This is exactly right.

This story contains adult content and language,

along with references to sexual assault.

Listener discretion is advised.

So the police officer, they're supposed to decide whether there even is any evidence, which is obviously not an evidence-based evidence system if you're already deciding who's lying.

I'm Kate Winkler Dawson, a nonfiction author and journalism professor in Austin, Texas.

I'm also the co-hosts of the podcast Buried Bones on Exactly Right.

And throughout my career, research for my many audio and book projects has taken me around the world.

On Wicked Words, I sit down with the people I've met along the way, amazing writers,

journalists, filmmakers, and podcasters who have investigated and reported on notorious true crime cases.

This is about the choices writers make, both good and bad, and it's a deep dive into the unpublished

details behind their stories. This week on Wicked Words, years ago, author Pagan Kennedy,

wondered about the history of the rape kit, a crucial tool for investigators today. Who designed it?

She found out that it was Martha Goddard, a pioneer who wanted to help police catch sexual predators using forensics. But sometime after

she made history, Goddard vanished. Listen to Kennedy's story at the center of her book, The Secret

History of the Rape Kit.

I read a New York Times review of your book. I can't really remember the last review I read from

the Times that had zero criticism about the, I mean, zero. What do you think resonates with readers? I know you're doing a lot of

interviews. What do you think it is about, you know, this project that has really kind of caught

the attention of readers today? You know, I really thought a lot about how to tell this story.

You know, I really want to deliver new information to people and really important

information, but I think it's very important to wrap it in a story in the right way.

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