Westminster crime scene investigators had discovered similar marks on the window of the victims apartment. D.M.s lawsuit also named as defendants the agency that runs the program, Cocoon House, and two of its employees, Jana Hamilton and Wayne Nash. "I just got thisreally weird feeling. The woman alleges that police bullied her into recanting her story despite physical evidence supporting her report that she was tied up, threatened with a knife and attacked inside her Lynnwood. In the snow, they found a trail of footprints leading to and from the back of the apartment through an empty field. The wall was thin, letting him hear her voice. They needed more information. 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. After finally falling asleep, she was awakened by a man with a knife and then tied up, blindfolded, gagged and raped. Both were outgoing. He tied her hands. Recognizing that Maries high school wasnt a great fit pretty cliquey, Peggy says Peggy found an alternative school that was. But on the first day, a support counselor came to the school and told Marie the family had lost its foster care license. When I went to sleep I dreamed that someone broke in and raped me. Masons report didnt identify the caller but the caller was Peggy. We are happy to reach this resolution, he said. Red Lobster. Marie stopped going to church. 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. [27], The Netflix miniseries Unbelievable is an eight-part adaptation of "An Unbelievable Story of Rape", also drawing from "An Anatomy of Doubt" and A False Report. The report on Maries life written by a mental health expert who interviewed her for five hours is written with clinical detachment, describing her life before she entered foster care She reports not knowing much about her biological mother, who she said would often leave her in the care of boyfriends. The man wore a condom, she believed. OLeary had purchased a pornography website in September 2008. Police should not interrogate victims or threaten to use a polygraph device. Within days of reporting being raped, Marie had quit her job at Costco, unable to stand there, looking at people, lost in her head. He didnt answer so I called my foster mom. Details of that settlement are confidential, according to the womans lawyers. She would need to get mental health counseling for her lying. Why would a rapist use shoelaces to tie her up? For me it seems like people read me differently than I see myself.. When you become a foster parent, youre open to that, Shannon says. Marie became the subject of media reports and an attack website. He would learn her date of birth and license plate number. Mason is now back in narcotics, in charge of a task force. He had previously worked only one or two rape cases. They often dont know about, or fail to use, an FBI database created years ago to help catch repeat offenders. She just listened, then hung up. It freaked me out. She considered jumping. In August 2008, 18-year-old Marie (her middle name) called the police in Lynnwood, Washington, to report . Records show the woman who was 18 at the time of the attack was threatened with eviction unless she underwent counseling and stood in front of other program participants to say she had lied about being raped, according to court documents. Marie was used to being around other kids. Shut down. Police found shoe prints in the soft, damp soil outside the womans bedroom. Cops must work as hard to prove a falsehood as they do to prove a truth. In August 2008, 18-year-old Marie Adler reported being raped by a man at knifepoint in her apartment who had gagged her, blindfolded her, and bound her with her own shoe-laces. She reports entering foster care at age 6 or 7. She wasnt his type, not really. In the bathroom was a black headwrap, tied to serve as a mask. Maybe it was the attacker waiting for the woman to fall asleep? Mason in some of the statements we were confident that [Marie] was now telling us the truth that she had not been raped.. He took their clothing and bedding with him when he left. Shed gone through so much already. It was a young woman far younger than the Colorado victims, perhaps a teenager. 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 International Association of Chiefs of Police and the FBI stress the need for a thorough investigation before discounting a report of rape. After leaving the police station, Marie learned that she still wasnt through. A month after that the 59-year-old widow was raped in Westminster, some 10 miles to the north. Her story hadnt hurt anyone no suspects arrested, or even questioned. The police officers walked her downstairs, where the Project Ladder representatives asked if she had been raped. The Marshall Project article reports that "Marie left the state, got a commercial drivers license and took a job as a long-haul trucker. Another former foster mom, Peggy Cunningham, thought that maybe Marie got sexual with someone and they took pictures (Marie said her rapist took photos of her) and this rape