What can go wrong, and right, in rape kit investigations across US

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The story of a cold-case rape investigation in Michigan reveals a wide spectrum of failures surrounding the nation’s handling of sexual assault cases, including under a federal grant program that was intended to help law enforcement agencies test old rape kits and investigate the cases.

A three-part series in USA TODAY details the slow process of justice in a case in Lansing, Michigan. There, in 2012, a teenager named Joslyn Phillips accused an acquaintance named Marshawn Curtis of rape. A series of breakdowns allowed Curtis to remain free for years after that report.

The federal Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, launched in 2015, promised to deliver justice and put rapists behind bars. But a USA TODAY investigation found that even though the program has awarded nearly $350 million in grants – including $5.5 million to the Michigan State Police – countless survivors didn’t get that outcome.

In Lansing, the effort led to Phillips’ rape kit being tested for DNA, four years after the fact. But Curtis was not arrested or charged until years after that – and after he had been accused of rape a second time, by a woman in Georgia named Emily Zaballos.

The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative also helped fund the regional task force that led to him being charged and convicted. While Curtis ultimately was sent to prison in Michigan, he has not been charged in Georgia.

Here are eight lessons learned from the case.

1. The rape kits in both women’s cases were tested. The Lansing victim had a rape kit done, but it wasn’t sent for testing, becoming part of the national backlog that languished for years.

The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative later awarded nearly $350 million in federal grants to state and local agencies, in part to help clear that backlog. Michigan vowed to test every kit. As a result, four years after her rape allegation, Phillips’ kit was tested.

But for many other victims, that hasn’t happened.

A least a dozen grant recipients carved out exceptions to testing, leaving kits unprocessed for a second time.

In one California county, officials boasted they had cleared their backlog, but only after deeming more than half of their kits ineligible for testing.

In Iowa, the state lab discourages police from submitting kits if they already know the suspect’s name. Under that policy, Zaballos’ kit would not have been submitted.

In all, USA TODAY found thousands of rape kits still haven’t been tested.

2. The rape kit in Georgia was tested, even though police there closed the case. Working Phillips' case in Michigan, Detective Annie Harrison only found out about a rape complaint against Curtis in Georgia because the kit there had been tested. In other states, that might not have happened.

In Georgia, police classified the complaint as “unfounded.” That means that in their eyes, no crime was committed. As a result, no charges were filed against Curtis there.

A Georgia state law requires the testing of kits for all rapes reported to police. That’s why the test results from Zaballos’ rape kit ended up in the national DNA database.

But several other states don’t have testing mandates. And there, the choice to label a case “unfounded” could prevent it from being tested. That means countless victims may never know their rapists were accused more than once. Neither will the police.

3. After the tests, someone thoroughly investigated. The fact that DNA from a Georgia kit matched evidence in one of her cases was shared with Harrison, who investigates Michigan cases with previously untested kits as part of a special task force.

But not all law enforcement agencies have task forces like the one Harrison works for. As a result, investigations of cold-case rapes can take significantly longer – or never happen at all.

Because Harrison works in Michigan, she couldn’t pursue charges against Curtis in Georgia.

After testing, police in some jurisdictions have reopened cases that were initially shelved. But others have declined to do so, USA TODAY’s investigation found. In Maryland, according to a state report, some law enforcement agencies have shown “significant reluctance” to reopen investigations and have even stated outright that they are disregarding DNA matches.

After USA TODAY presented the results of its reporting to the Gwinnett County Police Department in Georgia, a spokesman said that Zaballos’ case could be re-opened.

4. The Michigan detective took her training seriously. The Michigan State Police used some of its grant funding to develop specialized training that covers trauma’s effects on the brain and how to conduct investigations focused on the offender’s history. The eight-hour course was distributed to more than 300 criminal justice professionals throughout the state.

