# Survivor of Golden State Killer brings new 'soft' interview room to El Dorado County Sheriff's Office

## INVESTIGATORS. INSIDE THE EL DORADO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE IS A NEW SPACE. A SPACE DESIGNED FROM ITS CHAIRS TO ITS COLORS TO THE COFFEE READY TO BE BREWED TO BE SAFE. THIS IS WHAT WE CALL A SOFT INTERVIEW ROOM. SO WE USE THESE FOR VICTIMS OF VIOLENT CRIMES. THEY’VE LIKELY JUST GONE THROUGH SOMETHING VERY TRAUMATIC OR ARE HERE TO SPEAK ABOUT SOMETHING VERY TRAUMATIC, AND WE WANT TO PUT THEM IN A PLACE THAT PUTS THEM AT EASE. DETECTIVE KATIE PRESCOTT IS A SEXUAL ASSAULT INVESTIGATOR WITH THE EL DORADO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE. SHE SAYS WITHIN DAYS OF FINISHING THIS NEW INTERVIEW ROOM, THEY’VE ALREADY NEEDED IT. SO THIS IS WHAT WE WOULD HAVE LIKELY USED BEFORE THE SOFT ROOM WAS IMPLEMENTED. IT’S NOT INVITING. THIS LOOKS LIKE WHERE WE SHOULD BE HAVING OUR ADMINISTRATIVE MEETINGS, NOT WHERE WE SHOULD BE INTERVIEWING THE VICTIM OF A VIOLENT CRIME. THIS IS WHAT THE ROOM LOOKED LIKE BEFORE. BLANK WALLS AND SPARSELY PLACED FURNITURE. WE ONLY PUT ROOMS IN WHERE THERE’S TRAUMA INFORMED OFFICERS. KRIS PEDRETTI IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PHILLIS’S GARDEN, A NONPROFIT WORKING TO BRING THESE SOFT INTERVIEW ROOMS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICES AROUND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, INCLUDING THIS ONE IN EL DORADO COUNTY. I MYSELF AM A VICTIM, OR I’M A SURVIVOR OF SEXUAL ASSAULT FROM THE GOLDEN STATE KILLER. AND THROUGHOUT THE DECADES, I HAD NO SUPPORT. SHE LAUNCHED THE ORGANIZATION A LITTLE OVER A YEAR AGO AS A WAY TO CONTINUE TO HEAL AND TO HELP OTHERS START. IT IS GEARED FOR THE SUPPORT OF SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS, SUCH AS EVEN THESE CHAIRS. THEY SWIVEL TO HELP THEM GET RID OF EXCESS ENERGY. IT’S VERY NERVE RACKING TO BE ABLE TO TO HAVE TO REPEAT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED TO YOU. PEDRETTI SAYS AFTER DECADES FINALLY TALKING ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE IN RECENT YEARS HAS HELPED HER FIND HER VOICE, AND SHE HOPES SPACES LIKE THIS WILL HELP OTHERS FIND THE COURAGE TO REPORT CRIMES AND TO FIND THEIR VOICES, TOO. TO BE SITTING IN A ROOM LIKE THIS AND TO BE TREATED COMPASSIONATELY AND WITH EMPATHY REALLY IS A WAY TO OPEN THE DOOR FOR THAT VICTIM TO BECOME THE SURVIVOR. IN EL DORADO COUNTY. LEE ANNE DENYER KCRA THREE NEWS. SO KRIS PEDRETTI, THE WOMAN YOU HEARD FROM THERE, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE PHYLLIS GARDEN, SAYS IT’S NAMED FOR ANOTHER VICTIM OF THE GOLDEN STATE KILLER. AFTER MORE THAN 40 YEARS, THEY MET IN 2018 AT A HEARING AFTER HE WAS ARRESTED. PHYLLIS DIED SHORTLY AFTER HE WAS SENTENCED. TO GET INVOLVED OR TO LEARN MORE, YOU CAN VISIT THE WEBSITE RIGHT THERE ON YOUR SCREEN. THAT’S PHYLLIS GARDEN.

## The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office has a new interview room, known as a soft interview room, to provide a more comfortable space for victims of violent crimes to speak with investigators.

The room came to fruition this week due to a partnership between the sheriff's office and the non-profit organization .

“The point of a soft interview room is to put victims at ease,” said Detective Katie Prescott, who specializes in sexual assault investigations. “We want to put them in a place that puts them at ease and provides them some comfort, so that they can have that power and find that power to tell us their experience.”

Prescott said within days of finishing the new interview room, investigators have already used it. She said, unfortunately, her unit has a large case load with investigators managing somewhere between 50 and 70 cases each. Previously, she would use a conference room or another area of the office to conduct interviews with victims.

“It's not inviting,” Prescott said. “This looks like where we should be having our administrative meetings, not where we should be interviewing the victim of a violent crime.”

Kris Pedretti founded Phyllis’s Garden to continue her own healing from sexual assault. The non-profit's new partnership with the sheriff's office made the soft interview room possible.

“I'm a survivor of sexual assault from the Golden State Killer and throughout the decades, I had no support,” she said. “People don’t talk about it. People don’t want to hear, so victims typically don’t report.”

Pedretti said she wanted to find a way to help survivors feel more comfortable coming forward with their experiences, knowing firsthand how hard recounting those experiences can be. “It's very nerve wracking to have to repeat everything that happened to you,” she said. Details such as the kind of chair placed in the room, to the colors on the wall, to the coffee and snacks available are all intentional, she explained. “To be sitting in a room like this and to be treated compassionately and with empathy really is a way to open the door for that victim to become the survivor,” she said.

Phyllis's Garden is a donation-based organization. All items purchased for the soft interview rooms are purchased new with donated funds from supporters.

Pedretti said she named the organization in honor of another victim of the Golden State Killer.

She said after more than 40 years, the pair met in 2018 at a hearing, after the Golden State Killer was arrested. Phyllis died shortly after his sentencing. “I do this because I am one of these people that never talked about it and what healed me was being able to talk about it,” Pedretti said. “There is hope. You’re not stuck.” She said she hoped knowing the rooms exist would encourage victims to come forward and report crimes committed against them.

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