He possessed a mask, gun, women's underwear and other identifying evidence. The license plate was unreadable. When Detectives Stacy Galbraith and Edna Hendershot found Marc O'Leary (Christopher McCarthy in the show) guilty of raping 27 women, only then did they learn that one of those women was Marie. She remained close with Shannon, who would joke that she and Peggy were raising Marie together Shannon the fun one (lets go boating), Peggy the disciplinarian (be home by ). She had been alone in her apartment the previous evening. OLeary, in addition to assaulting D.M., also admitted he raped a 63-year-old Kirkland woman. Whenever she looked at them in the future, she would remember catching OLeary. Hassell typed in the license plate number from the Lakewood report: 935VHX. She saidshe found it strange that Marie wanted the same bedspread set that she had before the rape. Two dogs, a small pit bull and a Shar-Pei, tumbled out ahead of him. It was hard to get along. Marie sued the city, winning $150,000. . So did Zachor & Thomas, the law office that handled the prosecution of Marie on Lynnwood's behalf. [1][2] Colorado publication Westword reprinted the article as their cover story on May 19, 2016. It was just nice to be on my own and not have all the rules that I had had being in foster care, Marie says. Both were outgoing. Design and production by Rob Weychert and David Sleight for ProPublica, Andy Rossback and Lisa Iaboni for The Marshall Project. But when the man looked away, the woman jumped out of her bedroom window. Defendants included Rittgarn, Mason and Lynnwood Police Chief Steven J. Jensen. Marie got a letter, notifying her that she was wanted in court. After hours of further questioning, Marie wrote that she had been lying. He had a term for what he was about to do: rape theater. Deviant fantasies had gripped him since he was a kid, way back to when he had seen Jabba the Hutt enslave and chain Princess Leia. She had a social circle. Her department was small a little more than 40 officers serving a town of about 20,000. In doing this, the police ignored the fact that research shows that victims of trauma struggle to remember specific details about their experiences. I was trying to be a good citizen, actually. They were tough for cops and prosecutors. Marie sued the city and settled for $150,000. We have him.. She enjoyed chatting with people, free from pressure to sell. 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. What happened next serves as a harrowing. In 2011, Marc O'Leary was arrested in Colorado for rape and She has left the state, although she wants her new location to remain secret. Unbelievable | Official Trailer | Netflix, Netflix's 'Unbelievable' is Based on a True Story, The Best Movies Based on True Stories in 2019, Toni Collettes 'Unbelievable' Role, Explained, charge her with with making a false report to police, Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 joint investigation, trauma can sometimes cause victims to give differing accounts of their attacks, Armstrong told National Public Radio last year, reported the story in part by interviewing. Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report. They had moved up in the ranks. He was Marc OLeary. The search of the home validated the detectives investigation. The eight-part limited series is based on the real-life story of 18-year-old Marie, who, in 2008, reported that she was raped at knifepoint, later recanted her story amid police skepticism, and ended up charged with filing a false report. They wondered whether it contained photos of his victims. Hassell transmitted the image to Galbraith. It had cost her sense of worth. Seven cops stood behind her, pressed against the house, their guns drawn. She did. 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. It was awesome.. From a religious point of view, she follows Christianity. Dont scream. Mason, then 39, had spent his years mostly in patrol and narcotics. [3] Armstrong appeared on Utah Public Radio in November 2016, discussing the article on Access Utah. And on the long, fraught trail between crime and conviction, the first triers of fact were the cops. The investigators confronted her, and under their pressure, Marie said that she made up her initial claim. If Washington had just paid attention a little bit more, I probably would have been a person of interest earlier on, OLeary said. The man is arrested in February 2011, and subsequent evidence on his hard drive reveals that Marie, not previously known to the local investigative team, was raped by him. There it was, on OLearys left calf: a dark birthmark the size of a large chicken egg. Galbraith and her husband David once again faced each other on the couches in their living room. The three went to the Lynnwood police station, where the detectives escorted Marie to a conference room. It was not much. I told her, I said, Its over. Recognizing that Maries high school wasnt a great fit pretty cliquey, Peggy says Peggy found an alternative school that was. Mason then came to her home and interviewed her in person. Gina is survived by her parents, Terrance and Jennifer; her husband, Andy; her children, Carter (19), Noah (17) and Chase (13 . She couldnt bring herself to meet with the police again and say anything more. 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. Mason. 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 said the knife was hers that it had come from the kitchen, and was what the rapist had used to threaten her. Both laces had come from Maries black tennis shoes, in the living room. They sank down on separate couches in their living room. He spent the previous 11 years reporting for the Los Angeles Times. Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. She was Peggys first foster child. Roll over onto your stomach, he told her. Galbraith recognized them by sight. And all those sliding glass doors ridiculously easy to pick, when they werent left unlocked, which so often they were. A lot of times people say, Believe your victim, believe your victim, Galbraith said. Credited as a collaboration with The Marshall Project and ProPublica, it debuted on February 26, 2016. Their article, "An Unbelievable Story of Rape," tells the story of Marie (the middle name of the real victim) and Colorado detectives hunt for a serial predator. She would move a hundred miles an hour in one direction, a colleague said. Maybe it was the attacker waiting for the woman to fall asleep? 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. She trusted her victims memory. "When the police began doubting Marie, they turned on her, Armstrong told National Public Radio last year. Its too late for that, he replied. This time, though, there was something different. During the attack, he knocked a yellow teddy bear off a desk in her bedroom. For Marie, Shannons home had long provided an escape or respite. In the snow, they found a trail of footprints leading to and from the back of the apartment through an empty field. I was preparing for a baby. It was a collaboration between two American, non-profit news organizations, The Marshall Project and ProPublica. Just keep working! Galbraith insisted. After claiming police coerced her into recanting her story, the woman was charged with false reporting and fined $500 when she later tried to insist the rape did happen. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! He tried to bind her wrists. Following this, and Marie's conflicting account of when she phoned a friend, Mason and Rittgarn made Marie repeat her story, Rittgarn saying that he disbelieved her. The Project Ladder managers instead reached out to Sgt. This was the cleanest house Ive ever searched. They discovered a pair of Under Armour gloves with a honeycomb pattern. An OLeary man was responsible. He knew to avoid leaving his DNA at the scene. He had been punctilious. Now, we're extra careful that we get the right closure on it.. She flipped the switch, as she called it, suppressing all the feelings she didnt know what to do with. In August 2008, a stranger broke into the apartment of an 18-year-old Lynnwood woman, gagged her, bound her hands with a shoelace and raped her. No one really explained why she was being moved, or what was going on. The search results can point you to the official or complete court record. It had cost her the newfound independence she was savoring after a life in foster homes. Jennifer Gentile Long, CEO of AEquitas: The Prosecutors' Resource on Violence Against Women, commented that the article presented an "extraordinary learning opportunity for both criminal justice professionals and ordinary citizens alike". She doesnt want her first name revealed. They cracked fast jokes and smiled fast smiles. Lynnwood police found Marie south of Seattle, Washington and told her what had happened. Lynnwood, Washington 98037. She read the email and her mind shot back five months, to a crisp Tuesday in August 2010. Red Lobster. By early March, a forensic computer specialist cracked into files that OLeary had stored on his hard drive. The two bonded naturally. The statement was only one page. Marie was into boys, drawing and music, be it rock, country, or Christian. Police. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Mason. Marie said she really had been raped and began to cry, saying she was having visions of the man on top of her. She explained: "She's incredibly strong and she's been through so much, so everyone on the team wanted to respect her privacy.". Project Ladder staff made Marie return to police when she said she made the report under duress. (425) 640-6555. It fell to Shannon to break the news. Galbraith was hopeful. On the day she reported being raped, Marie phoned Shannon, her former foster mom, after getting back from the hospital. Like kids most everywhere, Marie wanted to fit in. And they handed her $500, a refund of her court costs. Years later, detectives would find notes on his cellphone from his surveillance of another target (his word) that detailed which room she was in and when, what lights were off or on, which windows and blinds were opened or closed, whether her boyfriend was there or gone. It was just like, freedom. Investigators, one guide advised, should not assume that a true victim will be hysterical rather than calm; able to show clear signs of physical injury; and certain of every detail. For the last two or three months, the woman told police, she felt as if someone had been following her. One sample was collected from the kitchen timer in Westminster. She was always nice to talk to.. Six hours on her feet didnt bother her. Two heads, three heads, four heads, sometimes are better than one, right? she said. Peggy, searching online, discovered a pilot program called Project Ladder. He told Marie that her description of calling Jordan was different from what Jordan had reported. One TV newscast announced, A Western Washington woman has confessed that she cried wolf when it came to her rape she reported earlier this week. She had been charged with filing a false report, which is why she was here today, to accept or turn down a plea deal. They often dont know about, or fail to use, an FBI database created years ago to help catch repeat offenders. However, when the lawsuit was filed in June, the programs CEO, Cassie Franklin, issued a statement saying Our hearts go out to D.M. It wasnt until 2 years later, when OLeary was arrested in Colorado, that Lynnwood police reopened their investigation. 