Harrison has done that training and more. She estimated that she has spent more than 950 hours (about eight hours a month for 10 years) learning how best to investigate sexual assaults. She said one of the lessons she has learned concerns the key differences between a sex assault victim and a suspect. When suspects act nervous, tell different versions of a story or forget details, she should follow up, because they may be lying. But when a victim of sexual assault does the exact same things, it’s often because of the effects of trauma on the brain.

Harrison has also learned that rapists may assault both romantic partners and strangers, and some also commit other violent crimes. This knowledge contributed to her belief that Zaballos had been raped and could potentially testify against Curtis.

Agencies that have received grants from the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative are required to complete some training.

But the outcomes aren’t always positive.

In Kansas, for example, the state began efforts to clear its backlog in 2014, including training funded by the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. But by 2022, the percentage of rape cases that led to arrests in the state was lower than when the effort began.

5. The women who accused Curtis found out their kits had been tested. Zaballos, the Georgia accuser, only learned that Curtis’ DNA had been found in her kit because Harrison told her.

Thousands of victims whose kits were tested under the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative don’t even know their kits have been tested, let alone what the results were, USA TODAY’s investigation found.

At the time of Zaballos’ complaint in 2020, Georgia law did not require victims to be notified of their kits’ test results. (Victims whose kits were tested after June 30, 2022, can track the status of their kits online.)

Of 42 notification policies from grant sites obtained by USA TODAY, only eight recommend contacting all or close to all victims. At the other extreme, at least six policies directly link whether a victim is notified to whether authorities think their case could be investigated or prosecuted. In both Wisconsin and Orange County, California, officials reached just one person for every 43 kits sent for testing.

6. Testimony about the Georgia rape complaint helped persuade a Michigan jury to convict. Under both federal court rules and Michigan law, if someone has been accused of sexual misconduct in the past – even if he wasn’t charged – the judge in a rape case can sometimes allow those past accusers to testify. After considering arguments from both the prosecution and the defense, Judge James S. Jamo allowed Zaballos to testify during Curtis’ trial in Michigan, even though police didn’t pursue her case in Georgia.

States don’t all have the same standards for when such evidence is allowed, and individual judges must decide whether those standards have been met in each case.

7. The Michigan case resulted in a lengthy prison sentence. Curtis was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with personal injury and sentenced to 17 ½ to 80 years in prison.

Harrison’s work also provided the basis for Michigan prosecutors to charge Curtis on two additional allegations: having sex with a 15-year-old in 2012 and exposing himself to a prospective juror near the Ingham County courthouse in 2019. Those charges remained pending as of late September.

According to the Department of Justice, the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative has led to 100,000 kits being tested and about 1,500 convictions so far. Nearly half came from two agencies, while others have seen meager results. In Austin, Texas, officials faced a backlog of more than 4,400 kits. They have convicted one person.

Even when perpetrators in cold-case rapes are convicted, some face lighter sentences than contemporary rapists.

8. In Phillips’ case, a civil suit may hold officials accountable for how her case was handled. Crime victims sometimes file civil suits as another way to attempt to hold their attackers or law enforcement officials accountable.

Although the standard of proof is generally lower in a civil suit than at a criminal trial, legal rules and precedents make it difficult for victims to prevail in court against law enforcement officials and other government employees.

Phillips has filed a federal civil suit against the city of Lansing, Ingham County, police officers and prosecutors for mishandling her case. Harrison, who is not named as a defendant in that suit, has provided a deposition.

Despite a request from the defendants to throw out the case, the judge has allowed some of her claims to move forward, and the suit remained pending as of late September.

UNTESTED: Chapter 1, The Case. | Chapter 2, The Chase. | Chapter 3, The Trial. | About this story. | 8 lessons learned.

Contributing: Tricia L. Nadolny, Nick Penzenstadler, Jayme Fraser, Dian Zhang of USA TODAY.

Gina Barton is an investigative reporter at USA TODAY. She can be reached at (262) 757-8640 or gbarton@gannett.com. Follow her on X @writerbarton.

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