How USA TODAY tracked a cold-case rape investigation

Information in this story came from 30 hours of interviews, a review of more than 1,500 pages of police records and court documents, video- and audio-recorded interrogations and in-person reporting.

Phrases that appear inside quotation marks represent a subject’s exact words as heard by the reporter, written in a transcript, quoted in a police report or captured on a recording. Dialogue shown in italics reflects people’s statements as recalled or summarized in interviews, news stories or police or court records. When people’s thoughts are described, they conveyed those thoughts in police statements, court testimony or interviews.

Reporter Gina Barton attended the trial and sentencing hearing of Marshawn Curtis for the rape of Joslyn Phillips in Lansing, Michigan. Barton reviewed transcripts of those court proceedings, as well as transcripts of pretrial hearings in the Phillips case and others in which Curtis was named as a defendant.

Barton interviewed Detective Annie Harrison multiple times over a 10-month period. Barton watched a video of Harrison’s interrogation of Curtis and read her report, as well as police reports filed in Phillips’ case before it was assigned to Harrison. Barton also reviewed police and court records detailing other allegations against Curtis .

USA TODAY does not publish the names of sexual assault complainants without their consent. Barton interviewed and corresponded with Emily Zaballos, who shared extensive details about her experiences. At Curtis’ trial, she was referred to by her married name. For this story, she asked that her maiden name be used.

Phillips declined to be interviewed, but she gave USA TODAY permission to use her full name and a photo of her at 17, which was admitted as an exhibit at the trial. Phillips also filed a federal civil suit against the city of Lansing, Ingham County, police officers and prosecutors for mishandling her case. Her attorneys, Ven R. Johnson and Aristidi D. Papaioannou, provided USA TODAY with copies of both Phillips’ and Harrison’s depositions in that case, which remained pending as of late September.

Hannah, who was accosted by Curtis as she walked home from an East Lansing bar in 2019, was identified by her full name when she testified at his trial. She asked that USA TODAY use only her first name.

Other victims who testified at trial included a woman who said Curtis approached her as she exited a mall restroom, a high-schooler who said he followed her in a library and a woman who said he masturbated in front of her on the street.

Retired Lansing Police Detective Catherine Farrell, Phillips’ friend Tiffany Horner and Phillips’ roommate at the time of the rape also testified.

Detective Angela Carter of the Gwinnett County Police Department in Georgia did not respond to interview requests. Barton reviewed Carter’s report of the rape complaint Zaballos made there, a video recording of her interview with Zaballos, and an audio recording of her phone conversation with Curtis.

In an emailed statement, public information officer Sgt. Collin Flynn said the case had been closed because Zaballos told Carter she did not want to pursue criminal charges.

“Upon notification from a media outlet that the victim may have changed her mind, the police department reached back out to her to inform her that the case can be reopened at any time,” Flynn wrote. “She has not indicated a desire to reopen the case currently.”

Other people interviewed for this story include: Mary DuFour Morrow, the former director of the Michigan Sexual Assault Kit Initiative; Joseph Merritt, Harrison’s partner on the Ingham/Jackson Regional Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Task Force; Aylysh Gallagher, the prosecutor who charged Curtis with domestic violence and cross-examined him at the rape trial; Sara Tunney, one of the victim advocates assigned to the case; Derick Ward, the Ingham County detective who arrested Curtis while assigned to a state police fugitive apprehension team; and Johnson, Phillips’ attorney.

Marshawn Curtis was found guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with personal injury. He was sentenced to 17 ½ to 80 years in prison. The Michigan Department of Corrections declined to make Curtis available for an interview. As of late September, criminal charges were pending against him as a result of two other allegations: Having sex with the 15-year-old in 2012 and exposing himself to the prospective juror outside the courthouse in 2019. A paternity test has established him as the father of the 15-year-old's baby. He has denied the 2019 incident.

UNTESTED: Chapter 1, The Case . | Chapter 2, The Chase . | Chapter 3, The Trial . | About this story . | 8 lessons learned .

Gina Barton is an investigative reporter at USA TODAY. She can be reached at (262) 757-8640 or gbarton@gannett.com . Follow her on X @writerbarton .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How USA TODAY tracked a cold-case rape investigation