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. Masons telephone rang. As we see in the series, Marie "reported being raped in her apartment by a man who had bound and gagged her." 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. PeopleFinders is the best people search for contact info and public records. Marie wrote that the attacker said she could untie herself once he was gone: After he left I grabbed my phone (which was right next to my head) with my mouth and I tried to call Jordan back. Marie's foster parents and police in Lynnwood have since apologized to her. The actual Maries first name is not Marie that'sher middle name, which was used in the articleabout her case. (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer headline read, Police: Lynnwood rape report was a hoax.) Maries best friend from high school the one who had taught her photography and had taken that picture of her emerging from the surf created a webpage that called Marie a liar, with a photo from Maries Myspace page, with police reports, with Maries full name. After a five-week crush, there were few leads and no suspects. Or even that Michael and Marc had worked together. . The woman told Galbraith she was 26 years old, an engineering student on winter break from a nearby college. She was very bubbly and full of energy, but she also had her moments where she could be very intense, Peggy says. At around 8 a.m., she was jolted awake by a man who had jumped on her back, pinning her to the bed. [18][19], In December 2015, ProPublica published a podcast episode where Miller and Armstrong discussed the article. She doubted herself, wondering if there was something in her that needed to be fixed. Her story hadnt hurt anyone no suspects arrested, or even questioned. 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. For Marie, this was a familiar drill, one she could trace to her years of being abused as a kid, and to her years in foster care, bouncing from home to home and school to school. Sitting close to her in the front seat of the car, Galbraith carefully brushed the womans face with long cotton swabs to collect any DNA traces that might remain. In addition, Mason had received a tip that Marie was unhappy with her apartment. Before long, David stumbled onto something. And the reporters who made her story national news are still in touch with Marie, who, in 2014, settled a lawsuit against the city of Lynnwood for $150,000. Details of that settlement are confidential, according to the womans lawyers. 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. Tearfully, she described her past all the foster parents, being raped when she was 7, getting her own place and feeling alone. OPEN NOW. Turn away, he told Marie and she did. Rapes by strangers were uncommon about 13 percent of cases. She grew up with police, trusted police, knew how the police worked. In the kitchen, when Shannon walked in, Marie didnt meet her gaze. Confused, the agent fell back on a practiced ruse. 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. A friend from 10th grade called to ask: How could you lie about something like that? Marie broke down, experiencing, all at once, shock, relief and anger. All those windows, for one thing. In 2015, an article co-authored by ProPublica and The Marshall Project about Marie's case gripped the nation and finally afforded Marie some semblance of justice. OLeary pleaded guilty to 28 counts of rape and associated felonies in Colorado. It was registered to a Lakewood man named Marc Patrick OLeary. So, too, did OLearys truck. OLeary was put in a patrol car and transported to the Jefferson County Jail. Put your hands behind your back, he told her. Marie was heavily medicated, although its not clear why. 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. D.M. And it was fine. They began to collaborate, with Armstrong writing about Marie's story in Washington and Miller writing about the police investigation in Colorado. It was just nice to be on my own and not have all the rules that I had had being in foster care, Marie said, according toProPublica. For me it seems like people read me differently than I see myself.. We were really sad that we werent able to have her with us, Shannon says. The next day, when Shannon saw Marie at her apartment, her doubts intensified. Peggy didnt have any. Westminster Detective Edna Hendershot had settled into her morning with her Starbucks usual: a Venti, upside-down, skinny caramel macchiato. In August 2008, 18-year-old Marie (her middle name) called the police in Lynnwood, Washington, to report . Afterward, he ordered her to brush her teeth and wash herself in the shower. He asked if the rapist was real and she said "no." It is graphic, but she told us people should hear it. The man wore a condom, she believed. In December 2011, O'Leary was sentenced to 327.5 years in prison for four incidents in Colorado. She had gotten all the classes she wanted. Hendershot did not want to be too hasty. This site is a search engine for cases filed in the municipal, district, superior, and appellate courts of the state of Washington. Our personalities didnt match at first either, Marie says. She had turned up something. Her birthplace is Lynnwood, Washinton, United States, and her age is 32 years old. 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