Ph: 269-217-6668 Netflix After seeing the series, many Unbelievable viewers became upset with how the police dealt with . Reported by ProPublica and the Marshall Project, it involves a 2008 case in Lynnwood where an eighteen year old woman reported to have been raped in her apartment but was disbelieved by the police and prosecuted for the false complaint. It broke me, she said of the doubt she was raped and its repercussions. Our pictures and experiences are listed on our website because we believe our experience levels and our expertise are what set us far apart from other investigative agencies. While in Afghanistan, Mr. Heffron worked directly with US and NATO special forces military units and intelligence agencies. He has testified in hundreds of criminal and civil cases at all levels of both state and federal courts. In sum, Marie did not act the way a rape victim, in their estimation, should. The co-author of A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, at Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle (206-624-6600 or elliottbaybook.com). Eventually, it was revealed that Jeffrey and Jerry's interactions with Marie included "bullying" and "hounding," and were nothing short of the victim being coerced into admitting that she lied about the rape.. View their profile including current address, phone number 858-748-XXXX, background check reports, and property record on Whitepages, the most trusted online directory. He is a licensed professional investigator in the State of Michigan. Galbraiths real husband was indeed a police officer in another county and made the connection between the rape case his wife was investigating and another a detective at his station was handling. Unbelievable | Official Trailer | Netflix. Mr. Blynn began his career as a Crime Scene Investigator/Latent Fingerprint Examiner with the Miami Dade Public Safety Department in Florida. Until wider changes are made to the national justice system, cases like the one that Unbelievable is based on could still happen. Ken Armstrong, a former reporter with the Seattle Times, came by Elliott Bay Book Company on Wednesday evening to read from, and talk about, his new book. And that moving phone call between Marie and Duvall at the end of the series? Jeffrey Mason, a detective on the case, the day after the assault occurred to report that Marie had a past history of trying to get attention and she was unsure whether or not the attack actually took place. Manson has publicly and privately apologized to Marie for the way he handled this case and has since moved back to the narcotics division. In recreated flashbacks that rely on phrases like the beast wouldnt rest and the monster would gather strength, the authors show him stalking women and breaking into their homes by night. Oh, and were on Instagram too. In real life, however, the names of the two male officers are Sgt. Join Facebook to connect with Jerry Rittgarn and others you may know. While assigned to Detroit, Mr. Vander Vliet worked bank robberies, violent crimes, and narcotics cases. At 25, she is raw but also resilient. In these units, Mr. Neil became well-schooled in the areas of both overt and covert surveillances and high level white collar crimes. He is a licensed professional investigator in the State of Michigan. We all got into this job to help people, not to hurt them.". When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. The implicit bias against sexual assault victims is a national embarrassment that extends far beyond the Lynnwood borders. Rittgarn, who has left the Lynnwood Police Department and works as a private investigator in San Diego, said he was unaware of the lawsuit. Detective Parker is the first detective to question Marie at the station, in real life and this mans name is Sgt. During his career with the MSP, he held the ranks of Trooper Investigator, Detective Sergeant, and First Lieutenant. They found her manner suspiciously unemotional, and detected slight inconsistencies in her story. (Marie, meanwhile, received a $150,000 settlement from the city of Lynnwood and $500 to reimburse her court costs.). At one of the crime scenes, detectives found some touch DNA. "Bullying" and "hounding" are two words his report used to describe the male detectives who questioned Marie and it goes on to label them further as "coercive, cruel, and unbelievably unprofessional". Makes my blood boil the way the cops treat her is exactly why many other survivors would rather suffer I silence #Unbelievable, I'm watching #Unbelievable on #Netflix #UnbelievableNetflix and the differences of approach in questioning rape victims by male and female cops is incredibly alarming. The Bureau Group is the premier private investigative firm in West Michigan. Youll love our magazine! The show Unbelievablepremieredon Netflix in 2019 to rave reviews from both critics and viewers alike, even earning lead actress, Kaitlin Dever, her first Golden Globe