Maryland AG Seeks to Preserve Massive Set of Sexual Assault Evidence – By Catherine Rentz (ProPublica) / Jan 13, 2023
Samples saved by a Baltimore doctor have been used to solve more than 80 cold cases, but evidence from 1,800 cases remains untested. The state’s new attorney general and some lawmakers are acting to protect this evidence trove from destruction.
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Two years ago, ProPublica showcased the remarkable tale of a doctor who saved physical evidence from more than 2,000 rape exams starting in the 1970s, years before police began to preserve forensic DNA. Baltimore County police tested just a tiny portion of the samples decades later and solved more than 80 cold cases; they made dozens of arrests and exposed serial rapists, including a man who assaulted at least 25 women and murdered one. The evidence also exonerated an innocent man and gave survivors life-changing closure.
Baltimore County law enforcement could have prioritized testing such a fruitful trove. Instead, it falls through loopholes in laws meant to preserve rape kit evidence and expedite testing.
Each year, the evidence saved by the doctor in the form of glass slides has been excluded from a state-mandated inventory of untested rape kits. A police spokesperson said they did not list the evidence because they were not in possession of it at the time. The slides were collected and stored at the hospital where the doctor worked, the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, before the current standardized sexual assault examination system. The slides are also excluded from a 2019 state law that mandates testing for most newer kits.
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