn profile. filed a federal civil rights suit against the city of Lynnwood, Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven Jensen. As Chris says in the finale, had Adlers case been better investigated, police would likely have caught the rapist sooner. And for him to know that we figured you out. Galbraith is now a Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent. We just want to dive into a pool without having to hold onto our bottoms. He Fought Back, Exposing the Insurers Inner Workings. Unbelievable will debut on Netflix on Sept. 13. Edna Hendershot and Sgt. Jerry Rittgarn declined to be interviewed. had been arguing, and the other a friend who had spoken to D.M. .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. in a police car and took her to the station, where Rittgarn told her there were inconsistencies in her story. Today, Rittgarn is retired from the force and working as a private investigator. Seattleite, (mostly) retired arts/culture blogger. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. You cant state or imply that donations to your organization support ProPublicas work. VIDEO: Rape victim was called a liar by police. (Warning: Unbelievable spoilers below). Mason is still with the Lynnwood Police Department. 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. 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, 2008-2012. View Jerry Rittgarn's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. The lawsuit alleges police ignored or disregarded this evidence once they convinced themselves she was not telling the truth. Also named in the suit are Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven J. Jensen. 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. Rittgarn asked. It was like she was telling me that shed made a sandwich." 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. 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. Unbelievable's parallel cases demonstrate how there's no one way all real rape survivors react to what's happened to them (since, you know, no two people are exactly alike). She began crying and said she kept seeing visions of him on top of her, the lawsuit says. 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. 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. 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. Meanwhile, Peggy thought Marie seemed too upset when she called her"It sounded like a lot of drama, too, in some ways," she said. Based on her answers and body language it was apparent that [Marie] was lying about the rape, Rittgarn later wrote. His LinkedIn page indicates he works for a private investigation firm in San Diego. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, pressed on the inconsistencies in her story. The real woman known as Marie in the original articleMarie is her middle namereported her rape to Lynnwood, Washington police on August 11, 2008. In a testament to her resilience, Marie's carved out a life for herself far from Lynnwood. 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. If you havent read it yet, I recommend reading the whole thing soon. She was later woken up by a stranger who was holding one of her own knives; he tied her up with her own shoelaces, blindfolded and gagged her, and raped her while wearing a condom. Toni Collettes intensity as Detective Grace Rasmussen doesnt line up with Edna Hendershots reportedly easygoing demeanor. Did Cirie go too far by bringing family matters into the game? Marie, crying, said she believed the rape really happened. 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. The records obtained through these requests included investigative reports filed by detectives in Lynnwood and elsewhere; crime-scene photos and surveillance footage collected by the various law-enforcement agencies; the two case reviews of how the Lynnwood police handled the investigation of Maries rape report; and video of Marc OLeary being interviewed by police after his arrest in Colorado. Jeffrey Mason, Sgt. According to the ProPublica article, after Marie's rapist was apprehended, the Lynnwood Police Department opened up an outside review into the department. In December 2015, ProPublica and the Marshall Project co-published An Unbelievable Story of Rape. Trevor Materasso; Lakewood, Colorado, police detective Aaron Hassell; Kirkland, Washington, police officer Audra Weber; Lynnwood police Sgt. Parker. Some of the way that she was acting was part of the reason why it had the outcome that it did, she said. 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. The woman, identified only as D.M. confessed to making up the incident, which her attorneys said was a result of a police interrogation. New Report Says Nurses at Illinois Facility Forced Patients to Dig Through Their Own Feces, Records Reveal Medical Response Further Delayed Care for Uvalde Victims, Donald Trump Built a National Debt So Big (Even Before the Pandemic) That Itll Weigh Down the Economy for Years, Hoping to Prevent Repeat of Botched Response to Uvalde, Lawmaker Calls for Improved Training for Police, EMTs, If youre republishing online, you must link to the URL of this story on propublica.org, include all of the links from our story, including our newsletter sign up language and link, and use our. Mason moved to his post working on narcotics cases. Bill Fagerbakke played Det. As The Marshall Project article specifies, Manson (who was the lead investigator), had previously only worked on patrol and in narcotics, but had recently been promoted and transferred to the Criminal Investigations Division and had been in the position for only six weeks when Maries rape happened. 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. 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. Notably, Marie's rape claim was one of four that Lynnwood police deemed unfounded that year alone. 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. Donations from readers like you are essential to sustaining this work. 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. (Jeff) Mason concerning his follow-up case. 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. She's been inspiring to me.. Maybe the rape happened and I blacked it out, Marie said. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 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. She was 18 years old, charged with a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail. was living in a small Cocoon House-sponsored apartment after having spent her youth moving among as many as 20 foster homes. 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. As with Merritt Wevers compassionate detective, it was a fluke that Galbraiths police-officer husband, David not the karaoke-singing Max the Knife remembered that his Colorado department had seen a similar rape in which the attacker had made his victim shower and scrupulously cleaned her. 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. 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