× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

DURHAM — Some rape survivors in Durham may have a better chance at finding closure, since the city has recently sent hundreds of samples of untested DNA evidence in for analysis.

There has been a statewide push to get rid of the backlog of untested rape evidence kits. N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein said at a news conference Thursday that Durham is leading the charge to get evidence off of police shelves and into crime labs.

“Durham is now the No. 2 city in the state of North Carolina in terms of moving kits off of the shelves, where they do us no good, and into the evidence analysis process, where we can eventually solve crimes,” Stein said.

Newly tested kits have solved several cold cases in the past year. Last month, Johnston County authorities used a previously untested rape kit to make an arrest in an unsolved homicide from 1972. And in Warren County, a jury convicted a man in the rape of an 80-year-old woman in 2007, who was only recently identified when her rape kit was finally tested.

Charlene Reiss, who works with sexual assault and human trafficking victims at the Durham Crisis Response Center, said the police owe it to victims to do everything they can to solve the cases — especially in a delicate situation like a sexual assault.