Oregonian’s Reporting Leads to Required Timely Testing of Sexual Assault Kits
Thousands of untested sexual assault kits that could have solved at least 500 sexual crimes in Portland over the last decade were left on storage shelves. Detectives vowed to fix the issue after the homicide and sexual assault of a 14-year old girl named Melissa Bittler in 2001. However, an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Maxine Bernstein showed that Portland police failed on the promise to send the untested kits to the state crime lab.
