Kentucky is making progress in addressing a backlog of untested rape kits.
A 2015 audit revealed the commonwealth had more than three-thousand untested kits, which include physical evidence collected from sexual assault victims. Attorney General Andy Beshear said about 15-hundred of those kits have now been examined and the DNA entered into a national crime database.
“We have active investigations going on right now. The hits suggest that there is a least one serial rapist that has been identified and this is an absolute critical step that we’re going to follow through with until every single victim has their kit test,” Beshear said.
Beshear said rape victims are beginning to be notified by police in hopes of re-opening cases and prosecuting offenders. The Attorney General said the investigations can be a slow process since there are many cold cases, with some dating back to the 1970s.
“What’s amazing is that almost 50 percent of all the profiles that are going in are having a hit, meaning that the DNA was in there of the perpetrator showing why we should have tested these kits a long time ago,” Beshear said.
Beshear said investigations are underway, and arrests will eventually be made.
