Maricopa County received grants totaling $3.5 million from the U.S. Department of Justice to collect evidence through DNA testing and sexual assault kits in unsolved cases.
The county has approved an additional $500,000 grant from Department of Justice funding to be used to prosecute DNA backlogs. Funds will be used to investigate and bring unsolved violent crimes for prosecution and closure.
“The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office’s 2022 Cold Case DNA Proposal will increase the number of staff available to prosecute cold case violent crimes, support cold case investigations by cold case analysts and overtime for existing detectives. It’s a three-year project to provide ongoing staffing for the company,’ according to the agreement.
According to the agreement, resources will be provided at various levels to ensure that eligible cold cases are put in the forefront, classified and reviewed as new technologies are developed. This will ultimately lead to the identification of suspects, which is what authorities want, increasing the number of cases brought for prosecution and reducing the number of unsolved violent crimes and murders.
This project will help create a formal database of violent crimes and homicides in the county. This database identifies suspects through DNA and organizes and prioritizes cases based on solvability.
In 2019, informal requests identified more than 340 unsolved murders with suspected DNA, though the exact number is unknown. The number is estimated at about 4,000, officials said, according to information from law enforcement and public laboratories.
The remaining $2.5 million will be used to fund additional testing of DNA evidence related to sexual assault.
County officials said resources will continue to work to support investigators and resources to ensure tests are processed in a timely manner.
Since 2016, the MCAO has prosecuted 18 defendants for sexual assault based on evidence using DNA and genealogy testing.
This is after the law firm had a backlog of 4,500 rape kits from 2015 to 2020.
Maricopa Attorney’s Office is the third-largest public office in the nation, with an agency serving more than 4.7 million residents according to the treaty. The agency is made up of over 1,000 full-time employees, including attorneys, investigators, paralegals, victim advocates, and support staff.
The headline and story have been revised to reflect the correct grant amount of $500,000.
Frank Espinoza
Reporter | Daily Independent
fespinoza@iniusa.org
Frank Espinoza is a recent graduate of Northern Arizona University in early 2022. He takes pride in covering topics that spotlight individuals or groups that give back to their communities. He has covered local sports, community events, and important issues affecting the state. In his spare time, he loves watching Street League Skateboarding and going to Goodyear’s Cowtown Skateboards.
