Wisconsin rape kits testing yields new suspects in 11 cases

MADISON - Wisconsin’s four-year effort to address a mountain of untested evidence from old sexual assault cases is beginning to yield results: DNA from at least 20 cases has been matched with national offender databases.

The matches are described in a statistical report obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin on Thursday from state authorities. The report covers testing results from July through December of 2017 and is required for federal grants.

Of the 20 cases with offender DNA matches, testing has identified a suspect or person of interest who was not previously known to investigators in 11 cases. In the remaining cases, the person identified was already known.

Three additional cases also yielded matches with DNA collected from crime scenes. However, these matches have not yet been linked with a person's name.

Under guidance from the state Department of Justice, local investigators and victim advocates should discuss whether to share test results with survivors of sexual assault since the new information may be traumatic. Survivors are only guaranteed results if they request notification from state authorities.

One goal of notification, according to state guidelines, is to regain "the survivor’s trust in the criminal justice system. Unsubmitted sexual assault kits may signal to survivors that their assault wasn’t recognized."

Investigators who contact victims are advised to explain why the evidence was tested, answer victims' questions and offer an "apology for the delay in testing." Some evidence has been sitting untested for more than two decades.

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State authorities first discovered Wisconsin's backlog of evidence from old sexual assault cases in 2014. More than 6,000 rape kits were scattered across the state in police and hospital storage rooms. The kits had never been sent to crime labs.

A rape kit contains forensic evidence, such as clothing and DNA swabs, that is collected after a reported sexual assault. The evidence may help identify suspects through DNA matching or help corroborate witness statements.

Although state and local authorities have provided a variety of anecdotal reasons for Wisconsin's backlog, it remains unclear why many kits were never sent to crime labs. In over 2,600 cases, authorities have vaguely attributed untested kits to officers or prosecutors not pursuing cases.

In 2015, a push to address Wisconsin's backlog gained steam when New York prosecutors and the federal government awarded the state $4 million in grants. The federal government then awarded the state an additional $3.1 million over the next two years for the project.

While seeking grants in 2015, state authorities estimated a testing project would yield at least 750 matches with offender DNA databases. The estimate was based on a similar testing project in Detroit that helped investigators identify scores of suspects and draw national attention to untested rape kits.

Wisconsin's project has been beset with a series of delays, however. The state struggled to swiftly hire staff and complete a statewide inventory that was required before testing could begin. The pace of testing has also been slowed by capacity limits of private labs hired to handle much of the testing work.

As of this month, the state has confirmed test results for 510 of the nearly 4,000 kits scheduled for analysis. Another 2,400 kits are not scheduled for analysis, in some cases because authorities have not obtained a victim's consent or due to legal restrictions.

Attorney General Brad Schimel, who oversees the state Department of Justice and is campaigning for re-election this year, has pledged that all scheduled tests will be completed by the end of 2018. His opponent, attorney Josh Kaul, has argued that more state resources should've been directed to the project so testing would be done sooner. Schimel is a Republican. Kaul is a Democrat.