Detective Rittgarn refused an interview with the publication. The lawsuit also states that the Cocoon House, a place for at-risk youth, threatened D.M. Its nun versus AI in Damon Lindelofs new series. She walked away with $150,000, according to the Seattle Times. 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). Last week, D.M. She agreed, so they left her alone for a few minutes. The police on her case, Sgt. Former Lynnwood police Det. Mason has since returned to working in narcotics. At first he could not recall the case, except that he. She claims the officers interrogated her and put words in her mouth.. But she went through the story again only this time, saying she believed the rape had happened instead of saying it for certain. 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." Today, Rittgarn is retired from the force and working as a private investigator. When Marie's rapist was caught, Detective Rittgarn had already left the Lynnwood police department. It was one of many friendships she lost after the Lynnwood charged her as a false accuser. While neither Wever nor Collette ever met the detectives, Collette tells OprahMag.com that she learned Hendershot requested her character be portrayed as "badass and bitchin'." 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. No, Marie told him, her voice soft, her eyes down. In August 2008, the victim, identified only as D.M., was in transitional housing after being in foster homes. Los Angeles County said all litigation over the crash has now been resolved. FBI figures show that police annually declare around 5 percent of rape cases unfounded, or baseless. According to A False Report, she became a long-haul trucker. Helmed by Erin Brokovich screenwriter Susannah Grant, the new miniseries follows the story of Marie, a young woman charged with lying about being raped, as well as that of two female detectives who, through a winding road of evidence, discover the truth. Get our investigations delivered to your inbox with the Big Story newsletter. Tearfully, she described her past all the foster parents, being raped when she was 7, getting her own place and feeling alone. , updated The whole show is in a silly, goofy mood. 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.". The lawsuit alleges police ignored or disregarded this evidence once they convinced themselves she was not telling the truth. Jun 1985 - Jun 19894 years 1 month. The real-life counterpart of Bill Fagerbakkes hard-hearted Detective Pruitt, Jerry Rittgarn threatened Adler with jail if she failed a polygraph. Trevor Materasso; Lakewood, Colorado, police detective Aaron Hassell; Kirkland, Washington, police officer Audra Weber; Lynnwood police Sgt. Galbraith first learned of Hendershot's similar case through her police officer husband (just as Duvall, Merritt Wever's character, did). Jerry Rittgarn declined to be interviewed. 2023 Cox Media Group. None of them had any firsthand knowledge of what had happened, the lawsuit says. 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. She requested and received a personal apology from lead detective Jeffrey Mason. Violating her rights, Rittgarn and Mason told Marie to write out what "really" happened. 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. The bulk of time is spent with Detectives Rasmussen and Duvall, two investigators who diligently work to solve a string of rapes throughout Colorado. Thank you for your interest in republishing this story. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. Also named in the suit are Rittgarn . Mason moved to his post working on narcotics cases. On Aug. 18, D.M. When youre watching Unbelievable, its hard not to wonder about the accuracy of the Netflix true-crime drama. The Lynnwood detectives, Pruitt and Parker, are Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. D.M.s lawsuit also names as defendants the agency that runs the program, He was strategically stalking and attacking women who lived alone. Netflixs latest true-crime series, Unbelievable, follows a group of detectives who try to get to the bottom of a string of rapes in the mid and northwest, along with figuring out if one girl whos reported a rape is telling the truth or not. Evidence proved her right. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. We may earn commission from the links on this page. A computer forensics specialist looked into O'Leary's hard drive files and found a folder named "girls," which had pictures of the victims. 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. Rittgarn asked Marie. Now a married mother of two who turns 29 this year, shes a long-haul trucker, driving an 18-wheeler cross-country. 17-Down, Three Letters: Party for One artist Carly ___ Jepsen. Edna Hendershot and Sgt. 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. And I was told that probably no one ever will.. 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. 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. If you share republished stories on social media, wed appreciate being tagged in your posts. 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. You don't just go with some family member who was not even a witness. Jeffrey Mason, the Lynnwood officer heading up Marie's rape investigation (and subsequently charged her for a false report) was transferred to his department from a narcotics task force just six weeks before the call came from Marie. Along with Esquire, his work has appeared in NYLON, Vulture, and USA Today. 22:32 GMT 11 Jun 2013 Rodney Cohnheim and Commander Steve Rider; and Marc OLeary, who was interviewed at the Sterling Correctional Facility in Colorado. Former Lynnwood police Det. As for the people Marie initially deals with, in the series they are Detectives Parker and Pruitt. Some of his computer files remain encrypted. Jeffrey Mason, Sgt. On the form she filled in her name, address and Social Security number, and then she wrote, in part: I was talking to Jordan on the phone that night about his day and just about anything. 