Detroit Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Yields Over 250 Convictions as Long-Running Probe Continues

A sprawling, decades-long investigation into thousands of untested sexual assault evidence kits discovered in a Detroit police warehouse has resulted in 263 convictions, according to figures released by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office by April 2025. The initiative, which transformed how local and national authorities handle neglected forensic evidence, continues to generate active investigations and prosecutions more than 15 years after the backlog first came to light.

The effort began in 2009 when authorities uncovered 11,341 sexual assault evidence kits stored inside a Detroit Police Department storage facility. The recovered evidence spanned a 25-year period, containing material collected from cases dating between 1984 and 2009 that had never been submitted for laboratory testing.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy assumed responsibility for tackling the massive backlog, but the immediate hurdle was financial. Facing severe local fiscal constraints, the county administration could not initially allocate the necessary funds. Testing a single kit carried an estimated cost of $1,200 to $1,500, meaning millions of dollars were required to examine the entire inventory of more than 11,000 kits.

To overcome the shortfall, Worthy initiated a fundraising campaign that drew support from government agencies, charitable foundations, and individual donors across all 50 American states and nine foreign countries. Among the prominent early supporters was American actress Mariska Hargitay, widely known for her role as detective Olivia Benson in the television series Law & Order: SVU.

Hargitay, who had established the Joyful Heart Foundation to assist survivors of sexual assault, met Worthy at a congressional hearing in 2010. Beyond providing financial assistance, the actress leveraged her public profile to lobby lawmakers for legislative changes regarding the handling of forensic evidence. Worthy later recounted that Hargitay traveled to Detroit to attend a breakfast organized for state legislators who had previously been difficult to reach, helping secure crucial political momentum for reform.

The testing phase required years of painstaking laboratory work and subsequent investigative follow-up. In some instances, the delay carried severe public safety consequences. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office highlighted a case involving a 2002 sexual assault whose forensic evidence was eventually linked to a suspect who had subsequently been imprisoned for three murders committed over the following seven years.

By 2019, marking the tenth anniversary of the discovery, the physical testing of all 11,341 recovered kits had been completed. The scope of the subsequent investigations eventually widened far beyond Michigan, reaching 40 U.S. states, including California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Washington. National reporting and prosecutorial figures indicated the initiative helped solve more than 5,000 cases and identify 22 serial rapists.

The revelations in Detroit also spurred broader systemic changes. Michigan lawmakers introduced statutory timelines requiring the prompt submission of future sexual assault kits and established a statewide tracking system enabling survivors to monitor the DNA testing progress of their cases. Furthermore, Hargitay produced the 2018 documentary *I Am Evidence*, which examined the national backlog issue and featured Worthy’s work in Detroit; the film earned an Emmy Award in 2019.

Although the testing of the original warehouse inventory concluded years ago, related casework persists. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that investigations and prosecutions remained ongoing in 2025. Worthy has maintained her ties to Hargitay’s organization, currently serving as vice-chair and co-chair of its National Council of Leadership and Innovation, while the Detroit initiative continues to serve as a benchmark for handling forensic evidence backlogs across the United States.