News
Displaying News and Event Items: 241 - 250 of 853.
Attorney General’s Office completes project to collect lawfully owed DNA from registered sex offenders
— www.atg.wa.gov, May 10, 2022
"Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that his office completed its project to collect DNA samples from registered sex offenders in Washington who are legally required to provide their DNA but from whom a sample has never been collected or submitted to a lab for testing. This phase of the project resulted in 372 new DNA profiles entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a nationwide database.
Eight out of the 372 newly entered sex offender DNA profiles resulted in a “hit,” meaning the offender’s profile matched DNA evidence already in the database."
Jackson man found guilty of sexual assaults dating back to 2014
— mlive.com, May 10, 2022
"An initiative aiming to solve older sexual assault cases has led to the conviction of a Jackson man.
Tyrone Demarcus Parker, 26, was found guilty Friday, May 6, of four charges relating to assault and sexual assault. He is set to appear before Jackson County Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson for sentencing on June 16, according to court records. The Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office was awarded a grant to expand the program in 2019, which led to further investigations related to previously untested sexual assault kits from various agencies in both Ingham and Jackson counties, officials said.
SAKI was assisted in this investigation by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson Police Department and Napoleon Police Department."
How finally testing a 2010 rape kit led to charges in New Bedford case
— Audrey Cooney, heraldnews.com, May 6, 2022
"A rape kit that sat untested for 12 years provided a key clue for police in finding a suspect who is now being charged for his alleged role in a violent rape.
"I am extremely pleased that our rape kit testing initiative has already resulted in indictments against this defendant for a cold case violent sexual assault committed more than a decade ago in New Bedford,"" Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn said in a statement."
State Auditor Kathy McGuiness Releases Report Announcing Delaware Erases Rape Kit Backlog
— Kathy McGuiness, news.delaware.gov/, Apr 28, 2022
State Auditor Kathy McGuiness announced today the release of a special report titled “Delaware Erases Rape Kit Backlog.” This report reviewed the State of Delaware’s use of federal grant funds provided by the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) for implementing best practices to clear the backlog of untested rape kits.
The Boston Police Department Announces the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative During Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
— bpdnews.com/, Apr 27, 2022
The National Sexual Assault Violence Resource Center (NSARC) has declared April Sexual Assault Awareness Month #SAAM. The Mission of NSARC is to raise awareness about sexual violence around the world, and to educate communities on how to prevent it. For the Boston Police Department (BPD), we honor this call to action by focusing on the launch of a 2.5 million-dollar, 3-year grant, that was awarded to the BPD in December of 2021, titled the FY 2021 Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI).
1989 Mesa cold case solved using advanced DNA and fingerprint tech; suspect arrested in Colorado with the assistance of SAKI funds for genealogy
— Stephanie Bennett, Fox 10 Phoenix, Apr 26, 2022
"A cold case is now solved after more than three decades and a Mesa man has been arrested for the alleged murder of a young woman.
22-year-old Susan Amy Morse was found dead in her apartment near Country Club Drive and Southern Avenue back in 1989. The FBI and MPD arrested Thomas Cox for violent crimes he allegedly committed over 30 years ago. Using advanced DNA and fingerprint technologies, Cox was identified as the suspect in two separate cases.
""We just constantly look for stuff. When there’s new technology or new techniques on how to identify a suspect or examine evidence we buy into that, and we re-examine the evidence as the years go on and in this particular case it worked out dramatically,"" said MPD Sgt. Chuck Trapani."
The District Attorney’s Office Secures Cold Case Conviction in 1996 Kidnapping
— Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office (OPDA), Apr 20, 2022
"This week, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office (OPDA) Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) Unit Chief Mary Glass and Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Naomi Jones secured the cold case conviction of defendant Roland Butler for kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault in 1996.
SAKI Unit Chief Mary Glass said, “This case is proof that justice does not have an expiration date. In court, 26 years after the assault, it was clear how this crime still affects the survivor. She testified in court that time has not erased the memory of what she endured and how the incident left her looking at the world with a jaded lens. We are glad to be able to finally secure justice for this survivor and her family.”
Missouri officials say they’re making progress in clearing the backlog of 7,000 untested evidence kits in sexual assault cases
— Sarah Fentem, news.stlpublicradio.org/, Apr 4, 2022
"For more than three years, Missouri officials have been finding, tracking and testing the state’s backlog of thousands of the unaccounted-for kits. The state has sent 3,298 kits to labs for DNA testing, Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced Monday.
Nearly half of the kits officials sent for testing have been returned. Of those, 500 had enough DNA evidence to be uploaded into the federal FBI’s criminal database. Of the 500 uploads into the database, there have been 201 matches. Because of those matches, prosecutors have charged three suspects with rape."
A Dane County judge sentenced a man whose DNA tied him to five sexual assaults between 2008 and 2014 to 10 years in prison
— Ed Treleven, Wisconsin State Journal, Mar 31, 2022
"Calling him a “serial sexual predator,” a Dane County judge sentenced a man whose DNA tied him to five sexual assaults between 2008 and 2014 to 10 years in prison, atop the sentence he’s already serving for one of those rapes. Mariono L. Weaver, 51, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence for the 2014 rape of a woman on Madison’s South Side, was sentenced to five years in prison and five years of extended supervision for each of two cases in which Weaver pleaded guilty in February to third-degree sexual assault.
Weaver was identified as a suspect in the 2010 cases after his DNA turned up during an effort by the state Department of Justice to process a backlog of untested rape kits."