story was a way to cover that up, according to This American Life.. But Marie wanted to set out on her own. The third doubter was an anonymous caller. Galbraith was hopeful. So he took steps to avoid leaving any traces of genetic material. And then corroborate or refute based on how things go.. One night I did try to walk to the store by myself and felt like I hallucinated someone following me, she says. The odds of that happening are pretty long.". I have no qualms with asking for help, Galbraith said. She enjoyed chatting with people, free from pressure to sell. He told Marie that her description of calling Jordan was different from what Jordan had reported. The next day, Marie told Wayne Nash, her case manager at Project Ladder, that the police didnt believe her. Hendershot was more experienced. He stuffed cloth into her mouth to muffle any sound. In the kitchen, when Shannon walked in, Marie didnt meet her gaze. We were a lot alike. Despite all Marie had been through, she wasnt bitter, Shannon says. The report detailed how a 46-year-old artist had been accosted in her home by a man with a knife. In addition, Mason had received a tip that Marie was unhappy with her apartment. "The focus of the investigation became her credibility. [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. Galbraith recounted the days events. They matched the footprints in the snow outside her victims apartment in Golden. Rittgarn told Marie that if she took the test and failed, she would be booked into jail. She began crying and said she kept seeing visions of him on top of her, the lawsuit says. In doing this, the police ignored the fact that research shows that victims of trauma struggle to remember specific details about their experiences. She grew up with police, trusted police, knew how the police worked. But there was still the issue of the womans story. [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. Rittgarn had been with the department for 11 years, the last four as a detective. Afterward, he ordered her to brush her teeth and wash herself in the shower. In this written statement, she described calling him while still tied up. The analysis of the touch DNA produced mixed results. It didnt sound real to me. Celebrate the life of Marie Arzer, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information. Galbraith hastily typed up a search warrant to enter the brothers home. If this could affect you, please read with caution. And it had her address. Hendershot turned to the database meant to capture serial rapists by linking cases in different jurisdictions. She was always nice to talk to.. A second came from the victim in Golden. She wanted to help the police. The treads matched the footprints in the snow in Golden and outside the window in Lakewood. He was hired by Lynnwood in 2003, and served on a narcotics task force. returned to the police station with Cocoon House representatives and asked to withdraw the denial and insisted that she had been attacked. FBI agents collected DNA evidence from his brother which showed one of them was the rapist. However, the police were suspicious of her story and Peggy was too. Like kids most everywhere, Marie wanted to fit in. [17], "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" was published on December 16, 2015. Defendants included Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven J. Jensen. Galbraith and Hendershot hadnt known each other before the meeting. Later that month, there was a final surprise. MARCH 12, 2009 LYNNWOOD, WASHINGTON No one came to court with her that day, except her public defender. Next to the bed was a black-handled knife. "I wanted to talk about it and get it out.. Delivering it crushed her. She read the email and her mind shot back five months, to a crisp Tuesday in August 2010. Their initial attempts to identify the attacker faltered. Pretty positive or actually positive? Beth Dubber / Netflix / Klara Auerbach / The Atlantic. Numerous other editors contributed to the article, including managing editor Kirsten Danis of The Marshall Project. Just after noon, the agents saw a woman and a man who looked like OLeary leave. American Restaurants Seafood Restaurants Restaurants (7) Website View Menu. Marie Theresa Arzer, age 77, of Redmond, Washington passed away on Saturday, February 11, 2023. A half-dozen officers and technicians were now at work. A little after 1 p.m. on a wintry day in January 2011, Detective Stacy Galbraith approached a long, anonymous row of apartment buildings that spilled up a low hill in a Denver suburb. It's that article, "An Unbelievable Story of Rape," that serves as the source material for Netflix's drama co-created by Oscar-nominated Eric Brockovich screenwriter Susannah Grant, executive produced by Katie Couric, and featuring Emmy award-winning actors Toni Collette and Merritt Wever. And it was fine. She moved into the Alderbrooke Apartments, a woodsy complex that advertises proximity to a mall and views of the Cascades. And when the two went to buy new bedding Maries old bedding having been taken as evidence Marie became furious when she couldnt find the same set. Each ring of the phone seemed to announce another friendship, lost. In the predawn hours, a white Mazda pickup truck appeared 10 times. 