At least it was concrete now. By the time Marie reported being assaulted, sex crime specialists had developed protocols that recognized the challenges and sensitivity of investigating rape cases. [23][24][3], Armstrong and Miller adapted their article and additional research into a 304-page book, A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America. 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. was living in a small Cocoon House-sponsored apartment after having spent her youth moving among as many as 20 foster homes. She reports the assault to. But both women had found a place for themselves. She picked out a feminine white coat with a fur collar because she thought thats what girls were supposed to wear, but then kept the coat in the closet when she realized it wasnt. The Marshall Project article reports that "Marie left the state, got a commercial drivers license and took a job as a long-haul trucker. The International Association of Chiefs of Police and the FBI stress the need for a thorough investigation before discounting a report of rape. She emailed a crime analyst at another police department, I so want to see this guys leg! He took pictures and threatened to post them on the Internet. BF in PJs, game over, he wrote in one nights entry. Shannon called Marie and suggested she also contact the Kirkland police. But then Galbraith stumbled across an image of a woman she didnt recognize. 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. 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. The 18 year old woman reported the rape to her local police department but they accused her of lying and she was charged with false reporting. A couple of other officers were already there, protecting the crime scene. She couldnt live with them anymore. He tied her hands behind her back with a lace from her tennis shoe, blindfolded her and gagged her. It was a small, single-story home with gray siding half a block from a gas station, an auto body shop and a carniceria in a beat-down neighborhood. As female cops, both women were members of a sorority within a fraternity. He had taken her sheets and bedding. He threaded one of the shoelaces through a pair of underwear. [12] Journalist Pamela Colloff referenced the article as an example of good reporting on criminal justice, as it is told from the perspective of a survivor. Mason in some of the statements we were confident that [Marie] was now telling us the truth that she had not been raped.. And all those sliding glass doors ridiculously easy to pick, when they werent left unlocked, which so often they were. In time, they became boyfriend and girlfriend. One night I did try to walk to the store by myself and felt like I hallucinated someone following me, she says. He knew to avoid leaving his DNA at the scene. There it was, on OLearys left calf: a dark birthmark the size of a large chicken egg. And to top it all off, police refuse to believe her when she comes forward. She feared going outdoors. The technicians recovered three samples of so-called touch DNA, as few as seven or eight cells of skin that can be analyzed with modern laboratory techniques. The analysis of the touch DNA produced mixed results. She claims the officers interrogated her and put words in her mouth.. Afterward, the paperwork went to a small law firm that Lynnwood had hired to prosecute misdemeanors. From a religious point of view, she follows Christianity. "The focus of the investigation became her credibility. In Sgt. The counselor couldnt offer any more details. The piece states: "[Marie] does not know if she attended kindergarten. Galbraith flashed a quick thumbs up. The odds of that happening are pretty long.". When she read the story, she cried. She remembers being hungry and eating dog food. Afterward, he made her take a shower. There are no firm statistics on how often police arrest women for making false rape reports, nor on how often prosecutors take such cases to court. He arrived in the predawn hours, then waited outside her apartment, outside her bedroom, listening to her on the phone, waiting for her to fall asleep. Maries account, in her own words. Galbraith and her husband David once again faced each other on the couches in their living room. In the five years from 2008 to 2012, the department determined that 10 of 47 rapes reported to Lynnwood police were unfounded 21.3 percent. Where do you go when youre 5 and already thinking about handcuffs? The two bonded naturally. Interviewed in the same room where he had confronted Marie seven years before, he said: It wasnt her job to try to convince me. The real woman known as Marie in the original articleMarie is her middle namereported her rape to Lynnwood, Washington police on August 11, 2008. If you aren't already clued in on Marie's story, read on: The series takes its inspiration from a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 ProPublica and The Marshall Project article about a woman who experienced a horrific sexual assault aged 18 but later recanted her story. She reports entering foster care at age six or seven.". A couple of times he left his position, for just a while, for fear of being spotted lingering. He ordered the women to shower. Defendants included Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven J. Jensen. Its too late for that, he replied. One reason is that women fear police wont believe them. . Rittgarn asked Marie what was going on. The initial detectives investigating. By early March, a forensic computer specialist cracked into files that OLeary had stored on his hard drive. [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. Kirkland police abandoned this lead after Lynnwood police told them at least twice that Marie's account was a lie. Confused, the agent fell back on a practiced ruse. And on the long, fraught trail between crime and conviction, the first triers of fact were the cops. Usually, a DNA analysis took months. I have no qualms with asking for help, Galbraith said. Galbraith ruled out the brothers father he was too old and lived in a different state. T. Christian Miller joined ProPublica in 2008 as a senior reporter. And she would have to pay $500 to cover the courts costs. While the program managers waited outside, Marie met with Rittgarn and another officer. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. 