Aggressive effort to clear Dallas backlog of sexual assault cases continues

The Dallas Police Department and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office continue their aggressive efforts to clear old sexual assault cases.

“We owe it to our survivors, and it's incredibly important to us. So, that's why we really wanted to push to make sure that we are on track,” Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said.

According to DPD, the initial backlog was 6,753 untested kits that dated from 1996 to 2019.

The backlog was divided into two groups due to funding.

“The 1996-2011 backlog which was eligible for grant funds from the federal SAKI program, and the 2011-2019 backlog which is currently being tested at SWIFS,” a spokesperson for the Dallas Police Department said in an email.

SWIFS is the Forensic Sciences lab located in Dallas County.

By January 2023, DPD reported there were 1,880 sexual assault kits that still needed to be tested.

The kits from the 1996-2011 backlog were shipped to a Virginia-based forensic lab. An exact number was not disclosed by DPD however, they said 712 kits were sent to SWIFS to be tested.

In 2022, the Dallas City Council approved $2.3 million for testing. Dallas County also committed to providing $500,000 from a Sex Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) grant. The grant was able to ensure testing for nearly 330 kits from the pre-2011 backlog.

“We're almost completely finished with the testing of the kits,” Amy Derek said. Derek is the Administrative Chief for the Crimes Against Children and Sexual Assault Units for the Dallas County District Attorney's Office.

“We are working as hard as we can work on every single one of these cases, whether we get a DNA hit or not,” Derek said.

All results are eventually sent to the Texas Department of Public Safety. DPS is responsible for entering DNA profiles into the CODIS database.

“Simultaneously along the way, ever since 2015, any time we have received any sort of DNA hit to the analysis of the kits, our investigators have also been working on those cases,” Derek said. “And they work those cases until they can't work them anymore, which means following up on any leads that might be generated or anything new that they may see just looking at a case with fresh eyes.”

The SAKI grant has also allowed investigators with the DA’s office to work closely with DPD.

“The grant that we have here in-house provides to investigators who actually have their office over at the Dallas Police Department and spend their days investigating any of the leads that may be generated from the testing of those kits,” Derek said.

Just this month a jury sentenced 61-year-old Adrian Cortes to 60 years in prison. According to the DA’s office, Cortes’ DNA connected him to two cold-case sexual assaults. The kits were tested through the SAKI program.

In a press release sent by the DA's office, the kits dated back to 2001 and 1996.

"The case-to-case match came from an unrelated, unsolved sexual assault from 1996...Years later, the defendant’s DNA was uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) as a result of an unrelated conviction. It finally provided the missing link to connect the two sexual assaults and gave a face to the unknown man who attacked these women," the press release stated.

And while prosecutors were happy to get justice for both victims, Derek admits it will not always be the outcome for the more than 6,000 kits that were part of the backlog.

“The offender's DNA may not be in CODIS. So, it would still be an unsolved case, because we still don't know who to match that DNA profile from the kit,” Derek said. “Even if we do get a match, the biggest struggle that we have in these cases is their age. And so, you know, a lot of, time is spent, one trying to locate the survivor. And then also if we can, even if we can locate them having. In conversations with them about whether or not they want to participate. The majority of these cases involve survivors who are in what we call a highly vulnerable population.”

Whether a DNA hit is found or not, the DA’s office and DPD ensure that every lead will be investigated.

According to DPD, the remaining untested kits will be transferred to the Virginia lab throughout 2024 to finalize all testing.

If you are a survivor of sexual assault and would like more information regarding the status of testing for your sexual assault kit, you may send an email to DallasKits@dallascounty.org or call 972–955–4923. For more information regarding the Sexual Assault Unit’s work under this initiative, please visit www.sakitta.org/Dallas/.