By Ann Marie Shambaugh
A woman who said she was nearly abducted at knifepoint last month made up the whole story, Zionsville police are reporting.
On March 28, Tina Marie Rattinger told police that a Hispanic male attempted to force her into a white van at knifepoint as she was taking out her trash at the Domain at Bennett Farms apartments. She said she fought back and escaped.
Now police say none of that actually happened.
“Investigators had determined early on that certain aspects of her story didn’t add up,” ZPD Sgt. Adrian Martin said. “Due to the detailed investigation beyond that point that took obviously several weeks they determined that indeed she was in a position that she had no choice but to come clean.”
The Boone Co. Prosecutors Office is reviewing the case and could choose to charge Rattinger with false informing, a class A misdemeanor. Until that happens, Martin said he could not release any information on why Rattinger made up the story.
“We were really excited and grateful to be able to exhaust this investigation to the point that we have 100 percent certainty that she fabricated the details,” Martin said.
