Investigative Stories
‘It broke me’: Inside the FBI hunt for the online predators who persuaded a 13-year-old to die
A narrative chronicling an FBI search for online predators who coerce mentally vulnerable teens to harm themselves. After it published, U.S. senators cited the story as they introduced bipartisan legislation to make such actions a federal crime.
White House officials wanted to put federal workers ‘in trauma.’ It’s working.
An investigation into suicides and mental crises among federal workers and the Trump administration’s intentionally attempts to traumatize them.
More than 400 Social Security numbers, other private information revealed in JFK files
This scoop revealed the Trump White House accidentally exposed the social security numbers of top U.S. officials, including Trump’s own campaign lawyer, in their rush to release JFK files.
Health Investigations
‘What if Yale finds out?’
This exposé revealed Yale University was exiling students with mental health problems. The story led to a class-action lawsuit, U.S Senate calls for investigation and sweeping changes at that university and others.
An autistic teen needed mental health help. He spent weeks in an ER instead.
An investigation combining one teen’s outrageous 76-day wait in an emergency room with painstaking data analysis to show bureaucratic delays are causing mentally ill children to languish in hospitals. It led to immediate action by Maryland’s health secretary to reduce wait times.
A suicidal son, an iconic bridge and the struggle to keep people from jumping
Dozens of people have leaped to their deaths from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge since it opened in 1952. Cheryl Rogers fought to keep her son from becoming one of them.
Narratives
‘Is this what a good mother looks like?’
After struggling to get treatment for her mentally ill son, a mother’s act of desperation: Giving up custody
She survived a White House lightning strike. Could she survive what came next?
The lightning fried Amber Escudero-Kontostathis’s nerves, melted her skin and stopped her heart. But the lone survivor tells herself, ‘I’m the lucky one.’
She lost her trans son to suicide. Can a Kentucky lawmaker make her colleagues care?
Eight weeks after the death of Karen Berg’s son, Henry, she’s fighting a flood of anti-transgender bills in the Kentucky Senate. This story was cited in several state legislatures and followed up by Frontline, ABC News, Pod Save America and the Today Show.
Pandemic Health Stories
Pandemic isolation has killed thousands of Alzheimer’s patients while families watch from afar
One man fights from doorway of nursing home to save his wife. This story used death records & modeling to prove dementia deaths were surging amid pandemic. Federal officials subsequently changed policies and acknowledged isolation rules had worsened conditions.
‘Cries for help’: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic
Provided one of earliest warnings of soaring drug overdoses in pandemic by using EMT, hospital & police data — a finding confirmed by the CDC six months later.
Why Americans are numb to the staggering coronavirus death toll
Death is everywhere and yet nowhere in America during the worst stretch of the pandemic.
Stories on Deadline
Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock was a high-stakes gambler who ‘kept to himself’ before massacre
I reported and wrote this scoop-laden profile of the shooter within hours of the massacre, leading a team of 10 reporters, obtaining exclusive interviews with his brother and previously undisclosed details on the investigation.
Suspect in Fort Hood, unassuming on the surface, but roiling within
This story – chronicling a Muslim U.S. soldier’s radicalization while living in D.C. area – was part of the Post’s 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist coverage of the Fort Hood shooting.
Obama’s China visit gets off to rocky start
Chinese officials scream at White House press, argue with Susan Rice, almost fistfight over access
China Narratives & Investigations
To talk, or not, about Tiananmen
Witnesses to Tiananmen Square struggle with what to tell their children
Armed and Dangerous
China ends its ban on officers carrying guns, and a string of suspicious shootings follows
Escape from Execution
In China, where 99.9% of suspects are found guilty, a rare criminal case in which evidence makes a difference.
An Education in Corruption
In China, parents bribe to get students into top schools, despite campaign against corruptio
One Child, One Death
The pain of grieving parents is magnified by China’s one-child rule
Religion Stories
Serving his country, testing his faith
After the Fort Hood shootings, a Muslim American soldier battles on friendly ground. This story won ASNE’s award for writing on diversity.
Soul-Searching on Facebook
For Many Users, Religion Question Is Not Easy to Answer