As portrayed in Unbelievable, Marie settled a lawsuit with Lynnwood after they tried to give her a measly $500 reimbursement of the court fees for her false reporting misdemeanor. Professionalism, vigilance, community, my ass. Kristen Bell to Befriend an Unorthodox Rabbi. Detective Rittgarn refused an interview with the publication. Also named in the suit are Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven J. Jensen. After the media caught wind of Marie's false report misdemeanor, that same best friend created a website devoted to eviscerating her reputation, sharing Marie's photo and full name as well as police reports that alleged she was a liar. Among the items Colorado detectives found in OLearys possession were photographs of the woman and her ID card. Mason told ProPublica, "It wasnt her job to try to convince me. View the profiles of people named Jerry Rittgarn. 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 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. That year, she reported being bound, gagged, and raped by a man who broke into her home. 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. Mason has since returned to working in narcotics. University of . To determine the rate of rape crimes declared unfounded, or groundless, by law enforcement agencies, we analyzed Uniform Crime Reporting data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. No, Marie told him, her voice soft, her eyes down. Now a married mother of two who turns 29 this year, shes a long-haul trucker, driving an 18-wheeler cross-country. 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. Jeff Mason didnt believe her. 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.". Maybe the rape happened and I blacked it out, Marie said. 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. The current commander of Lynnwoods Criminal Investigations Division, Steve Rider, told The Marshall Project that the handling of this case was a major failing and believes Marie was victimized twice once by her assailant and another by the police station she believed she could trust. Donations from readers like you are essential to sustaining this work. Heres how ProPublicas T. Christian Miller and the Marshall Projects Ken Armstrong wrote about this fateful day in their Pulitzer-winning article: In Sgt. .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. Unbelievable is based, almost word for words at times, off of The Marshall Projects An Unbelievable Story of Rape, published in 2015. There are 7 professionals named "Jerry Ritt", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. When the woman reported the attack to Lynnwood police, she says detectives Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. We may earn a commission from these links. You don't just go with some family member who was not even a witness. But most recent research suggests that false reporting is relatively rare. 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. Sep 21, 2019. Evidence proved her right. Marie later sued the city of Lynnwood and received a $150,000 settlement. But she went through the story again only this time, saying she believed the rape had happened instead of saying it for certain. They themselves took those pictures. Along with Esquire, his work has appeared in NYLON, Vulture, and USA Today. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. Marie said she didnt know of any discrepancies. OLeary was 33 when he was sentenced to 327 and a half years for the Colorado attacks and an additional 68 and a half years for the two Washington rapes, including Adlers. The police on her case, Sgt. The victim, who now lives in Wyoming, and her lawyer also declined to comment to the Seattle Times. The police called her a liar. (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. 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. The woman, identified only as D.M. I wrote about it last year here. And we dont want to see this happen to anybody ever again.. When her counselors at Project Ladder marched her back to the station upon hearing her account of what happened, Rittgarn told Marie that if she took a lie detector test and failed, she'd go to jail and probably lose her housing. He Fought Back, Exposing the Insurers Inner Workings. Doctors also collected DNA specimens, according to the lawsuit. (Jeffrey) Masons experience, when someone asked if they were in trouble, almost always, they were. filed a federal civil rights suit against the city of Lynnwood, Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven Jensen. If you use canonical metadata, please use the ProPublica URL. She and her husband took in the high-schooler for a short time when her previous foster familys plans to adopt her fell through. 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. in a police car and took her to the station, where Rittgarn told her there were inconsistencies in her story. Come for the Seinfeld references, stay for the Producers references. Galbraith first learned of Hendershot's similar case through her police officer husband (just as Duvall, Merritt Wever's character, did). Knowing that youre behind us means so much. on the phone that night, before the alleged attack. Jerry Rittgarn declined to be interviewed. Rittgarn asked. With mounting pressure from the police, she recanted her statement and said she made it . The show mirrors the structure of the original article, which interweaves the two stories the same way. You cant republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. confessed to making up the incident, which her attorneys said was a result of a police interrogation. Mason wasnt fired and now leads a narcotics task force. 