Mar 31, 2009 10:58 pm US/Central
DNA Backlog: Rape Kits Shelved For Months
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Thousands of rape kits sit on a shelf backlogged for months before the state police crime lab can test them.
CBS
Thousands of rape kits sit on a shelf backlogged for months before the state police crime lab tests them. Meanwhile, rapists are free to walk around, and in some cases they attack again. CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery spoke with a woman who knows this all too well.
"My life's in a box sittin' on a shelf," said rape victim Dawn Rodriguez. "That's what it meant to me."
Dawn Rodriguez remembers the agonizing wait to learn if the DNA in her rape kit would identify the man who attacked her, so he could finally be taken off the street.
"I don't know what women do when you have to wait that long," Rodriguez said. "I was afraid for me. I was afraid for my kids. Is he gonna come back? Yeah, that was probably the worst. And are they ever gonna catch him?"
In an act of remarkable courage, Rodriguez invited a reporter into her home this evening to talk on-camera for the first time ever about the terrible night in 2005 when she was attacked by serial rapist Tyrone Everhart, Jr.
"It was also, like, the death of that person that I was before," Rodriguez said. "It was, like, officially the end."
Everhart cleverly prevented Rodriguez from seeing anything when he assaulted her. DNA is the key reason he's in Stateville Prison now for life - with no chance of parole.
But before the backlogged crime lab confirmed his identity, Everhart remained free. He was implicated in another rape shortly after he attacked Rodriguez. This time, it was a 16-year-old girl in Tinley Park.
"That made me sick to my stomach," Rodriguez said. "I have kids that age."
An outraged State Rep. Julie Hamos wants public hearings on this issue - quickly.
"I was shocked because 10,000 cases being backlogged is a huge number," Hamos said.
"We're spending money on a lot of things that I don't think are this important," Rodriguez said. "These are peoples' lives."
Debbie Perry, a YWCA rape victim advocate in Chicago Heights, said that in the 27 court cases she monitored last year, it typically took six to eight months to obtain DNA test results. She and other rape victim advocates want 30 days to be the goal – which will cost millions of state taxpayer dollars.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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