For Immediate Release:
Friday, September 20, 2024
Contact:
Nazneen Ahmed (919) 716-0060
(RALEIGH) The North Carolina Department of Justice this week hosted a two-day symposium with law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and victim advocates to discuss how to investigate and prosecute cold case sexual assaults years after they happen. The symposium gave criminal justice professionals information on how to organize caseloads, strategies for prosecuting cold cases, working with survivors, and using information about connected crimes to help solve a case. Presenters included representatives from the State Bureau of Investigation, the UNC School of Government, the Durham District Attorney’s Office, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office.
“We know that as we continue to get hits on old cases, law enforcement is going to get leads in cases that were once cold,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “We want law enforcement and prosecutors to have the best understanding of the science of DNA and how to approach victims years later without re-traumatizing them. As we all continue to work together, I look forward to us solving more cold cases and making our communities safer.”
In April, Attorney General Stein announced that North Carolina ended the backlog of untested older sexual assault kits. More than 11,850 kits have been tested or are in the process of being tested. From those kits, 5,087 samples have been entered in the CODIS DNA database, and CODIS has matched the samples to 2,760 hits. Law enforcement has made 115 arrests based on these hits, and many of these cases are cold cases being reponed years later.
As the State Crime Lab continues to test evidence and law enforcement looks into older cases, they are making arrests in decades-old sexual assaults. In March, the Raleigh Police Department arrested Tracy Lamont Thompson related to cases in 1998, 2007, and 2009. He was charged with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree rape, second-degree sexual offense, attempted second-degree rape, and assault by strangulation. Last August, a jury in New Hanover County found Freddie Anthony Jackson guilty of a 1995 kidnapping and rape.
More information on the symposium is available here.
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