nomination. Jeffrey Mason questioned whether he was qualified to do his job after more than 20 years as a cop when he learned hed helped prosecute a vulnerable rape victim. If you value what were doing, please consider contributing to our Patreon, and allow us to continue to grow and provide coverage of our community. Seattleite, (mostly) retired arts/culture blogger. '", Like in the ProPublica piece, the Netflix series compares Marie's police experience with another woman, Amber. The first one wasnt good enough because it claimed that she dreamt her rape. It was only when two female detectives working on another case discovered new evidence that Marie's original claims were vindicated. A FALSE REPORT A True Story of Rape in America By T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong 291 pp. Another detective in Aurora explains how he learned that there is no right way for a survivor to respond to an assault. A stranger with a knife entered her apartment in Lynnwood, Wash., while she was sleeping, she told the police, tied her up with one of her shoestrings and blindfolded and gagged her. Over the course of his career, Mr. Blynn has conducted a wide variety of investigations to include surveillance operations, fugitive investigations, bank robbery investigations, kidnapping investigations, white collar crime cases, and wire fraud investigations. Miller and Armstrong tell their story plainly, expertly and well. He said its not common for police to talk so openly about a a mistake theyve made.. The entire investigation and Maries perspective were published in An Unbelievable Story of Rape, a Pulitzer prize-winning report from ProPublica and The Marshall Project. Additionally, Mr. Crumb was responsible for pre-employment screening and the investigations of threats directed toward Amway, as well as workplace violence training. He was awarded the Case of the Year by the U.S. Attorneys Office, Western District of Michigan for an investigation that resulted in the dismantlement of a drug cartel operation in Southwestern Michigan. Mr. Aubermann graduated Cum Laude from Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and a major in Accounting. The failures of the Lynnwood Police Department, massive and unforgivable as they are, is not the sole focus of this article, though. In real life, the detectives' names are Stacy Galbraith and Edna Hendershot, but again, thats pretty much the only thing that was changed in this story. They moved from looking exclusively at unsolved rape cases to looking at home invasions as well, and they found an interesting case. Whether you've watched Susannah Grant's adaptation or read the award-winning article that the show's based on, you'll know that Marie (played by Kaitlyn Dever) was just 18 when a man broke into her apartment and sexually assaulted her while she slept. By contrast, Jeffrey had only taken on two rape cases before Marie's, while Jerry worked as a technician in the aerospace industry before becoming a detective. Jerry Rittgarn is on Facebook. Marie is a testament to the harm of poor police work that derails a rape investigation. View the profiles of people named Jerry Rittgarn. Claiming police coerced her into recanting her story, the woman . Thats the larger lesson of a nonfiction narrative like this one: It continues, beyond a books pages. The Bureau Group is the premier private investigative firm in West Michigan. Thankfully, the ramifications of this have helped change the way Lynnwoods Criminal Investigations Division approach crimes of this nature. Hiring a private investigator can help in all kinds of situations ranging from finding a birth parent to improving personal security. Speaking with reporters years later in the very same room where he had once confronted Marie, Mason admitted: "It wasnt [Marie's] job to try to convince me. Her hobbies include perpetual coffee sipping and pretending to be a Chopped contestant while cooking. Bill Blynn has been involved in law enforcement since 1972. Mr. Blynn is an FBI-certified Police Instructor, Firearms Instructor, and SWAT Agent. She was a teenager coming out of foster care and her sense of self and her support system was tentative and fragile. They also found one of Maries kitchen knives next to the bed and her learners permitoddly removed from her walleton the bedroom windowsill. One example, he noted, was using the word groped instead of fondled because groped is more likely to be read as non-consensual. Though Miller and Armstrong dont say so, its one more telling illustration of who does or doesnt get the benefit of the doubt. Mason moved to his post working on narcotics cases. NEXT: Top 10 BBC Drama Shows Available On Netflix Spring 2020 (According To IMDb), Netflix's Unbelievable: 5 Things They Based On The True Story (& 5 Things They Changed), 10 Things In Netflix's Unbelievable That Were Shockingly Real, Toni Collette: 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes, 10 Weird True