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Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Dec. 6, 2023

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Clearing backlog of rape kits results in arrests in cold Clark County cases

Thanks to recent legislation and new technology, thousands of backlogged rape evidence kits are finally being processed

By , Columbian staff reporter
Published:
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Hundreds of untested rape kits are stored in 2018 at the Seattle Police Department's evidence warehouse.
Hundreds of untested rape kits are stored in 2018 at the Seattle Police Department's evidence warehouse. (Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times) Photo Gallery

Two women received unexpected phone calls from the Vancouver Police Department last year. Their sexual assault kits returned DNA matches to the men police believe raped them about 17 years ago.

The cases are not connected; they were reopened when two of the thousands of sexual assault kits in a statewide backlog were submitted for testing in recent years and returned suspect names.

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