Colorado officials say they have eliminated rape kit backlog

ARVADA, Colo. — Investigators could be closer to solving hundreds of Colorado sex assault cases now that authorities have eliminated a backlog of thousands of untested rape kits, the state Bureau of Investigation said Friday.

Officials said they cleared a backlog of more than 3,500 kits, some decades old. Investigators then turned up 691 matches in a national DNA database, giving police a new chance at finding suspects.

The agency began sending the evidence to out-of-state labs after Colorado lawmakers passed legislation in 2013 mandating a statewide accounting of untested rape kits. The measure was part of a growing effort nationally to tackle rape kit backlogs, with dozens of states proposing plans for swifter inventory and analysis of the crucial evidence.

Officials collected 3,542 untested rape kits from Colorado police departments. The agencies did not submit the kits earlier, sometimes because they lacked suspects or victims weren’t willing to pursue charges.

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