ST. LOUIS — After the Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s announcement that almost 7,000 rape kits have been untested in Missouri, 5 On Your Side wanted to find out what is next.
YWCA Metro St. Louis, an organization that provides counseling for rape survivors, said a team of advocates respond to local hospitals about 600 times a year to help survivors as rape kits are administered.
“Our advocates respond and say, ‘I'm here for you,’” said Samantha Wayant, YWCA Director of Crisis Intervention. “It's a forensic exam. You are having swabs. You are having urine collected, blood collected. Hair is being pulled. It is very much an invasive process. Our advocates are there to walk through what does this look like in layman's terms, not medical terms.”
Now, Wayant is part of a committee that will help the Attorney General’s Office deal with the backlog of rape kits that have not been tested.
“It's not a box. It's not evidence. This is a person. This a story and this is what happened to them,” Wayant said. “You're hearing, 'was I one of those kits not tested?' It brings up anger. It brings up loss. It brings up the anxiety."
Schmitt said his department currently has funding to test 1250 kits, and will seek more funding to test the thousands that will remain.
“Ultimately, bring people to justice and make sure victims know we want to honor their courage by coming forward for them to know there’s not going to be a kit on a shelf, untested,” Schmitt said.
The state will have to get to work investigating the cases and ultimately prosecuting the rapists.
This is going to take teamwork from law enforcement, prosecutors and hospitals, where rape kits are administered, Wayant said.
Susan Kidder, the CEO of Safe Connections, which provides counseling for rape survivors, says she hopes the state follows through and makes prosecuting sex assaults a priority.
“Having these rape kits for years and years is a deterrent and barrier to survivors reporting,” Kidder said. “It allows rapists to go without being held accountable.”
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