Netflix's groundbreaking miniseries Unbelievable is a show that really lives up to its name. Of course, the title most clearly refers to the fact that a young girl who comes forward with her experience of rape is not believed and treated absolutely abysmally by all of the people around her. But there is also an obvious meta level meaning to it, because honestly the entire story is so insane that it really is hard to believe, even if the audience knows that the story is true.
The writers of Unbelievable have said that they went out of their way to stay as faithful to the real story as possible, both to honor Marie's experience and because the story doesn't need its drama to be pumped up any further. And while it's not an exact recreation of the real situation, there are many plot points in the show that are very hard to believe, but are completely true. And here's ten of the most shocking.
Two Female Detectives Broke The Case
Most people already know that women make up a very small percentage of the police force in the United States, but many people don't realize quite how low it is. Recent estimates put female representation in police at around 15%, which is obviously surprisingly few female cops out in the world, but it also makes it harder to believe that two female detectives are the one who broke this case. After all, it is literally statistically very unlikely that it would happen. Except in this case, it did. Two female detectives in neighboring jurisdictions were assigned to individual rape cases, and then they discovered that they were likely investigating the same perpetrator.
Marie's Foster Mom Called The Cops To Say She Thought Marie Lied
This particular plot point in Unbelievable felt especially, well, unbelievable, but it is once again an element of the series that was completely based in fact. Most people wouldn't accuse a family member or loved one of lying to the police about an assault, but one of Marie's foster mothers did just that.
When Marie's foster mom thought that Marie's behavior in the days following the assault were somewhat strange, or at least now how she personally would expect a recent rape victim to be reacting, she decided to share her suspicions about the attack with the police. And even now she still defends that decision on the basis of Marie's behavior (which for the record, were pretty standard responses to trauma).
The Rapist Had An Identifying Birthmark
The serial rapist who perpetrated all of these crimes was exceptionally skilled at removing as much evidence as he could from the crime scene in order to conceal his identity. But the obvious flaw in his plan is that regardless of how much he cleaned or how careful he was, there was still a victim that could provide evidence and information about him as a person. And a lot of the little tidbits that his victims noticed actually were very helpful to the investigation, but one thing that stuck out in particular was that he had a very distinctive birthmark on his leg, and that was true for the real rapist as well as his fictionalized counterpart.
Marie Was Identified By Her Literal ID
Most police officers and victims of crimes would hope for some decent circumstantial evidence to back their story up, but no one would ever even fathom that a criminal would provide evidence that is as irrefutable as this. When the rapist was finally caught, the police were looking through all of the pictures he had accumulated of his victims, and that is how they discovered Marie. As just as they showed in Unbelievable, they identified her because her assailant literally took a picture of her provisional license. Obviously it was too little too late, but it's amazing that Marie wound up with the kind of proof that even someone who didn't want to believe her couldn't deny.
Marie's Community Living Organization Made Her Tell Everyone That She Lied
One of the weirder scenes in Unbelievable is when the people who manage Marie's apartment complex, a sort of halfway house for kids who are transitioning from foster care to actual adulthood, force Marie to tell everyone in the complex that she lied while they explain to her how awful her "lie" made them feel.
However, that is yet another instance where the dramatized version of events is nearly identical to reality. Presumably, the whole situation was driven by the idea of making Marie be honest and take some accountability for her actions, but it's horrific to watch when you already know the truth.
Marie Actually Did Have A Meltdown Over Sheets
A really unsettling element of Marie's whole situation is that both of her foster mothers seem to be suspicious of whether or not Marie's account is actually true. When one of Marie's foster moms takes her shopping to get new sheets, Marie gets extremely upset about the fact that the sheets she used to have aren't available anymore. And according to Marie's real-life foster mom, her reaction is one of the reasons that she suspected that Marie might be lying. Her reaction was actually very normal for someone dealing with trauma, but her foster mother thought that no one who had truly been attacked would want to replace the sheets that they had been attacked on.
Marie Was Fined $500 For Filing Her Report
As Marie's lawyer in the series explains, although filing a police report is a crime, it's not one that is typically prosecuted. However, in Marie's case, the police obviously decided to make an exception. It's possible that because the story was discovered by the public and there was a lot of outrage surrounding it that the police decided to make an example out of Marie and actually prosecute her for filing a police report. Marie wound up not fighting the charges and taking a plea agreement, and that agreement demanded that she go on probation and pay the state a $500 fine.
One Detective's Husband Was The Key To Connecting The Cases
In any television series or film it seems like there are occasional plot contrivances that are inserted into the story in order to move the narrative along more quickly. And when Detective Duvall is discussing her newest case with her husband, her husband tells her that it sounds very similar to a rape case that is being handled at his police department a few towns over.
This seems like it would be an overly obvious plot device, because what are the chances of something like that actually happening in real life, right? However, that's actually exactly how the two detectives initially connected over these cases.
The Investigators Were Confounded By The Brother
So by this point, anyone who watched Unbelievable is more than familiar with the serial rapist who's capture is the focal point of the show. But his real-life counterpart, a man named Marc O'Leary, was actually initially their main suspect. However, as the detectives were trying to snag his DNA, they realized he had a brother who looked very similar to him. And they did discover that these brothers were living in the same house because when the police knocked on the door and expected no one to be home, Marc O'Leary himself unexpectedly opened the door.
Marie's Other Foster Mom Called About The Similar Case, And Was Ignored
Another very sad element of Unbelievable that was entirely true is that, although one of Marie's foster moms was somewhat skeptical of her behavior in the immediate aftermath of the rape, she ultimately began to believe that Marie had lied about lying when she saw a news report about another attack that sounded strikingly similar to Marie's original story. Because the similarity set off some alarm bells, her foster mom called the police department where the new attack had taken place and told them about it. However when that department called the Lynwood police department they informed them that the report was false, and neither department looked into it any further.