(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- In an effort to keep the public up-to-date on the progress of the Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative, Attorney General DeWine released the following status update today:
As of May 1, 2014:
- Authorities with 129 Ohio law enforcement agencies have submitted 6,965 previously untested rape kits for testing by forensic scientists with the Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).
- BCI has completed DNA testing on 3,499 of those rape kits.
- The DNA testing has led to 1,223 hits in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
"We have 10 scientists working every day to test the DNA in these kits that, prior to this initiative, may have never been tested," said Attorney General DeWine. "In Cuyahoga County alone, authorities have indicted 100 suspects as a result of this DNA testing, so those who think they got away with sexual assaults committed years ago should think again."
Attorney General DeWine launched the SAK Testing Initiative to offer free DNA testing to any law enforcement agency with untested rape kits in which a crime was believed to have been committed. Many of the kits submitted as part of the initiative are between one and two decades old.
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Media Contacts:
Lisa Hackley: 614-466-3840
Jill Del Greco: 614-466-3840