AKRON, Ohio – A newly formed team of cold-case detectives at the Akron Police Department are investigating about 700 sexual assaults, some of which are more than 20 years old.

That means the detectives are racing against time to file charges in some cases where the 20-year statute of limitations is nearing. In other cases, detectives have decided for a variety of reasons not to file charges against suspects.

Today, cleveland.com offers a Q&A about the formation of the Akron Sexual Assault Kit Initiative and the challenging tasks that the detectives face.

When did the initiative begin?

The police department began the initiative in 2011, amid a statewide push to test so-called rape kits containing DNA evidence that might identify suspects.

Many police departments had kits that had never been submitted to Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification for analysis. Of the 1,822 Akron kits sent for testing, 847 returned an eligible profile from a database of DNA results collected from crime scenes, felons and suspects.

Akron used a grant to start the initiative, but the money was only enough to fund one person, Det. Bertina King, who investigated the cold cases part-time while also handling contemporaneous crimes.

How did King do?

King singlehandedly reviewed DNA results, looked at old police reports and interviewed the people involved.

She succeeded in collecting enough evidence for dozens of offenders to be prosecuted, including a Cleveland man already in prison for multiple rapes.

She also closed other cases because the victims had died, could not be found or did not want to pursue charges.

But working part-time by herself, King would have needed about 42 years to investigate all the cases. So, the police department applied for another grant.

When did the initiative expand?

Last October, the police department received a $1-million, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to fund a unit of three, soon-to-be four full-time police department employees.

Those employees began work in late February in collaboration with the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office, Summit County Rape Crisis Center and Victim Assistance Program of Summit County.

While the unit is still getting its operations in order, including the hiring of an administrative assistant, the detectives are already at work. Among the cases they already have closed are two in which detectives won’t pursue criminal charges.

“We looked at them, we talked to the victims, but we just don’t think we’re going to go up for prosecution,” said Lt. David Whiddon, who supervises the unit.

Why won’t these cases be prosecuted?

One case from 1999 involved a girl who was 15 at the time and her 20-year-old boyfriend.

“It was unlawful sexual conduct with a minor,” Whiddon said. “Because the victim wasn’t 16 at the time, it was illegal, but it was a consensual relationship. It wasn’t really a forcible rape. It was just because of the age difference.”

The girl’s parents had disapproved of the relationship and took their daughter to get rape kit. Over the course of the initial investigation, the girl ended the relationship. That satisfied her parents and the case was closed. Police sent the kit for testing and, to no surprise, the DNA matched that of the former boyfriend.

“Fast forward, our victim is now 35 and the suspect is 40,” Whiddon said. “It was an evaluation that the prosecutor made that we’re really not going to revisit unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, especially when both are of-age now and it was kind of settled back then.”

Even though no charges will be filed, testing the kit was worthwhile, Whiddon said. In this case, the suspect has not been connected to any other crimes, but his DNA is on file “in case he comes up in another investigation.”

Another case won’t be prosecuted because of concerns for the victim, who lives in another city and is going through medical treatment.

“We met with her twice and we feel like it’s probably the best scenario for her, health-wise, that she didn’t go forward,” Whiddon said.

Detectives are always accompanied by a victim advocate when they interview survivors.

Why weren’t the rape kits tested years ago?

“It was a different mindset back them,” Whiddon said.

In cases where the suspect said the victim was lying, that the sexual encounter had been consensual, police would be hesitant to ship that kit to the lab.

“To have them test that kit would take away from working on one with an unknown suspect, so we want the scientists working on those rather than someone we already knew,” Whiddon said, adding that the lab technicians often echoed similar remarks when police would submit kits with a known assailant.

In other cases, such as the one with the 15-year-old girl and her 20-year-old boyfriend, the victim may not have wanted to pursue a case or was uncooperative.

Each kit was handled on a case-by-case basis and was not considered as potentially important evidence for other cases.

The 2009 case of Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell changed that kind of thinking.

After police found bodily remains of 11 women in and around Sowell’s East Side home, The Plain Dealer investigated and found his DNA had not been entered into criminal databases after he was jailed for rape.

How can rape kit testing identify serial offenders?

“A serial offender is someone that’s committing different crimes and leaving their DNA,” Whiddon said. Those cases can involve sexual assaults or different crimes.

“It could be a robbery in Bedford, a burglary in Middleburg Heights,” Whiddon said. “You do have a core group of people who commit these same crimes.”

Two of the 1,800 rape kits Akron police sent for testing were from June and October of 2003, according to Summit County Common Pleas records.

They both identified the assailant as Nathan Ford, who is linked to more than 15 sexual assault cases in Cleveland.

Ford was sentenced in 2017 in Cuyahoga County to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 100 years. That sentence is to be served after finishing his 113-year sentence from 2006 for the rapes of eight victims, including two 13-year-olds and a 15-year-old.

Based on the newly discovered evidence, Ford now faces additional charges. At his most recent court appearance, Ford requested a continuance of his trial, court records show. His next status hearing is scheduled for June 12.

“He’s been involved in a number of incidents,” Whiddon said of Ford. “Serial rapists are dangerous. They’re dangerous to society so that’s why we want to get to those cases and investigate them as quickly as we can so nobody else gets hurt or nobody else has to experience this.”

While some may question the value of prosecuting someone who will certainly die in prison, Whiddon said prosecution also is done for the survivor.

“We have a victim here that would like to get some justice,” he said. “It’s about giving that victim her day in court. It was a terrible experience that she might be able to put some closure to if he gets convicted in her case.”

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