News
Displaying News and Event Items: 111 - 120 of 853.
DNA project that led to arrest in McCleary rape case reaches milestone
— Harbor News, KXRO, Aug 11, 2023
"Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that his lawfully owed DNA project has reached a milestone, with more than 2,000 new profiles added to the national DNA database since the effort began.
“Collecting the DNA of thousands of serious offenders will help us solve more cold cases,” Ferguson said. “This work makes communities safer and sends the message that we will use every tool at our disposal to bring justice to survivors and victims of these devastating crimes.”
Police arrest serial rape suspect in Baltimore County
— Tommie Clark, WBALTV, Aug 3, 2023
"James Shipe was arrested for the rape of at least five women between 1978 and 1986. Evidence that tied Shipe to the crimes came from the Greater Baltimore Medical Center Slide Project. Shipe previously faced a charge in 1970 for assault with intent to rape and was arrested in 1998 for a trespassing "peeping Tom" incident in the same area as the five rape cases."
Fugitive who faked his death can be extradited to Utah to face a rape charge
— Brian Melley Associated Press, KSLTV, Aug 2, 2023
"The documents allege that Rossi raped a former girlfriend he had met on myspace.com and briefly dated in Orem, Utah. The woman reported the sexual assault to a local hospital and her rape kit was tested as part of the “sexual assault kit initiative” in 2017. The DNA found connected investigators to Rossi."
Arrest Made in Cold Case Rapes: School Bus Driver Linked to Decades-Old Crimes
— ABQ RAW Staff, Jul 27, 2023
"In a significant development, agents from the Bernalillo County District Attorney's office have arrested a 61-year-old school bus driver named Ralph Anthony Martinez in connection with four cold case rapes that occurred in Northeast Albuquerque during the 1980s and 1990s.
The arrest came after a meticulous forensic genetic genealogy DNA investigation conducted by the District Attorney's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Team (SAKI)."
BCA finishes testing on previously unsubmitted rape kits from 2015 backlog
— CBS Minnesota, Jul 27, 2023
"The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says it has caught up on a years-long backlog of rape kits.
In 2015, law enforcement agencies were asked to account for all untested kits and send them to the BCA for testing. Of the backlogged kits tested, approximately 130 new suspects were identified according to the BCA."
Alaska's Sexual Assault Kit Tracking Software goes live statewide
— KINY Radio, Jul 26, 2023
"The Alaska Department of Public Safety’s Sex Assault Kit Tracking System recently went live statewide enabling survivors of sexual assault to track the status of their kit securely online.
Victims now have access to a portal for the tracking system which allows them to track the progress of their kit in the least invasive and traumatic way."
Spokane Police Department opens thousands of cold sexual assault cases in statewide initiative
— Fox 28 Spokane, Jul 18, 2023
"To date, the department has tested 1382 out of 1404 sexual assault kits, with 23 yet to be tested. As a result of this initiative, the Spokane Police Department identified four criminal defendants and six criminal charges were filed.
Sgt. Storment added that although these were not the numbers the department was hoping for, the work being done behind the scenes is important."
Spokane Police Department opens thousands of cold sexual assault cases in statewide initiative
— Fox 28 Spokane, Jul 18, 2023
"To date, the department has tested 1382 out of 1404 sexual assault kits, with 23 yet to be tested. As a result of this initiative, the Spokane Police Department identified four criminal defendants and six criminal charges were filed.
Sgt. Storment added that although these were not the numbers the department was hoping for, the work being done behind the scenes is important."
Utah State football player arrested after DNA processed from 10-month-old rape kit
— KJZZ.com, KUTV, Jul 11, 2023
"Police on Monday arrested a Utah State University football player in connection to an undercover drug distribution investigation in April a rape investigation that began in September 2022.
Utah in 2020 was the eighth state to completely clear its rape kit backlog following a 2017 law that mandated a time frame for all kits to be tested, setting aside $1.6 million that yera to get the job done - an amount that forensic scientists said wasn't enough to keep up with the new kits, according to a 2022 report from the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services."
