A law that expanded the number of people required to submit DNA samples has linked crime suspects to 40 unsolved sex assaults, burglaries, arsons and robberies across Colorado, authorities said Wednesday.
“We knew there would be an immediate impact, and there was an immediate impact,” said Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, one of the key proponents of “Katie’s Law,” which was passed in 2009 and created the expanded DNA sampling program.
The law requires all people arrested on suspicion of a felony to submit a DNA sample. It went into effect Sept. 30, 2010, said Colorado Bureau of Investigation executive director Ron Sloan.
Under the law, if no felony charges are filed, DNA samples are destroyed after a year.
In just 4 1/2 months, law enforcement officers across the state have collected 15,404 DNA swab samples. Of those, 9,912 of the samples were processed by the CBI when felony charges were filed.
The samples were entered into the Combined DNA Index System along with DNA samples collected from crime victims or scenes across Colorado.
Matches were found in nine sex assaults, two robbery cases, 15 burglaries and 14 property crimes across the state.
Morrissey said the law was passed anticipating that it would help solve primarily violent and sex-assault crimes in which bodily fluids were left behind.
Denver alone has had matches in 17 cases, including two sex-assault cold cases, he said. Of those cases, two resulted in new charges and the remainder are under investigation. On Monday alone, Denver got seven more hits, Morrissey said.
He said it’s only a matter of time before the testing will identify killers in unsolved homicide cases.
The law is named after Katie Sepich, a 22-year-old New Mexico woman who was raped, strangled and set on fire by a man released on bond.
The DNA testing is funded by a $2.50 surcharge for convicted offenders.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