's photograph and ID card in his wallet. At first, the detectives are attempting to catch the man who broke into her apartment and raped her. For more information about canonical metadata, You cant edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. I give our client a tremendous amount of credit, said H. Richmond Fisher, one of her attorneys. When I went to sleep I dreamed that someone broke in and raped me. He said he believed she had made the story up a spur-of-the-moment thing, not something planned out. 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. 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. Cocoon House, and two of its employees. Doctors also collected DNA specimens, according to the lawsuit. 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. In his home, they found the pink Sony camera in addition to the women's underwear, wet wipes, lube, and a pistol. Why didnt you write that you made the story up? Justin Kirkland is a Brooklyn-based writer who covers culture, food, and the South. returned to the police station with Cocoon House representatives and asked to withdraw the denial and insisted that she had been attacked. She got married and has two kids, and they live "somewhere in the middle of the country" as of 2018. In real life, they are Sgt. Words or thoughts attributed to anyone in this story are drawn from these interviews or documents. and her family We strongly believe that Cocoon House and its employees acted appropriately on behalf of the client.. 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. Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn, pressed on the inconsistencies in her story. Facebook gives people the power. It wasnt her job to try to convince me, he said in 2015. Jerry Rittgarn threatened Adler with . In the vein of fellow Netflix projects such as Mindhunter and When They See Us, the miniseries explores true crime through the failures of the criminal justice system. Here's a look at how Unbelievable is different from the cases that inspired it, and what stayed the same. As Chris says in the finale, had Adlers case been better investigated, police would likely have caught the rapist sooner. T. Christian Miller is a senior editor for ProPublica. Without reading Marie her rights you have the right to an attorney, you have the right to remain silent the detectives asked Marie to write out the true story, admitting she had lied, admitting, in effect, that she had committed a crime. 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. In a statement, Cocoon House CEO Cassie Franklin said our hearts go out to D.M. D.M., who now lives in Wyoming, declined to comment for this story, said her attorney, H. Richmond Fisher. The parallels between Elizabeth Marvels well-meaning foster mom Judith and Adlers real-life foster parent Peggy Cunningham are undeniable. Professionalism, vigilance, community, my ass. Rittgarn asked. View Jerry Rittgarn's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. According to the suit, Rittgarn and Mason had D.M. The victim, now 23, is living out of state and engaged to be married, according to her attorneys. She spoke to a friend on the phone for several hours early Aug. 11, 2008, finally going to bed around 5:30 a.m. She said she left the sliding-glass patio door ajar. in a police car and took her to the station, where Rittgarn told her there were inconsistencies in her story. When the woman reported the attack to Lynnwood police, she says detectives Jerry Rittgarn and Sgt. Parker. An Unbelievable Story of Rape This includes publishing or syndicating our work on platforms or apps such as Apple News, Google News, etc. 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. 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. 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. Among the items Colorado detectives found in OLearys possession were photographs of the woman and her ID card. 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. 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. Mason was put in the lead position, but at that time. At the hospital, a doctor noted injuries to both her wrists and abrasions on her genitals. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. Notably, Marie's rape claim was one of four that Lynnwood police deemed unfounded that year alone. The article also notes that Lynnwood reported 21.3 percent of rape cases "unfounded," or rather, lied about. 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. Marie had a horrific childhood, bouncing around various foster and group homes from around age 6, and was sexually and physically abused throughout. 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. The lawsuit alleges that, as soon as the detective concluded she was lying, the investigation ceased. According to the ProPublica article, after Marie's rapist was apprehended, the Lynnwood Police Department opened up an outside review into the department. (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. If you use canonical metadata, please use the ProPublica URL. 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. If you havent read it yet, I recommend reading the whole thing soon. That year, she reported being bound, gagged, and raped by a man who broke into her home. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. Jeffrey Mason, Sgt. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. 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. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. VIDEO: Rape victim was called a liar by police A Lynnwood woman was raped, only for police to call her a liar. 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. 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