Category: Journalism

Coaches Who Prey

This yearlong project, published as a four-day series in 2003, now seems prescient: an investigation of sexual abuse by high school coaches, and the system that allowed them to flourish. Told through scores of in-depth interviews with sex abuse victims, perpetrators, parents and educators, the series changed lives and changed laws. It’s been cited in everything from Title IX textbooks to instructional material for police investigators. All thanks to the young women who had the courage to come forward.

A vanished brother, veils of secrecy and the sister who would not give up

An unusual obituary for a dashing young man named John Adams was the impetus for this piece. I tracked down John’s family and found a story that was as sad as it was beautiful. I was honored to be able to tell it.

Aging father agonizes over fate of his son

A story about a loving father, a seriously autistic son, and an agonizing choice. Also, a story about a growing public health issue: as people with severe disabilities are living longer than ever before, they’re being cared for by increasingly elderly parents. 

A year later: Cafe Racer lives on

One year after a gunman opened fire in a small, quirky Seattle café, I got the assignment to go back and talk to victims’ families and survivors. A portrait not only of grief but also of love and healing that won praise from victims, police, and strangers alike.