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. Seven cops stood behind her, pressed against the house, their guns drawn. 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. [21] In July 2016, they appeared on the Longform podcast to discuss the article. She had gotten all the classes she wanted. O'Leary had watched women for hundreds of hours, breaking into their houses multiple times before each rape. The Lynnwood Police Department had 79 sworn officers, serving a city of about 34,000 people. But her misdemeanor had made the news, and made her an object of curiosity or, worse, scorn. He got a hit. But both women had found a place for themselves. The morning after the rape in Golden, Galbraith hurried to work to follow up her husbands lead. WARNING: This article could contain triggering descriptions of sexual assault. She was Peggys first foster child. Galbraith ruled out the brothers father he was too old and lived in a different state. Investigators found a pair of Adidas ZX 700 shoes in OLearys closet. Sometimes she got to be with her siblings, but most often not, according to the ProPublica report. It was just like, freedom. The man introduced himself. [9][10], Miller wrote the sections about the woman in Colorado, while Armstrong wrote the sections about the investigation in Washington. was living in a small Cocoon House-sponsored apartment after having spent her youth moving among as many as 20 foster homes. It won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting and the 2015 George Polk Award for Justice Reporting. By the time Marie reported being assaulted, sex crime specialists had developed protocols that recognized the challenges and sensitivity of investigating rape cases. They decided to run Michael OLearys DNA, collected from the restaurant glass, against the DNA found at the crime scenes. Marie Adler - Birth, Parents, Siblings & Education. Marie ended up suing the city of. [9] The other officer, Rittgarn, declined to be interviewed. Miller had discovered that a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) database to identify serial murderers and rapists was mostly unused in the cases of rape, as most police departments fail to upload sexual assault reports. Mason filed a false reporting charge; such charges in similar circumstances were rare. They wondered whether it contained photos of his victims. The search results can point you to the official or complete court record. Marie, who had turned 18 three months before, told police she had been talking on the phone much of the night with her friend Jordan. The woman underwent a special forensic examination to collect more DNA evidence. The dog, outside, had tracked to the south, toward an office building, but was unable to lead officers to anything that might identify the rapist. BF in PJs, game over, he wrote in one nights entry. He said nothing about doubting Maries story, according to Masons written summary. She broke three ribs and punctured a lung in the 7-foot fall to the ground, but managed to escape. Aaron Hassell, the detective on the Lakewood case, raced back to his office. He put her learners permit on her chest and took pictures of her. It had cost her sense of worth. She went into the bathroom and cleaned up. I mean, I get shiver bumps thinking about it, just even now, Hendershot said. Marie had been sexually and physically abused in early life and was in foster care for most of her childhood. He documented the assault with a digital camera and threatened to post the pictures online if she contacted the police. In Lynnwood, Washington, an 18-year-old woman, referred to as "Marie," reported being bound, gagged and raped at knifepoint to police. Cities: Lynnwood WA, Livingston MT Possible Relatives: Kirsten Marie Gilliam, Jo Darlene Hagen. And it seems like every time I talk to her she's in a different state. It was a pink Sony digital camera a description that fit the model stolen from the apartment of the Westminster victim. Investigators at the scene uncovered a few, tenuous pieces of evidence. "This is not the kind of story where you anticipate competition," Armstrong told Longform in 2016. [28][29] However, though Rosita Boland of The Irish Times enjoyed the early sections of the book, she found it to have a "curiously flat style overall, without any distinctive voice". A little before 9 on a Monday morning, two Lynnwood police detectives responded to a report of rape at the Alderbrooke Apartments. I was on like seven different drugs. The article was written by Ken Armstrong and T. Christian Miller. If you - or anyone you know - needs help, please contact the following: If you're in the US, the National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE and you can also visit RAINN. 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