This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
New details of unprocessed rape kits in Salt Lake City show potentially valuable DNA evidence was not tested in one child rape case and two cases of women reportedly attacked by strangers.
In 20 rape cases released this week in an ongoing police review of "Code R," or rape exam kits, most of the kits went untested because the victim already knew who the suspect was and no further identification was needed. But investigators are recommending three of the rape kits for testing, saying they may contain important evidence to prosecute or identify suspects.
One significant finding was an untested Code R kit from a child rape case reported in Salt Lake City in 2005. The rape allegedly occurred in West Valley City, so the investigation was transferred to detectives there. However, the swabs from the 15-year-old's rape exam apparently remained in Salt Lake City, untested, for nearly a decade until Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank in April announced a review of rape cases in response to controversy over 625 unprocessed rape kits that had collected in the department's evidence rooms.
In 2005, the girl told officers that a man in his 30s had sex with her. Officers in West Valley City knew of the rape kit but did not ask for it because the victim left the state and refused further contact, said West Valley City police spokesman Roxeanne Vainuku. Eventually the rape kit was forgotten.
"At that time, the culture wasn't what it is today, where we're looking at processing all rape kits," Vainuku said. "At that time, it was more common to say, 'I don't have a case to move forward with, so we'll just leave it as it is.' That's the case with this."
Investigators will process the 2005 kit and re-evaluate the case when results are known, said West Valley Police Chief Lee Russo.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill would not comment on the girl's case because it has not been screened. But he said DNA evidence can be particularly powerful in child rape cases, even without victim cooperation, because any sexual contact with a child is illegal. Prosecutors do not have to prove a lack of consent; they only have to prove contact occurred.
"Theoretically, if I've got a 6- or 7-year old person, and there's some injury to them, ... they do a rape kit, and they get a [DNA] hit ... with a sex offender who lives five blocks away — is that case going to be prosecuted? Yeah. I may not need the victim's testimony."
Salt Lake City investigators who are auditing the department's rape cases recommended two other kits be tested.
A victim in 2003 underwent a rape exam after she reported a stranger knocked on her door and raped her when she answered, police wrote. During follow-up interviews, she told detectives that she wanted the case to be closed, and the rape kit was not tested.
In 2004, a victim was returning home from a party early one morning, when a man grabbed her in a stairwell and raped her, police wrote. The victim participated in the investigation, helping a police artist draw a composite sketch of the man and undergoing a rape exam, investigators wrote. But "DNA technology restrictions" in 2004 prevented officers from processing the rape kit, police wrote.
Ten years later, with improved technology, investigators have asked the department to process both kits in hopes that a suspect can be identified.
"If we even solve one of these, [the audit] was definitely productive," said Salt Lake City police Sgt. Robin Heiden
However, investigators did not seek further testing of a 1997 kit submitted by a woman who said she was forced behind a building and raped by a man she did not know. The rape predates legal changes that allowed prosecution after the statute of limitations if DNA evidence identifies a suspect, Heiden said.
DNA evidence also was collected in rape exams of homicide victims in 1987 and 1989; investigators say those rape kits have undergone multiple subsequent tests with improved technology.
Salt Lake City and West Valley City reflect two separate philosophies guiding police departments nationwide as they deal with thousands of unprocessed rape kits.
West Valley City has begun to process 124 untested rape kits Russo discovered after he took office last year. The department is submitting all kits, even in cases where the suspect is known, pointing to the potential that the DNA of an already-identified rape suspect could provide a match for other, unsolved cases.
"[A rape kit] may continue to have evidentiary value outside the scope of this particular case," Gill agreed.
In Salt Lake City, however, investigators are recommending kits be processed only when DNA evidence could support that case. Each kit costs about $1,000 to process, and crime labs have become increasingly overloaded as police avail themselves of ever-improving technology in all sorts of crimes. The department also is concerned that entering suspects' DNA into a database even in cases far too weak for prosecution could threaten their due process, Heiden said.
"Are we victimizing someone who may be innocent?" Heiden asked.
Even in cases where the victim could identify the suspect, prosecution was unlikely. Of the 20 cases released this week, dating from 1987 to 2005, 14 victims knew their alleged attackers. Two of the cases were closed because the victims didn't know whether sexual contact had occurred, and no suspect DNA was found in their rape exams. Six cases were not sent to prosecutors because the victims didn't want to pursue charges. Six cases were sent to prosecutors; four were declined.
Charges were filed in only two cases of 20 reviewed; the audit did not report the outcomes of those charges or identify the defendants. Gill took office in 2010, after all the cases in this week's audit.
It is the second set of cases the department has released; the first 20 were published in June.
Twitter: @erinalberty