Thanks to Grant, Omaha Police Processing 1,700 Untested Rape Kits
The Omaha Police Department continues to work through hundreds of backlogged, untested rape kits in an effort to solve those cases.
The department received a nearly $2 million federal grant two years ago to help get through the 1,700 kit backlog. The department has sent nearly a third of those untested rape kits – 535 – to the Nebraska State Patrol’s lab for testing so far, television station WOWT reported.
The department has received the results of about 300 of those tests, and of those, about 176 have usable DNA, police said. The DNA profiles developed from the kits get entered into a nationwide database looking for matches.
Officials have been able to identify about 46 possible offenders from the kits, Omaha Police Capt. Anna Colon said.
“The biggest challenge is actually trying to find the victims because a lot of them they’ve moved, they’ve changed their phone numbers they’ve moved on with their lives,” Colon said.
The police department has separate personnel working on the cold cases, officials said. So far, no arrests have been made. Colon said the department is keeping up with testing of new sexual assault kits to prevent another backlog.
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