Denver DNA Cold Case Project
The Denver Police Department has reviewed thousands of unsolved criminal cases looking for cases containing DNA evidence that could be re-examined with new technology.
Criminals who thought they had gotten away with their crime may find that technology and persistence are catching up with them. And victims who thought their attacker might never be caught have new hope.
The Denver Police Department is reviewing hundreds of unsolved criminal cases looking for cases containing DNA evidence that could be re-examined with new technology.
Criminals who thought they had gotten away with their crime may find that technology and persistence are catching up with them. And victims who thought their attacker might never be caught have new hope.
History
Denver is a national leader in expanding the use of forensic DNA to improve public safety through cold case investigation and the prosecution of filed cold cases. This success is the result of an unprecedented interdisciplinary collaboration between the Denver Police Department, the forensic scientists in the Denver Police Crime Laboratory, the Denver District Attorney's Office, and victim advocates. This collaboration, which evolved over decades, has yielded the greatest results since Denver's Integrated Cold Case Project began in 2004.
By working together, these Denver law enforcement agencies have investigated and successfully prosecuted cold cases using DNA matches obtained through the national DNA database, CODIS (Combined DNA Index System). As of March 2009:
- 432 cold case sexual assaults and 46 cold case homicides have been completed
- 819 DNA samples have been analyzed
- 217 profiles have been submitted to CODIS
- There have been 91 CODIS hits (42%) hit rate
- 50 court cases have been filed (45 sexual assaults and 5 homicides)
- 37 cases have been adjudicated (36 sexual assaults and 1 homicide)
Content on this page comes from the DenverDA Web site. On that site you also can find collections of:
