News

Actions

90 untested Chesapeake rape kits sent to be tested and analyzed

Posted at 4:03 PM, May 30, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-31 17:32:08-04

CHESAPEAKE, Va. - 90 untested rape kits will be sent to a Northern Virginia laboratory for testing and analysis Wednesday.

The kits are called physical evidence recovery kits (PERKs).

After the kits are processed, any DNA profiles that are developed will be uploaded into the national DNA database by the Virginia Department of Forensic Science (DFS), Chesapeake Police said.

Once they are loaded the goal is to identify crimes that were committed by known perpetrators or link crimes committed by a common, unidentified perpetrator.

The kits are being tested as part of Attorney General Herring’s $1.4 million project in with the DFS and local law enforcement agencies to test nearly 2,000 untested PERKs, some of which date back decades.