Unbelievable

Unbelievable

The shocking truth behind the hit Netflix series

Summary

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The real-life investigation behind the hit Netflix series, from two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLD DAGGER AWARD

She said she was raped.
Police said she lied.
She was made to retract the report – but the nightmare only got worse.

On 11 August 2008, eighteen-year-old Marie reported that a masked man had broken into her home and raped her. Within days, police – and even those closest to Marie – became suspicious of her story. Confronted by these minor inconsistencies and doubt, Marie broke down and said her story was a lie. The police charged her with making a false report.

Two years later, Colorado detective Stacy Galbraith was assigned to a case of sexual assault. It bore an eerie resemblance to a rape that had taken place months earlier in a nearby town. Joining forces with the detective on that case, Edna Hendershot, the two soon discovered they were dealing with a serial rapist. As their investigation deepened, it became clear that numerous police departments had extremely similar cases on their hands – and that Marie's story bore an eerie resemblance to the cases they were investigating.

Unbelievable is a chilling tale of doubt, lies, and the hunt for justice, unveiling the disturbing reality of how sexual assault is investigated and the long history of scepticism toward its victims.
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Previously published as A False Report

Reviews

  • Brilliant detective work, very well told.
    Evening Standard

About the author

T. Christian Miller

T. Christian Miller joined ProPublica, the non-profit newsroom for investigative journalism, as a senior reporter in 2008. Before that, he worked for the Los Angeles Times, where he covered politics, wars, and was once kidnapped by leftist guerrillas in Colombia. His first book, Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq, was called one of the “indispensable” books on the war. He teaches data journalism at the University of California at Berkeley and was a Knight Fellow at Stanford University.
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