Untested: New podcast takes listeners inside a detective's hunt for a sexual predator
Untested: New podcast takes listeners inside a detective's hunt for a sexual predator
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New podcast highlights a cop's quest amid rape kit backlog
In Untested, an exclusive podcast from USA TODAY and Witness, a detective brings listeners along as she tracks a sexual predator.
Emily Zaballos sat at a bare table in a windowless room, waiting to be interviewed by the police. It was April 2020, and she was waiting to speak with a detective about a rape report she had filed a month earlier.
Zaballos had already talked with police several times about the night she says Marshawn Curtis raped her. But the detective, Angela Carter, had asked Zaballos to come to the station and answer additional questions.
Their interview was recorded, both audio and video.
'So, the reason I wanted to bring you in here is because I reviewed everything that we have so far. I talked to Curtis and everything like that,' Carter told Zaballos. 'I reviewed the video camera footage from the officer. You told him something different than you told me. … I need you to walk me through literally from when he got there to when he left. Everything that happened.'
Carter wanted to know: Did Zaballos have anything to drink that night? How much did she have to drink? Why didn't she ask him to leave? Why didn't she make him leave?
With every answer, Zaballos' voice grew quieter. The pauses between her answers grew longer. Tears formed in her eyes.
And then, from Carter: 'Let me ask you a serious question: Do you want to prosecute on this?'
Zaballos answered: 'I don't want him to think this behavior is OK. But I just don't want to f---ing relive this.'
More: America tested 100,000 forgotten rape kits. But justice remains elusive.
Carter interrupted: 'So how do you want to go forward? What do you want to do from here?'
Zaballos was crying now, blowing her nose. 'I don't want to go through all this all over again, over and over, because at this point – "
'I need an answer,' Carter insisted. 'Do you want him to go to jail? Do you want to prosecute for this?'
Zaballos sniffled. Took a deep breath. 'I don't want to go through this. … This is just too much for me right now.'
'So you don't want to prosecute for this?'
Another sniffle. A sigh. 'No.' A pause. A whisper: 'I want it to go away.'
'All right. I see you're upset. Do you have any more questions for me?'
'No.'
More: 'Unacceptable': How USA TODAY's rape kit reporting sparked officials to call for change
'So at this point, what will happen is the case will be unfounded,' Carter told her. 'It will be closed, and then no one should contact you in reference to this anymore. OK?'
So begins Untested, a new podcast from USA TODAY in cooperation with WITNESS, a true crime collection powered by investigative journalism. As the story unfolds, Detective Annie Harrison discovers that the same man Zaballos accused has been linked by DNA to another rape complaint 800 miles away. She gains Zaballos' trust and enlists her as an ally in the fight for justice. During the five episodes of Untested, Harrison brings listeners along as she tracks the suspected rapist from Georgia to Michigan and from the jail to the courtroom.
Listen to the first episode, free, right here. To binge the entire season ad-free, subscribe for just $4.99.
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