7. [34] The program was nominated for numerous awards, including four nominations each at the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics' Choice Television Awards, with one win at the latter. ProPublica and Marshall Project in-depth story. Lynnwood WA, Livingston MT Possible Relatives: Kirsten Marie Gilliam, Jo Darlene Hagen. And much like the detectives, who hunted the rapist separately before joining forces, Miller and Armstrong initially reported the story on their own before collaborating. They were knocking on neighbors doors, snapping photographs in the apartment, digging through garbage bins, swabbing the walls, the windows, everywhere for DNA. On top of a computer monitor they found a second shoestring, tied to a pair of underwear, the apparent blindfold or gag. She married, and in October she and her husband had their second child. The initial detectives investigating the case questioned inconsistencies in her story, and her credibility was also called into question by her foster parent and an ex-boyfriend. View Leonard Hansen results in Lynnwood, WA including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. This story was co-published with The Marshall Project. The victim had described him as a gentleman, Galbraith said. Mason returned to the evidence. A friend from 10th grade called to ask: How could you lie about something like that? Golden and Westminster were middle class bedroom towns wedged between Denvers downtown skyscrapers and the looming Rockies. On the bed officers found a shoestring used, apparently, to bind Marie. D.M. In 2008, Marie, from Lynnwood, Washington, reported to police an intruder had broken into her home, bound and gagged her, and raped her at knifepoint. Frustration grew. WARNING: This article could contain triggering descriptions of sexual assault. Denver-area publicationWestword reported. 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. Marie broke down, experiencing, all at once, shock, relief and anger. 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. In March 2009, she was charged with a gross misdemeanor, fined $500 and put on probation. If Washington had just paid attention a little bit more, I probably would have been a person of interest earlier on, OLeary said. While the agents were following the man believed to be Marc OLeary, another FBI agent knocked on the door of the home. Three weeks before the attempted rape in Lakewood, a woman had called police late in the evening to report a suspicious pickup truck parked on the street with a man inside. So, too, did OLearys truck. claims she was forced into counseling when Lynnwood police told managers of Cocoon House they didnt believe shed been raped, according to court documents. Carefully, she compared OLearys white Mazda to the surveillance tape. The detectives second interview with Marie was designed to elicit a confession of false reporting. The false reporting charge arose from a self-imposed rush.. She is subsequently charged with a gross misdemeanor for false reporting. There, a 65-year-old woman told police that she had been raped in her apartment by a man with a black scarf wrapped around his face. No, she said. I was preparing for a baby. . The statement was only one page. BAD.. She was always nice to talk to.. He insisted on a fax. [16], The University of Colorado Boulder reported in 2016 that law enforcement officials had requested to use the article in training. We were a lot alike. Despite all Marie had been through, she wasnt bitter, Shannon says. Despite the reviews tough language, no one in the Lynnwood Police Department was disciplined. Rittgarn asked. But not enough.. 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. Later that month, there was a final surprise. He spent the previous 11 years reporting for the Los Angeles Times. But now, Marie wouldnt give. He was military so he was very organized, Galbraith said. Marie was heavily medicated, although its not clear why. The actual Maries first name is not Marie that'sher middle name, which was used in the articleabout her case. ", 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. More often they were separated. Jordan told the detective that he and Marie had stopped dating a couple months back but remained good friends. After rushing to the apartment that morning, Peggy found Marie on the floor, crying. He took out the gag and removed the blindfold, telling her to avert her eyes and to keep her head in the pillow. The investigators decided to try to get a sample of OLearys DNA. She crackled energy. The night was dry, letting him settle in. He bound her wrists and he covered her eyes. She flipped the switch, as she called it, suppressing all the feelings she didnt know what to do with. I ran home. At home she avoided the bedroom, choosing to sleep on the couch with the lights on. Rittgarn told Marie that her story and the evidence didnt match. I really loved the family and I made a lot of friends, Marie says. Could the detectives connect OLearys Mazda with the blurry image of the white Mazda in the surveillance footage from Golden? Launched the year before, the program was designed to help young adults who had grown up in foster care transition to living on their own. He was promoted to sergeant and transferred to the Criminal Investigations Division six weeks before the report of Marie's assault. You should know better than to leave the door unlocked, he told her. Galbraith had a simple rule: listen and verify. One sample was collected from the kitchen timer in Westminster. And at the hunts end, before he committed, he would take a final pass through the home, or what he called precombat inspection, to make sure there werent any weapons within the targets reach. By the time of the article, Marie was married with two children. It was not much. Peggy, too, apologized. In the living room, he removed the laces from her black tennis shoes and put the shoes back. But she didnt know if it was important. Jeff Mason didnt believe her. Marie received Zithromax and Suprax for possible exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, and an emergency contraceptive pill. Nobody collects such data. She was 18 years old, charged with a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail. Here she was raped though and the stability she was beginning to establish in the Project Ladder system fell apart. 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