Beshear’s Cold Case Sexual Assault Unit Expanding with $1.4 million Federal Grant

Beshear’s Cold Case Sexual Assault Unit Expanding with $1.4 million Federal Grant
More personnel, resources arriving to help catch sexual predators, aid survivors in Kentucky

FRANKFORT, KY. (Sept. 26, 2019) – Attorney General Andy Beshear announced today that his office has been awarded a $1.4 million federal grant to expand its Sexual Assault Cold Case Unit and further investigate and prosecute sexual assault cold cases, many of which resulted from the state’s Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (SAFE) kit backlog discovered in 2015.

The three-year Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice is the second grant Beshear’s Office of Victims Advocacy has received.

“Seeking justice for victims of sexual assault has been a top priority for my office and today we are taking another significant step forward in our mission’s work,” Beshear said. “We are grateful for this funding, which will help us expand on the successful work of our Cold Case Unit by providing additional resources to analyze these cases, link more serial offenders and ultimately make our Commonwealth safer.”

In 2018, the office hired a victim advocate, investigator, prosecutor and a SAKI coordinator and established a Cold Case Unit after receipt of a nearly $3 million grant. The original funds also allowed for the testing of an additional 1,424 SAFE kits not previously identified, the hiring of a cold case investigator for Kentucky State Police (KSP), a University of Louisville backlog research project and the formation of a SAKI task force.

With the new grant funds, Beshear’s office will hire another investigator, permanently detailed to the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD), and a crime analyst for the Cold Case Unit. In an effort to assist in the identification of a suspect in the cases in which a DNA profile has been developed but there is no identified perpetrator, funding will support specialized DNA testing for up to 50 kits. The funding will also support overtime for KSP lab personnel working to crack these cases.

“While Kentucky has made significant strides forward, a more innovative, comprehensive approach to the investigations of sexually violent predators is necessary to achieve justice on behalf of all sexual assault survivors,” Carey Aldridge, SAKI program coordinator in Beshear’s Office of Victims Advocacy, said. “We are appreciative of our grant partners and of the Department of Justice for their continued investment, which will enhance and complement our existing services under the Kentucky Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.”

SAKI task force member LMPD Sex Crimes Unit Sgt. Tim Stokes said, “The additional investigator and resources provided to the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative through the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office will add strength and allow the LMPD Sex Crimes Unit to continue to move forward in bringing closure to our victims and the additional ability to hold suspects accountable.”

The Office of the Attorney General is the lead agency on the grant with a sub-grant to the KSP Central Laboratory. Given the repeat nature of sexually violent predators, part of the grant will fund the KSP lab’s outsourcing the specialized forensic genealogy searching and phenotyping/ancestral analysis. This type of testing is estimated at $5,000 per case and the two agencies will coordinate on testing protocols.

Eileen Recktenwald, executive director of the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, said the passage of Senate Bill 63 in 2016, the SAFE Act, raised the possibility for many survivors to move forward, take their lives off “pause” and seek justice; but added that to continue the state’s progress, funding must be made available. 

“We are very grateful to the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General for consistently applying for this funding, and grateful to the Department of Justice for providing it,” said Recktenwald.

Efforts from the first grant have been successful, Beshear said. Data from kit testing continues to be finalized and returned to both the unit and local agencies for follow-up and investigation. At every level, the unit assists on cases with an advocate, investigator, prosecutor and coordinator.

To date, the Cold Case Unit, local law enforcement and prosecutors have secured 10 statewide indictments linked to the SAFE kit backlog. Four of the indictments from Beshear’s office have been connected to two serial offenders, Jason Todd Langston of Louisville and Thaddeus Artis of Elizabethtown.

Since taking office, Beshear has made ending the state’s SAFE kit backlog and seeking justice for victims of sexual assault top priorities for his office.

In 2016, Beshear also provided $4.5 million in settlement money to lawmakers to fund requested Kentucky State Police crime lab upgrades to help end the SAFE kit backlog.

Beshear provided an additional $1 million from the settlement to aid law enforcement and prosecutors in conducting victim-centered investigations and prosecuting sexual assault offenders.

In January 2017, Beshear created a Survivors Council to advise and assist his office on matters related to victims of crime. Its purpose is to ensure office efforts are victim-centered, effective and responsive to the needs of diverse victims.

Kentucky is only one of the few states that has tested every backlogged SAFE kit.