Crime Stories Netflix Should Cover In A Documentary Next, 10 Best Netflix Original Scary Movies (According To IMDb), Top 10 BBC Drama Shows Available On Netflix Spring 2020 (According To IMDb). Ph: 269-208-5217 All the while, OLeary was secretly operating a group of specialized porn sites. Private investigators provide various services that range from very simple to highly complex. Theyremained truthful to the details and the investigation, but out of respect for all of the women, they changed their names. I was, for lack of a better word, enslaved to something Ive detested my entire life, he after his arrest in 2011. Marc OLeary was the man who, after many years of getting away with it, was eventually caught and taken into custody in February of 2011. "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" is a 2015 article about a series of rapes in the American states of Washington and Colorado that occurred between 2008 and 2011, and the subsequent police investigations. Submit the fee and application no . He told her that if she failed, she could be jailed, and her housing assistance pulled. He told Miller and Armstrong he would talk to them only if. Marty Vander Vliet retired in November 2016 after 26 years as an FBI Special Agent assigned to the Detroit and Grand Rapids FBI Offices. Like what you just read? Our experience speaks for itself. Find Jerry Rittgarn's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading online directory for contact information. The terrible reality of it is that, you know, it was for me it was just an opportunity, which is disgusting, and I know that, he says, but thats you know, thats the truth.. Back when the report was published in 2015, Rider described Marie's case as a "major failing" for his department: "Knowing that she went through that brutal attack and then we told her she lied? The Bureau Group has the ability to provide a wide range of investigative, security, and training services for corporations and/or individuals on a local or an international level. If this hadnt been documented in their reports, I would have been skeptical that this actually happened. Steve Crumb retired from the Ottawa County Sheriffs Office in 2005. And although the attacker always masked his identity, one of the victims could specifically recall a distinct birthmark on his calfthe final piece to the puzzle that would ultimately expose him. It is painful to read, and difficult to understand how this type of behavior on the part of experienced police officers can happen in a professional police department. He retired as the Post Commander of the Hastings, MI Post. Hed been an investigator for more than two decades by then. It was an incredible, serendipitous moment both in the series and in real life and it is that conversation that sets the entire story in motion, eventually leading to Maries vindication and the capturing of a serial rapist. Here are eight important details you should know about the true story that inspired Unbelievable. One person they didn't talk to was one of the two officers who were tasked with investigating the case, Detective Jerry Rittgarn, who looks to have scrubbed almost everything off of his LinkedIn . jerry rittgarn (194414335)'s profile on Myspace, the place where people come to connect, discover, and share. Hes now in prison for life. These investigators have conducted and led complex investigations throughout the State of Michigan, across the United States, and around the globe. In the original story, authors Miller and Armstrong chose to leave out much of this information about OLeary, instead concentrating on his victims. Jerry Rittgarn was born on 05/01/1947 and is 75 years old. Previous to Jerry's current city of Menifee, CA, Jerry Rittgarn lived in San Diego CA and Poway CA. More confusing accounts of sexual assault, in which consent is disputed with anguish in a toxic swirl of partying and hook-up culture, have become part of the landscape, especially on college campuses. Mr. Heffron was individually selected on two separate occasions to be part of an elite group that targeted terrorism matters in Afghanistan. Another thing Armstrong talked about is the implicit bias against victims of sexual assault built into the criminal justice system. Hastings, MI He actually met with Marie again after the truth came. Last Friday, Netflix released their latest true crime series entitled .css-1me6ynq{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#125C68;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#125C68;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-1me6ynq:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:#595959;}Unbelievable, which is centered around The Marshall Project and ProPublica's Pulitzer-prize-winning article, An Unbelievable Story of Rape. Assault built into the criminal justice system, cases like the one that Unbelievable is based on could still.... 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