Thousands of rapists in Ohio remain free while key evidence sits on shelves

CINCINNATI - A year-old program testing key evidence obtained from rape victims is just beginning to identify suspects whose DNA has been sitting on shelves in so-called "rape kits" for years.

An investigation conducted by Scripps station Newsnet5 found more than 2,000 rape kits have been turned over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for sophisticated testing that identify suspects whose DNA is already on file.

The program was launched a year ago by Attorney General Mike DeWine, but only now has begun to swing into full gear -- identifying 28 suspects using DNA obtained from rape victims.

Since January 2012, forensic scientists have tested 479 of 2,124 "rape kits" that were collected in the hours after an attack, but that sat for years on shelves in police departments across the state -- often because testing was too expensive.

"Nothing ever works as fast as I want it to work," DeWine said.

The DNA testing program required hiring additional forensic scientists and establishing procedures for testing, while at the same time trying to avoid creating additional backlogs of current cases.

"What I did not want to do," DeWine said," is take these back rape kits, dump them into our system without any new people -- and create an even bigger backlog for a rape that was committed five days ago when we are actively seeking to find out who that person was."

The investigation found huge numbers of rape kits collected from police department all over Ohio, including nearly 340 cases in Cincinnati.

Amanda Slone was a teenager when she was raped by a suspect four years ago who still has not been identified. Once honored by Ohio's legislature for her volunteer work with disabled children, Slone agreed to come forward to encourage testing on behalf of other rape victims.

A citation from Ohio's Senate honored her for "making the world a better place" -- yet her world was shattered by an unknown rapist.

"It's not fair for them to never have the person who did that to them to be punished or at least get them off the streets so they can't continue to do it to other people," said Slone.

Kara Porter, a rape crisis counselor, said she is encouraged by efforts to test rape kits.

"There could be instances where there could be someone committing serial assaults that would be found out in that case," Porter said.

Slone agrees and refuses to think of herself as a "victim."

"I'm not a victim," said Slone, "I'm a survivor."

Here is the data obtained from the Ohio Attorney General's Office, including a department-by-department breakout of how many are untested:

* To date, 417 kits have been completed with no positive screening result for semen.
* DNA testing has been completed on 62 cases that screened positive for semen.
* There have been 28 CODIS hits from the 62 positively screened cases.
* There are currently 450 cases that have been screened positive and sent forward with DNA testing pending.