Ohio has offered free rape kit testing for approximately two years in hopes of catching offenders who might think they are getting away with rape. Since, at least one Athens perpetrator has been identified as a suspect because of the service.
Forensic scientists at the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation test rape kits submitted by statewide law enforcement agencies for DNA matches.
The Ohio University Police Department has not seen any matches, and only one of 15 rape kits submitted to the Athens Police Department over the past two years have had a match in its DNA system.
Athens Police Lt. Jeff McCall said he couldn’t comment on the case because it’s an open investigation.
Law enforcement officials use rape kits — also known as sexual-assault kits — to collect evidence from specific rape or sexual assault cases in order to pinpoint potential perpetrators.
Brenda Strickland, coordinator of OU’s Survivor Advocacy Program, which supports victims of sexual assault, stalking and domestic and dating violence, said the tests go from “head to toe,” and can pick up a lot of DNA.
“If there’s any foreign material, fibers from the other person, any type of body fluid — (the kits) can pick up all of that,” she said.
Victims of sexual assault have within 96 hours of an incident before the evidence dissipates and renders a rape kit ineffective, Strickland said.
In Athens, this means heading to O’Bleness Memorial Hospital. Campus Care no longer has nurses trained in gathering evidence for rape kits.
“Our process (now) is to get students transported to the ER,” said Amanda Swote, nursing supervisor at Campus Care. “We can help them connect with a counselor.”
Strickland said sexual assault victims sometimes have concerns about reporting the crime and pursuing a rape kit, so Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine recently implemented the Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative to encourage victims to speak out.
As of Nov. 1, the Initiative surpassed 2,000 tested rape kits, according to a news release from DeWine’s office. The release also said that of the 2,093 tested rape kits, 688 have had DNA matches.
Since rape cases have a statue of limitations of 20 years, the bureau prioritizes the oldest kits in hopes that the offender can still be charged for the crime.
“Sexual assault cases are very difficult to resolve, even more difficult to prosecute; very few actually go to trial (and) very few actually end in criminal charges, which is unfortunate,” Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said in a previous Post article.
APD and OUPD are among 110 total law enforcement agencies in Ohio that submit rape kits to the bureau.
Strickland said she encourages all victims of sexual assault to get help by pursuing an advocate at the Survivor Advocacy Program or to take other actions.
“We want to make sure they get to the hospital or wherever they can get care,” she said. “(We want survivors) to get help so things aren’t getting progressively worse.”
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@EmilyMBamforth
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