Few results so far from hundreds of Valley rape kits

October 21, 2018 at 12:09a.m.

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A state mandate for law-enforcement agencies to submit sexual-assault kits to a state crime lab for DNA analysis led Mahoning Valley agencies to submit hundreds of kits for testing.

Similar to findings from across the state, the testing of Valley kits has rarely, if ever, led old sexual-assault cases to end with a conviction, a survey of police agencies statewide conducted by The Plain Dealer of Cleveland and community volunteers found.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative began accepting previously untested rape kits in 2011, then made testing mandatory in 2015, The Plain Dealer reported. The project continued through February, when the AG’s office announced state labs had completed testing on 13,931 kits, yielding 5,052 DNA profiles that could lead to identification of a suspect or a link to another unsolved case.

Of the 294 law-enforcement agencies contacted for the survey, The Plain Dealer received 151 responses. The Vindicator joined other news organizations in following up on local results.

In all, 13 agencies in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties submitted kits, leading to more than 100 Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) hits, according to information collected by The Plain Dealer. The vast majority of kits and subsequent CODIS hits came from Youngstown and Warren police.

WARREN

Of the many hours Warren Police detective Pat Marsico spent this year reviewing old city sexual-assault cases, his time with one victim stands out.

Police submitted about 250 kits to the state crime lab, most of them from near 2000 to 2010.

Of the kits Warren submitted, the state crime lab returned 92 positive “hits,” meaning a database of convicted felons indicated DNA from the rape kit belonged to a specific person other than the victim.

Marsico went to visit a woman whose rape kit had produced a hit. What made the visit even especially significant was the state crime lab had indicated the suspect had committed multiple rapes.

During the visit, Marsico explained he needed her help to convict him.

She refused.

“I told her [the lab] had labeled the individual as a serial rapist,” Marsico said. “She said, ‘Then let the other women come forward.’”

It was not the response Marsico had hoped for. “I said, ‘As much as I’m concerned about the women of the past, it’s the women of the future I’m more concerned about.’”

There was dead silence. They spoke again several weeks later, and she still was not willing to testify.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation sent two female agents to Warren to talk to the woman, who would not change her mind.

Though there were 92 matches from Warren’s rape kits, Marsico said that boils down to 57 Warren rape cases. He said one reason there are more DNA matches than cases is because multiple people’s DNA was found in the rape kit in addition to the victim’s.

Marsico not only reviewed the 57 matches but all the rape cases associated with the kits. He narrowed his focus to 31 that had the greatest likelihood of obtaining convictions, he said.

Surprisingly, only 17 of the 31 had a DNA match. The other 14 did not have a match, but unidentified DNA was present in the kit.

The rape cases can be solved some day if the suspect is later convicted of a felony. The DNA of every new felon is placed in the database.

Marsico considers 10 of the 31 cases to be “reopened.” Nine of the 10 have DNA matches.

So far, he has talked with or tried to talk to the victims in all 10, but none of those attempts has resulted in new charges. “One [case] was closed due to the [expiration of] the statute of limitations, and [others] were ones where I knocked on doors and got no response, no returned phone calls,” he said.

Marsico tried to break down the reasons why the 57 cases with a DNA match have not proceeded to prosecution, though the total adds up to only 53. Marsico said he would have to re-review all 57 cases to determine the reason for the missing four. Here is his breakdown:

Victim or suspect is deceased (6).

Prosecutors felt the case was not strong enough to prosecute (6).

Victim was not cooperative (13).

Allegation unfounded (11).

Based on a new review, the offense alleged was not rape (5).

Someone had been arrested (11).

The statute of limitations expired (1).

Marsico said he believes his work on the rape cases is about halfway finished.

“I would only consider us to be in the middle of the book. There’s a long haul on this,” he said.

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown police Lt. Brian Flynn said the department sent in hundreds of kits to be tested between 2013 and 2017.

The AG’s office said 95 of those were from older cases. After those kits were tested, the department found an additional 85 kits that hadn’t been submitted and started to send those for testing. Flynn said BCI requested those kits be sent five at a time.

Flynn said he was not sure of the number of matches the state found in the kits submitted (BCI says it is 37). He said none of those matches, however, helped police close a case.

Flynn said any matches that could be linked to a specific case were often cases that were “closed by other means,” such as the victim’s deciding not to press charges.

“There was a reason the cases didn’t go forward besides no DNA,” he said.

DNA evidence taken from a victim in a sexual assault is typically not taken by police, but by hospital personnel when a victim goes to a hospital.

That evidence is then sealed and given to police, who store it until it is sent to be tested. In Youngstown, that evidence is kept in the police department on West Boardman Street.

Chief Robin Lees said the extra kits that were found were from cases investigators had no leads on at all. He said officers looked for any extra kits they may have had because they wanted to take advantage of the DNA database that was being

assembled by BCI.

“That’s when we went looking for untested kits to send in,” Lees said.

Contributors: Staff reporters Ed Runyan, Jordyn Grzelewski and Joe Gorman.