Attorney General Mike DeWine
September Update on Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative Released

(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 September 2, 2013:

Forensic scientists with the Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) have received 3,530 previously untested rape kits from 105 law enforcement agencies in Ohio.

BCI has completed DNA testing on 1,488 of those rape kits.

The DNA testing has led to 460 hits in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

"We officially started testing these old rape kits in October 2012 with the goal of testing 1,500 kits in the first year," said Attorney General DeWine. "Today we are just short of that goal, and we are confident that we will surpass it before next month."

In December 2011, Attorney General DeWine requested that law enforcement agencies with untested rape kits send them to BCI for free evidence testing. Four additional forensic scientist positions were created to enhance BCI's focus on the old kits, and last month, Attorney General DeWine announced that an additional six forensic scientist positions would be created to further increase the rate at which the old kits are tested.

Law enforcement agencies are submitting additional kits to BCI on a regular basis, and information on each CODIS hit is returned to the original jurisdiction for further investigation and possible arrest.