Canary: The Washington Post Investigates

Broken Doors, Episode 1: "That's what you get"

Sheriff’s deputies burst through the front door of a man’s home as he slept. He said they pointed a gun at his head and ransacked his home in search of drugs and cash. The no-knock search warrant they used was threadbare. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The Washington Post’s Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca started identifying unusual warrants almost from the moment they began their investigation into no-knock raids. When Jenn looked more closely at documents from a rural county in Mississippi, she got a startling view into how little it took to execute a no-knock warrant in Monroe County.

After a sexual assault case in the District of Columbia, one woman’s public warning ricochets all the way to Birmingham, Ala., where another woman gives voice to a devastating allegation. 

This seven-part investigative series from The Washington Post follows the Alabama woman’s decision to come forward with a claim of sexual assault against a high-ranking figure in the D.C. criminal justice system, and the spiraling effects of that choice. 

“Canary: The Washington Post Investigates” is about the intertwining stories of these two women, separated by decades and united by a shared refusal to stay silent. It’s a podcast about what it takes to report this story — and why it matters. Hosted by investigative reporter Amy Brittain.