DNA Testing for Nearly 5,000 Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kits Now Completed

CLEVELAND, OH - DNA testing has now been completed for nearly 5,000 sexual assault kits submitted by law enforcement in Cuyahoga County. Forty Cuyahoga County law enforcement agencies submitted a total of 4,996 rape kits to the Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) for forensic testing.

The Cleveland Police Department, which submitted 4,418 kits, submitted the largest number of kits in Cuyahoga County and the state.

"More than one third of all of the kits submitted to my office statewide as part of this initiative were from Cuyahoga County - more than any other county in the state," said Attorney General Mike DeWine. "Today I'm proud to announce that forensic scientists with my office have tested each and every kit submitted from Cuyahoga County. This is a tremendous milestone as we get even closer to testing every single kit submitted as part of this effort from across the state."

After learning in 2011 that many departments and agencies across Ohio had failed to submit their rape kits for testing, Dewine created the SAK Testing Initiative. Some unsubmitted kits were decades old. Dewine made an open call to law enforcement across the state requesting they send their kits to BCI for DNA testing at no cost to them. Then 294 departments sent 13,931 kits for testing.

As of November 1, 2016, 11,888 of those kits, or 85 percent, have been tested, resulting in 4,298 hits in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Of those CODIS hits, 2,186, or 51 percent, are associated with Cuyahoga County cases.

Ohio is now a leader in the nation in addressing the issue of untested rape kits.

"I launched this initiative for the survivors of sexual assault who went through the traumatic process of a rape kit examination, but were still waiting for answers," said DeWine. "Now, hundreds of people, including many serial rapists, are being held accountable for their brutal attacks."

As of November 1, 2016, 540 defendants have been indicted in Cuyahoga County on sexual assault charges as a result of the testing and follow-up investigation conducted by members of the Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force, which is made up of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, BCI, Cleveland Police Department, Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office and Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. Ninety-three percent of Cuyahoga County cases that have reached a final disposition have ended in a conviction, including a man sentenced to life in prison for a pair of rapes that happened in 1995 and 2009 and a man sentenced to life in prison for a string of sexual assaults that happened between 1994 and 1997.

“Behind every statistic, behind every case, and behind every box filled with evidence, there is a person. And despite what happened to them, they found the courage to seek justice,” said Sondra Miller, president & CEO of Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. “Now today, some survivors are getting that long-awaited call that justice will be served. Cleveland Rape Crisis Center is proud to stand together with Attorney General Mike DeWine and our other law enforcement partners to treat each and every survivor with the dignity, compassion and respect that they deserve.”

To ensure the timely analysis of the thousands of kits submitted as part of the SAK Testing Initiative, DeWine hired 10 additional forensic scientists at BCI. By hiring this additional staff, the older kits are tested as quickly as possible, without slowing down the testing of the more than 11,250 rape kits associated with recent crimes tested by BCI as part of their regular casework since 2011.

"The issue of untested rape kits has raised the public’s awareness of the prevalence of rape and the importance of investigating and gathering evidence in every survivor’s case," said Katie Hanna, Executive Director of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence. "Over the last four years more people have begun talking publicly about sexual violence, with increased funding and policy changes to address the problem; and with future attention on needing to expand on the rights of survivors and on investing in primary prevention."

Senate Bill 316, which went into effect in March 2015, required Ohio law enforcement agencies to submit any remaining previously untested sexual assault kits associated with a past crime to a crime laboratory by March 23, 2016. Of the nearly 14,000 kits submitted to BCI as part of the SAK Testing Initiative, 4,601 were submitted after the law went into effect. The law also requires that all newly collected rape kits be submitted to a crime lab within 30 days after law enforcement determines a crime has been committed.

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