In November of 1996, just five months after graduating from New York University, a stranger grabbed Marnie as she was unlocking the door to her West Village apartment. He put a knife to her throat, covered her eyes with his hand and forced her into the apartment. Her roommate was at home cooking dinner. He demanded money and jewelry, tied and blindfolded the women and sexually assaulted both at knife point.
The case became surrounded by media attention and dubbed the “Greenwich Village Double Rape”. After a year, the media interest had dried up and so had all of the detective’s leads. The investigation was moved to the cold case files and seemingly forgotten. The two roommates lost their lives, their home and their friendship. They never returned to their apartment and went their separate ways.
Nearly ten years later, Marnie received an email from her old roommate who found her on the internet. One week later the roommate was contacted by NYPD detectives who were re-examining the case as part of the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Cold Case Project review.
In a whirlwind of events than spanned over a few weeks, the attacker was caught through a positive DNA match made by the NY State Sexual Offender’s DNA Databank and evidence in the Police Department's cold case files. In May 2005, the women went in front of a grand jury and he was indicted and charged with rape, sodomy, burglary and criminal possession of weapon.
In June 2006, the trial date was set and both women testified. The case once again received media attention but this time because of the attacker’s past. It was revealed that he had committed numerous sexual assaults, including a celebrity and her roommate ten years before Marnie and her roommate were assaulted. It was also discovered that the serial sex offender was prescribed Viagra by doctors at the Bronx-based Fordham-Tremont Community Mental Health Center from early 2003 to mid-2005.
On June 12, 2006 the attacker was found guilty on all eight counts. A press release issued from Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau’s office cited the indictment in support of his call for the expansion of New York State’s DNA Databank and a Predatory Sexual Assault statute which would “elevate certain sexual assaults to the most serious class of felonies, joining other 'A' felonies, such as murder, arson and kidnapping which carry life sentences.” The case was also instrumental in helping to eliminate New York State’s statue of limitations on sexual assault.
On June 27th, 2006 Marnie and her roommate gave separate victim impact statements but stood side by side as the judge gave him the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.
