JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced that more than 1,000 untested rape kits have been gathered and sent to a private lab for testing.
This was done through the SAFE Kit Initiative, according to a press release.
“Since being sworn in as attorney general, clearing the backlog of untested sexual assault kits has remained one of my top priorities. Judge Williams and her team worked tirelessly in 2019 to inventory every backlogged untested sexual assault kit in the state, and now they're working diligently and expeditiously to get those kits sent to the lab," said Schmitt. "Although this is major progress, there is still a lot to be done. My office will continue to work to obtain justice on behalf of victims and ensure this backlog never happens again."
Since the first "shipping event" held in December of 2019, 1,021 untested rape kits that were identified in the SAFE Kit Initiative inventory have been shipped to a private lab in Virginia to be tested.
The shipping events have been held in several cities across the state, according to the release. Schmitt said the events will continue in the future as his office continues gathering and shipping backlogged rape kits to the lab for testing.
The SAFE Kits Initiative was launched by Schmitt in January of 2019 to inventory all untested rape kits in the backlog, create an electronic tracking system and send those identified kits to a lab for forensic testing and potential prosecution.
