She was just a nice person to have around. David Galbraith was used to such bleak stories. The odds of that happening are pretty long.". Shannon saw an account of the attack on the television news and was taken aback. Peggy, too, was mystified by Maries demeanor. The journalists behind that piece obtained a report written by mental health expert who interviewed Marie for hours, which states that she only met her biological father once and that she knows very little about her biological mother. But now, Marie wouldnt give. The Project Ladder managers instead reached out to Sgt. A Lakewood patrol car had snapped a picture of OLeary standing by his white Mazda in the driveway of his house only two hours after the August attack on the widow in Westminster. Shed worked more than 100 rape cases in her career. In the 1600s, Englands chief justice, Matthew Hale, warned that rape is an accusation easily to be made and hard to be proved, and harder to be defended by the party accused. Judges in the U.S. read the so-called Hale warning to juries until the 1980s. Seven cops stood behind her, pressed against the house, their guns drawn. D.M. As for what her attacker looked like, Marie could offer few details. There was something about how she said it just made me question whether or not shed actually been raped, Shannon said on Anatomy of Doubt.. Shannon called Marie and suggested she also contact the Kirkland police. A low chain-link fence surrounded it. I have had a lot of stressful things going on and I wanted to hang out with someone and no one was able to so I made up this story and didnt expect it to go as far as it did. I would venture to say we investigate our cases a lot more vigorously than many departments do, he said. The report detailed how a 46-year-old artist had been accosted in her home by a man with a knife. In her lawsuit, the woman claimed Lynnwood 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. At a little before sunrise, he heard the phone conversation end. The media wrote about Marie being charged, without identifying her. Working from Colorado, Galbraith not only linked OLeary to the rape in Lynnwood, Washington, but to the rape in nearby Kirkland. Open the door, she shouted repeatedly. "Unbelievable" recounts the true story of how the teenager reported to Lynnwood police in 2008 that she was raped at knifepoint by a masked intruder in her apartment and how she later. He asked if there was really a rapist running around the neighborhood that the police should be looking for. She would need to keep straight, breaking no more laws. He waited a little longer, letting the silence stretch out, then climbed over the railing and slipped through the unlocked sliding glass door. He tied her hands loosely behind her. The three went to the Lynnwood police station, where the detectives escorted Marie to a conference room. The photo showed a 6-foot-1 man with hazel eyes. I told her, I said, Its over. I went into this dark hole.. After looking through the images, she found an answer. In hindsight, it was my job to get to the bottom of it and I didnt.. Who Is John Dutton's Grandfather in '1923'? In doing this, the police ignored the fact that research shows that victims of trauma struggle to remember specific details about their experiences. "I didnt want it to ruin the rest of my life. He ordered the women to shower. But she didnt know if it was important. When Jordan didnt answer, Marie called her foster mother, then her upstairs neighbor, who came down to Maries apartment and called 911. It picked up nine months later and 22 miles to the west, when the rapist attacked the artist in Lakewood. Just like in the Netflix series, Marie was a foster child, with a troubled upbringing. D.M., who now lives in Wyoming, said through her attorneys Yvonne Kinoshita Ward and Rich Fisher that she was glad for the settlement and ready to move forward in the next chapter of her life.. After Marie approached Mason, he offered an apology. The man had gone to extreme lengths to avoid leaving DNA evidence, but touch DNA from the same paternal family line was found at three of the four crime scenes. At 8:15 a.m., Galbraith knocked on OLearys door. Hendershot was more experienced. But when the man looked away, the woman jumped out of her bedroom window. This was never meant to happen. She asked to take a polygraph testthough such tests do not provide reliable evidencebut declined when Rittgarn threatened jail and loss of housing if she failed it. Galbraith ruled out the brothers father he was too old and lived in a different state. Rape victims get immediate assistance from advocates at a local healthcare center. You can contact the court in which the case was filed to view the court record or to order . [1], After seven months of email and phone communication with Marie's lawyer, Marie agreed to speak to Armstrong. Galbraith felt sick. You should know better than to leave the door unlocked, he told her. In the kitchen, he went to the knife block and removed a black-handled blade from the top row, far left. Between 2008 and 2011, a series of rapes in the suburbs around Seattle and Denver were perpetrated by Marc Patrick O'Leary, an Army veteran who had been stationed near Tacoma. He also realized police departments often did not communicate. As for threatening jail and a possible withdrawal of housing assistance if Marie failed a polygraph: These statements are coercive, cruel, and unbelievably unprofessional, Rinta wrote. Marie has two brothers and a sister on her mothers side. Police should not interrogate victims or threaten to use a polygraph device. A 59-year-old woman told her that she had been asleep in her home when a man jumped on her back. Peggy, too, apologized. Dont scream. The attack. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Their work led to them arresting Marc O'Leary, who, in December that year, was convicted of 28 counts of rape and other felonies in the state of Colorado and sentenced to 327-and-a-half years in prison. She started smoking, drinking, gaining weight. She agreed, so they left her alone for a few minutes. Galbraith rushed to a Safeway near her house to send the warrant. Recently, Marie was asked if she had considered not reporting the rape. This is actually shown to be the case in the Netflix series too,. He gripped a silver and black gun. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! She just listened, then hung up. She moved around a lot as a kid, and had to switch foster homes about 11 times,not including the group homes she bounced around in. He looked like Marc OLeary. 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. The attack was so heinous; the attacker so practiced. While looking through evidence found in O'Leary's home, the detectives found evidence of other assaults out of state, including one in Lynnwood, WashingtonMarie's. He had taken her sheets and bedding. She wanted to take a lie detector test. Wanting independence, she moved into a program in Lynnwood, Washington entitled Project Ladder designed to help young people transition from foster care to living by themselves. News coverage, criminal justice guidelines and court transcripts were also consulted. In time, they became boyfriend and girlfriend. The lawsuit alleges police ignored or disregarded evidence once they convinced themselves she was not telling the truth. She married, and in October she and her husband had their second child. Lynnwood, Washington, U.S. Mar, 2009 Marie Charges In March 2009, she was charged with a gross misdemeanor: she was fined $500, put on probation and made to attend counseling. Investigators found a pair of Adidas ZX 700 shoes in OLearys closet. People are calling it the most "infuriating" true-crime drama of all time. [8] Three officers in the Lynnwood Police Department were interviewed, including Mason, one of the officers who handled Marie's request. The first day of the first year of high school fills many students with anxiety. Marie had made her report in August 2008 to Sergeant Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn. 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. It described the officers' behaviour as "bullying" and highlighted threats of jail and housing assistance removal as "coercive, cruel, and unbelievably unprofessional." Michaels appearance was confounding. Marie left the state, got a commercial drivers license and took a job as a long-haul trucker. He will never be released. In October 2008, one of Marie's foster parents saw a report of a woman in Kirkland, Washington, raped in the same way as Marie. Confused, the agent fell back on a practiced ruse. Some victims confuse fine points or even recant. Photographs of Marie were found on O'Leary's hard drive. When Marie called her on that first day, before the police arrived, she was crying and I could barely hear her, Peggy says. Thus the results couldnt be entered into the FBIs nationwide DNA database to check for a match to a suspect. Outside, Marie was on the grass, rolling around and giggling and laughing, Shannon says. Maybe it was the attacker waiting for the woman to fall asleep? She was 18 years old, charged with a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail. In the bathroom was a black headwrap, tied to serve as a mask. The news was not great. Marie was into boys, drawing and music, be it rock, country, or Christian. [9], Nora Caplan-Bricker of Slate reflected that "Marie's story helps remind us that false reports of rape are the exception, not the rule", believing that the article shows the "ruinous consequences" and "ubiquity" of rape victims being disbelieved. Before long, David stumbled onto something. By early March, a forensic computer specialist cracked into files that OLeary had stored on his hard drive. He threaded one of the shoelaces through a pair of underwear. He said nothing about doubting Maries story, according to Masons written summary. It was blustery, and biting cold. In 2011, her rapistMarc OLeary pleaded guilty to raping three women, including Marie, and trying to rape a fourth in Colorado. She was good at empathizing with the victims, who were overwhelmingly women. Marie Adler's story was told in the web series "Unbelievable" on Netflix. Aaron Hassell, the detective on the Lakewood case, raced back to his office. On a window, they found honeycomb marks. He was 32 years old and 220 pounds. You can also read more about how ProPublica and The Marshall Project reported this story. [22], "An Anatomy of Doubt" is the 581st episode of the American radio program and podcast This American Life. By the end of January 2011, the detectives had connected four rapes over a 15-month period across Denvers suburbs. They were tough for cops and prosecutors. Was she telling the truth? I really loved the family and I made a lot of friends, Marie says. Winning $150,000 in a lawsuit against Lynnwood WA, Marie gets the fuel she needs to leave Washington and start anew. Ken Armstrong is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who previously worked at The Seattle Times and Chicago Tribune, where his work helped prompt the Illinois governor to suspend executions and later empty death row. So, too, did OLearys truck. He took pictures and threatened to post them on the Internet. She doubted herself, wondering if there was something in her that needed to be fixed. The first draft was 15,000 words in length,[9] shortened to 12,000 in the final version. I made a lot of friends, Marie was into boys, drawing and music, be it,... 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