ARVADA, Colo. (KDVR) — The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is facingwhat it calls a historic backlog as victims wait for test results that could lead to justice.
FOX31 got rare exclusive access to a CBI lab where the state’s DNA goes under the microscope. We took a deeper dive into what CBI is doing to tackle the backlog, as officials report the agency is now on track to eliminate it sooner than anticipated.
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“Forensic scientists came into this field because they want to help the criminal justice community and help victims,” said CBI’s Deputy Director over the Forensic Services section, Lance Allen.
Allen broke down the backlog and how it came to be.
“For a year, about 50% of our staff was pulled away from casework and that is what put us into this spot where we are today,” Allen said.
Analysts had to review almost three decades of work done by a woman named Yvonne “Missy” Woods, a former CBI analyst now charged with 102 felonies tied to cybercrime, perjury in the first degree, attempt to influence a public servant and forgery. The charges are related to alleged criminal misconduct in Woods’ work for more than a decade.
“We are committed to being transparent and accountable to where we are at, and we’re also very confident that this plan is going to be successful,” Allen said.
To drive down the current backlog, Allen explained that CBI is in the process of outsourcing more than a thousandsexual assault cases to local crime labs.
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“We’re going to get it down to under 90 days in the next two years, 18 months or so, and then we’re going to be properly staffed so that we can maintain that,” Allen said.
CBI is in the process of training 15 additional forensic scientists in DNA. We are told three are scheduled to complete training in the first half of this year, seven by the end of this year and the final five will complete training in 2026.
“We currently have 16 authorized DNA scientists,” Allen said. “And so this is really a significant commitment to make sure we are able to bring down that backlog and maintain a 90-day turnaround time.”
It takes about two years to train new analysts for CBI, six months to a year if they already have experience.
“You cannot train on criminal evidence, you have to know how to do it, it is not an on-the-job training,” Allen said. “You have to be able to do it properly before you start touching evidence. And so we have a very detailed process to make sure our forensic scientists are going to be able to meet our high standards and produce accurate, quality results.”
CBI tells FOX31 the oldest sex assault kit the agency has in-house was submitted in April 2023. It is currently being worked on by a CBI scientist and it’s currently in its final review stage.We asked about the timeline of DNA evidence itself.
“There are cold cases that are solved by DNA after tens of years,” Allen said. “And so it really can survive a long time without degrading as long as it is properly packaged and stored. And so, because of that, even if it is delayed by the backlog, we will be able to test it and we will be able to still produce those results that we need to work on.”
As for recruiting those in charge of the essential evidence, Allen explains that it is difficult to hire DNA scientists at this time.
“There is a shortage of forensic scientists in all disciplines right now, and so we are trying to recruit and bring in people with experience, if we can,” Allen said. “But often, we are hiring the very best college candidates that we can, and we’re training them with the needed skills to help them be successfuland make sure that they’ll be able to do the testing that CBI and the state of Colorado need.”
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FOX31 spoke to Amanda Kashenberg, one of the 15 scientists currently in training.
“There’s serology, that’s the first part, and then there’s DNA analysis and interpretation,” Kashenberg said. “It’s not just we get items of evidence and put it in a machine and get a profile. It takes a lot of work and the emphasis on quality and making sure that that work is reliable and accurate.”
Kashenberg tells FOX31 she’s almost ten months into training to be a CBI DNA analyst.
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“There’s 18 different sections or modules,” Kashenberg said. “We start off with the foundational scientific principles, so you want to understand the concepts you go back to like mitosis and all that fun stuff, but then there’s sections regarding the regulations and the standards that surround DNA testing and forensics in general.”
While they tackle those scientific concepts, Kashenberg explained they also attend lectures and work on practice samples.
“You’re in the lab, you’re understanding how the instruments work because you know you have to maintain them and troubleshoot them,” she said.
“And then we’re testing them regularly,” Allen said. “They have practical exercises. They have the written and oral board tests that they have to pass. And we really do push them to learn and grow and make sure they’re ready before we start letting them touch criminal evidence. It must be right every time.”
On top of discovery in DNA, lab analystsalso have to be able to back up their work in the court of law.
“It takes understanding it conceptually, like you can’t just wing it,” Kashenberg said. “You have to understand from bottom to top exactly what you’re doing and why.”
Beyond understanding their work, the analysts have to be able to explain it in a way a jury will understand.
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“It’s important to me because at the end of the day, we’re testifying to what we do and what we do ultimately impacts someone’s life,” Kashenberg said. “I think making sure that you’re confident that your end results are accurate and reliable is huge. And that’s emphasized here. And I think I would rather spend six extra months doing practice samples and, you know, practice writing reports or whatever it may be in order to ensure that I do feel confident I can go to bed and not think about, oh, no, like what if. It takes a long time, but it’s it’s all for the right reasons.”
The goal is to get the backlog down to a 90-day turnaround. Initially, CBI aimed to reach that turnaround time by the spring of 2027, but now it is on track to do it sooner, by the end of 2026.
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Impressed by the CBI lab's innovative approach in eradicating a historic DNA backlog, it truly demonstrates how scientific progress can revolutionize criminal justice and public trust.
