LAKEWOOD, Colo. — The Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday it would start publicly tracking its progress to address a rape kit backlog exacerbated by an investigation into one its former forensic scientists accused of mishandling DNA evidence.
“We acknowledge it is taking us too long to complete DNA cases. We are committed to an aggressive plan to bring this turnaround time down to our goal of 90 days as quickly as possible,” said CBI Director Schaefer in a statement announcing the creating of the public dashboard.
The dashboard, which went live Tuesday, will provide monthly updates on the agency’s effort to reduce the current turnaround time to test rape kits, which stands at over 500 days.
“We acknowledge it is taking us too long to complete DNA cases. We are committed to an aggressive plan to bring this turnaround time down to our goal of 90 days as quickly as possible,“ said CBI Director Schaefer. “We understand the importance of timely processing of sexual assault kits and the impact this backlog has on survivors.”
Schaefer said the dashboard was created in the interest of transparency and accountability as the agency works to overcome what he called “extraordinary circumstances” that contributed to the already severe backlog.
The backlog at the state crime lab was exacerbated by an investigation into a former CBI forensic scientist, Yvonne "Missy" Woods. In 2024, half of the lab work done at CBI was dedicated to reviewing her cases.
Before her retirement in 2023, the rape kit backlog was more than 200 days — more than twice the goal the CBI had set for itself.
As of Tuesday, the number of sexual assault cases waiting for confirmatory testing stood at approximately 1,400 cases, officials said.
“To now address the DNA backlog, the CBI is implementing a multi-pronged approach, including outsourcing 1,000 cases to private accredited laboratories,” a CBI spokesperson said. “This effort is intended to overcome the current backlog and at the same time reduce the growing total of new cases submitted to the CBI.”
Speaking to Denver7, CBI spokesman Rob Low said it will take about a year to go through about 1,000 cases, but added the agency won't know when it'll be able to meet its turnaround time goal of 90 days until it cuts the backlog in half.
"That'll help us determine, 'Okay, at this point, we think we can reach 90 days by the end of 2026 or 2027,'" said Low.
- Watch Denver7's full interview with CBI spokesman Rob Low in the video player below
The CBI spokesperson said the initiative was made possible thanks to funding allocated by state lawmakers specifically earmarked for reducing the backlog, and added CBI was actively working to train more people for DNA analysis.
CBI hopes to have 31 DNA scientists dedicated to analyzing rape kits and other critical DNA work by October of next year. The agency said that number would represent a 93% increase in DNA scientist staffing.
The CBI spokesperson said the implementation of all these efforts is expected to result in the first decline in the number of backlogged cases starting around the month of July, with CBI cutting about half of its backlogged cases by about half a year from now.
"We just want to recognize the impact this has had on victims and survivors — they're really motivating us to do better, to get results in a timely manner — because they deserve that. Victims, survivors, and frankly, all of law enforcement, deserves more timely results," Low said. "We recognize that we want to do better. We've got a plan that will do better."
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.
