Buried in an evidence room, a DNA swab held the key to catching a serial sex offender. But no one tested it for years. Detective Annie Harrison finally put the pieces together in two states 800 miles apart. This is the story of Untested, an exclusive true crime podcast from USA TODAY and Witness. The show's host, USA TODAY Investigative Reporter Gina Barton, joins The Excerpt to discuss the reporting that went into the series and why she thinks listeners should tune in.Subscribe hereEpisode Transcript available hereSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the background story behind Untested?
Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Tuesday, May 6th, 2025, and this is a special episode of The Excerpt. A quick warning, this episode includes descriptions of sexual assault and suicide, so it may not be suitable for all listeners. Annie Harrison had just gotten back from a family vacation to Mexico with her husband, her aunt and uncle, and her two daughters.
She was cleaning out her inbox when she saw an email that would change the lives of two women who'd reported being raped. Annie is a detective in Michigan, and the email was from the state crime lab detailing a DNA match that would lead her on a quest to hunt down and bring a serial sex offender to justice.
This is the story of Untested, an exclusive true crime subscriber podcast series from Witness and USA Today. The podcast is available to subscribers of Witness and also on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Untested's host, investigative reporter Gina Barton, joins me now to talk about her reporting and why she thinks listeners should tune in. Thanks for joining me, Gina. Thanks for having me.
Chapter 2: How did Gina Barton decide to create Untested?
This is obviously a huge project, one that you've dedicated many, many months to now. What made you want to create Untested, Gina?
The idea started with our project into the problem of untested rape kits. And we looked into a federal grant program that was supposed to help solve that problem. During our reporting, I came across a court file talking about a man named Marshawn Curtis, and he was just going to be coming up for trial.
So I went to the trial, and that is where I met Detective Annie Harrison and started to hear and learn about everything that she went through for almost a year to try and bring this man to justice after he had gotten away with numerous sex crimes for 10 years. I just thought it would be a really compelling story for listeners.
Chapter 3: What challenges did Detective Annie Harrison face?
And we have some great audio that really gives you the inside view of how a police investigation works.
The main character of the show is Detective Annie Harrison. How exactly did you meet her and what drew you to her as a character?
I met Annie in the courtroom. And I have to say, when I first met her, I was a little bit intimidated by her. She's obviously very authoritative as a police detective. She's a little hard to read. But once I started talking with her, I realized she is really unusual as police. a police detective compared to lots of other ones that I've met during the course of my career.
Chapter 4: What makes Annie's investigative approach unique?
Annie was willing to talk about some of the mistakes that had been made in the investigation. She was willing to talk about how she as a detective had learned and evolved over the course of her career. She was very open about how much she cared about victims and how important she feels like this project is to get these rape kits tested, and how police across the country just have to do better.
As the reporting process went on, I ended up talking to Annie for probably 40 or 50 hours. I recorded all of those conversations, so I'd like to share this clip from one of them.
Chapter 5: How does Annie prioritize victim comfort during investigations?
I've always been a curious person, and I also feel that I've had a strong interest in justice. I was raised by a single mother who was a hard worker and always wanted to do things for other people. And I think that way that I was raised helped to contribute to my career choice to be in law enforcement.
And also I've always believed and known that bad things happen to good people and I want to be there to help.
Gina, what are some of the things Annie did differently from the other detectives who worked on this case?
Chapter 6: What were the previous investigative failures in this case?
Chapter 7: How can listeners access the podcast Untested?
She was cleaning out her inbox when she saw an email that would change the lives of two women who'd reported being raped. Annie is a detective in Michigan, and the email was from the state crime lab detailing a DNA match that would lead her on a quest to hunt down and bring a serial sex offender to justice.
This is the story of Untested, an exclusive true crime subscriber podcast series from Witness and USA Today. The podcast is available to subscribers of Witness and also on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Untested's host, investigative reporter Gina Barton, joins me now to talk about her reporting and why she thinks listeners should tune in. Thanks for joining me, Gina. Thanks for having me.
This is obviously a huge project, one that you've dedicated many, many months to now. What made you want to create Untested, Gina?
The idea started with our project into the problem of untested rape kits. And we looked into a federal grant program that was supposed to help solve that problem. During our reporting, I came across a court file talking about a man named Marshawn Curtis, and he was just going to be coming up for trial.
So I went to the trial, and that is where I met Detective Annie Harrison and started to hear and learn about everything that she went through for almost a year to try and bring this man to justice after he had gotten away with numerous sex crimes for 10 years. I just thought it would be a really compelling story for listeners.
And we have some great audio that really gives you the inside view of how a police investigation works.
The main character of the show is Detective Annie Harrison. How exactly did you meet her and what drew you to her as a character?
I met Annie in the courtroom. And I have to say, when I first met her, I was a little bit intimidated by her. She's obviously very authoritative as a police detective. She's a little hard to read. But once I started talking with her, I realized she is really unusual as police. a police detective compared to lots of other ones that I've met during the course of my career.
Annie was willing to talk about some of the mistakes that had been made in the investigation. She was willing to talk about how she as a detective had learned and evolved over the course of her career. She was very open about how much she cared about victims and how important she feels like this project is to get these rape kits tested, and how police across the country just have to do better.
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