What We Uncovered About the Sexual Assault of Alice Sebold and a City’s Buried Rape Crisis

ProPublica reports on a yearslong investigation into systemic failures surrounding the 1981 rape of Alice Sebold in Syracuse, which led to the wrongful conviction of Anthony Broadwater (exonerated in 2021 after 16 years in prison). The reporting reveals that Syracuse police deprioritized rape cases during this period, prosecutors mishandled evidence and witness procedures, judges overlooked irregularities, and Syracuse University actively suppressed media coverage of what appeared to be a serial rape pattern—with evidence suggesting Thomas Weakfall, not Broadwater, may have committed multiple assaults in the same area. The investigation is credited to named reporter Joaquin Sapien and includes extensive sourcing: 2025 depositions from former detectives, grand jury records, court testimony from prosecutors, interviews with both Broadwater and Sebold, and specific details about physical evidence, lineup procedures, and subsequent crimes. The reporting demonstrates rigorous investigative journalism with documented facts, named sources discussing their own roles, and acknowledgment of what evidence was and was not available at the time. The independent search results do not provide direct corroboration of this specific Syracuse case, though they confirm that institutional mishandling of rape cases remains a documented problem across multiple jurisdictions. Watch for potential civil settlements (Broadwater's case against Syracuse and Onondaga County is contested) and whether this investigation prompts broader review of other wrongful convictions or institutional policies at Syracuse University.