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. These female detectives (whose names are changed to Grace Rasmussen and Karen Duvall, played by Toni Collette and Merritt Weaver, in the Netflix series) actually do their job, and work to uncover the truth behind the rapes. Then 18, she reported the attack but she says detectives Jerry Rittgarn and Sergeant Jeff Mason didn't believe her story, and ignored evidence including stained sheets, doctors reports detailing injuries to her wrists and abrasions on her genitals and DNA samples. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. In August 2008, the victim, identified only as D.M., was in transitional housing after being in foster homes. If you share republished stories on social media, wed appreciate being tagged in your posts. In a testament to her resilience, Marie's carved out a life for herself far from Lynnwood. called a neighbor, who called police. Join to connect Lynnwood PD. Along with praise for its nuanced performances and intelligent writing, it's been . The national average for "unfounded" cases is around five percent. Also named in the suit are Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven J. Jensen. But most recent research suggests that false reporting is relatively rare. D.M. Please contact. 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. Former Lynnwood police Det. Jeffrey Mason, Sgt. Also named in the suit are Rittgarn . You cant state or imply that donations to your organization support ProPublicas work. We may earn commission from the links on this page. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Netflix series opens with a disturbingly mishandled rape case. Galbraith had admired her new partner, Edna Hendershot, from a distance ever since their paths crossed at a police briefing for a big drug bust Hendershot had taken part in. The victim of the Lynnwood attack last week filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the city of Lynnwood, claiming detectives disregarded evidence of the assault, bullied her into saying it didnt happen and then threatened to have her thrown out of her apartment when she insisted it did. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. 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. An 18 year old girl reported a brutal assault. This case is where I went full-on ACAB. One thing that's left out of the series is the fact that Marie also settled for a undisclosed amount with Cocoon House, the nonprofit that ran the Project Ladder housing where she was raped. (Warning: Unbelievable spoilers below). The article also notes that Lynnwood reported 21.3 percent of rape cases "unfounded," or rather, lied about. Busy Phillips Is Not Like a Regular Mom, Shes a Cool Mom, Theres nothing wrong with Busy Phillips being cast as Mrs. George in the upcoming, In Search of Tom and Katies Bubba Painting, Maybe punting on the larger plot can be forgiven if we get a sweet. Mason was put in the lead position, but at that time. A police narrative from Detective Jerry Rittgarn states, "I talked with Sgt. After OLearys arrest, the city returned the fine and the court struck the case from its files. We consulted police training guidelines by various organizations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police and End Violence Against Women International. The three went to the Lynnwood police station, where the detectives escorted Marie to a conference room. To calculate the rate, we summed the number of unfounded rapes and divided it by the number of reported rapes. Enter detectives Stacy Galbraith from Denver and Edna Hendershot from Westminster. I give our client a tremendous amount of credit, said H. Richmond Fisher, one of her attorneys. In a statement, Cocoon House CEO Cassie Franklin said our hearts go out to D.M. 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. She was 18 at the time. She agreed, so they left her alone for a few minutes. We ran this calculation for all departments that met our criteria on a national level. 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. They ignored all the objective evidence collected by the Lynnwood Police Department and Providence Hospital on the day of the rape, the lawsuit alleges. After attacking her, he forced the woman to shower, took her bedding with him before leaving, and cleaned his ejaculate with moist towelettes. She was charged with filing a false report and went through court-ordered counseling for lying to police. Though the series hews closely to a true story that may at times seem stranger than fiction, showrunner Susannah Grant decided early on to fictionalize the real-life sources because, she says, we didnt think there was any value in the actual names being broadcast as widely as Netflix has the capacity to do. Nevertheless, its natural to want to know more about the people on whom the characters are based. Michael was tailed by members of Grusings team to get his DNA. His LinkedIn page indicates he works for a private investigation firm in San Diego. Stacy Galbraith; Westminster, Colorado, Sgt. Since its debut last Friday, Netflix's Unbelievable has become one of the most acclaimed shows of the year. It was Marie. Between the different cases, the police had also recovered a small number of skin cells and learned that he had a dark mark on his calf. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google She said it was about 7 a.m. when she woke to find a man standing over her bed with a butcher knife and wearing latex gloves. 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. You do a full investigation. He asked if there was really a rapist running around the neighborhood that the police should be looking for. Marie had a horrific childhood, bouncing around various foster and group homes from around age 6, and was sexually and physically abused throughout. 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