Illinois State Police swamped with DNA tests on rapes, murders

SHARE Illinois State Police swamped with DNA tests on rapes, murders
dnaevidencebags.jpg

Sealed bags of evidence wait to be examined at the Illinois State Police crime lab. At the end of February, nearly 3,100 cases were either untested or in the process of being tested more than 30 days after law-enforcement agencies submitted them to the lab, records show. | File photo

The short-staffed Illinois State Police crime lab is grappling with a backlog of thousands of pending tests on biological evidence collected in rapes, murders and other crimes, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

At the end of February, nearly 3,100 cases were either untested or in the process of being tested more than 30 days after law-enforcement agencies submitted them to the lab, records show. That’s up from about 2,600 cases in mid-2015 and fewer than 130 in 2009.

The growing backlog includes tests on clothing and other items to determine whether samples of semen, blood and other evidence can be recovered.

It also includes tests on biological samples to create DNA profiles of unknown offenders. Those profiles are then compared with a DNA database of known criminals.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan finds the backlog worrisome, said a spokeswoman, Maura Possley.

“We have strongly supported increased funding for ISP and continue to do that,” Possley said of the undermanned state crime lab.

Over the past decade, the state police have whittled down the backlog.

But in 2011, a new state law required law-enforcement agencies to send thousands of untested rape kits to the state crime lab.

In south suburban Robbins alone, 55 untested rape kits were discovered when the Cook County sheriff’s office inspected that police department’s evidence room. All those kits, some dating to the 1980s, were submitted for testing. Five suspects have been charged in the sheriff’s ongoing investigation.

These are just some of the sexual assault kits found in the Robbins Police Department’s evidence room. Dozens of kits, some decades old, never were submitted for testing at the Illinois State Police crime lab. Once they were found, they only added to the

These are just some of the sexual assault kits found in the Robbins Police Department’s evidence room. Dozens of kits, some decades old, never were submitted for testing at the Illinois State Police crime lab. Once they were found, they only added to the lab’s growing backlog of work. | File photo

Since 2011, the testing backlog has mushroomed as a result of the additional rape kits submitted to the lab.

Meanwhile, the DNA section of the lab is seriously understaffed, officials say. The agency released a report last summer saying 10 additional scientists were needed to handle DNA testing.

Master Sgt. Matthew Boerwinkle, an Illinois State Police spokesman, said the lab still needs those 10 scientists, five of whom would fill vacancies due to attrition.

State police officials have estimated they would need $1 million in first-year funding to hire those scientists. But during the state’s budget impasse, the funding hasn’t been made available.

The state police have turned to overtime and outsourcing to chip away at the backlog.

In recent years, police and prosecutors have complained about long delays in getting lab results back from the State Police crime lab, especially in cases that don’t have a “rush” designation.

In 2014, for instance, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said the backlog was responsible for a nearly one-year delay in processing key DNA evidence that led to charges against a Chicago Police commander, who was accused of putting a gun in a suspect’s mouth. The commander, Glenn Evans, was later acquitted by a judge, who said she doubted the credibility of the alleged victim.

Former Chicago Police Cmdr. Glenn Evans is shown in December after being acquitted on all charges. A crime lab backlog was blamed for the delay in bringing charges against Evans, who had been accused of shoving his service weapon into the mouth of a detai

Former Chicago Police Cmdr. Glenn Evans is shown in December after being acquitted on all charges. A crime lab backlog was blamed for the delay in bringing charges against Evans, who had been accused of shoving his service weapon into the mouth of a detainee. | Brian Jackson/For the Sun-Times

Last spring, Alvarez and Madigan announced they had formed a statewide task force to improve evidence collection, investigations and prosecutions of sexual assault. One of the goals is to eliminate the DNA backlog.

The task force, which is also led by the St. Clair County state’s attorney and the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, supports the Illinois State Police in seeking state funding for the crime lab “as well as working with them to find grant funding moving forward,” said Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for Alvarez.

The group is also organizing “full-scale sex crimes training for all prosecutors in the state” and coming up with legislation to improve police response, investigations and training in sexual assault cases, Daly said.

Madigan hopes the task force’s efforts will “help encourage more survivors to come forward to report their crimes and help prosecutors to secure justice for survivors in a greater number of cases,” said her spokeswoman, Possley.

Possley pointed to a 2012 estimate by researchers Kimberly Lonsway and Joanne Archambault that less than 20 percent of sexual assaults are reported nationally, less than 5 percent are prosecuted, and less than 3 percent result in prison for the attacker.

This test apparatus at the Illinois State Police crime lab uses electricity to separate DNA molecules by size and weight. | File photo

This test apparatus at the Illinois State Police crime lab uses electricity to separate DNA molecules by size and weight. | File photo

The Latest
The man was shot in the left eye area in the 5700 block of South Christiana Avenue on the city’s Southwest Side.
Most women who seek abortions are women of color, especially Black women. Restricting access to mifepristone, as a case now before the Supreme Court seeks to do, would worsen racial health disparities.
The Bears have spent months studying the draft. They’ll spend the next one plotting what could happen.
Woman is getting anxious about how often she has to host her husband’s hunting buddy and his wife, who don’t contribute at all to mealtimes.
He launched a campaign against a proposed neo-Nazis march at a time the suburb was home to many Holocaust survivors. His rabbi at Skokie Central Congregation urged Jews to ignore the Nazis. “I jumped up and said, ‘No, Rabbi. We will not stay home and close the windows.’ ”