Lynnwood police chief reflects on 'Unbelievable' rape case

LYNNWOOD — A new Netflix series about a Lynnwood teen’s rape, and detectives’ reluctance to believe her, has caused the city’s police chief to pause and reflect.

In a two-page letter released Thursday, Lynnwood Police Chief Tom Davis called the eight-episode show “impactful and thought-provoking,” and the circumstances of the sexual assault horrendous.

“Quite simply, there is no acceptable explanation for what occurred at that time,” he wrote.

“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 retracted her claim under pressure from male investigators and even her foster mothers, who suggested she made up the story for attention.

The girl was charged and then convicted of false reporting. A judge ordered her to pay $500 and undergo mental health counseling.

It would be another three years before her rapist, Marc Patrick O’Leary, was arrested in Colorado for attacking four more women. He was sentenced to 325 years in prison for the Colorado assaults. Then, in 2012, he was sentenced to 28 years for raping the Lynnwood woman and another woman in Kirkland.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/lynnwood-police-chief-reflects-on-unbelievable-rape-case/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=f120489210-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-f120489210-228635337