Over 800 DNA Kits Show Signs of Mold in Austen, Texas

Unbelievable! Some of the kits are 25 years old

and still haven't been tested???!!!

I think there may be a problem with priorities here.

by CBS Austin

According to a memo from Austin's assistant city manager to the mayor and council members, officers found mold growing in containers of about 850 DNA evidence kits. (CBS Austin)

The Austin Police Department's DNA testing process is encountering more problems. Analysis of more than 800 evidence boxes is on hold after they were found with traces of mold on them.

APD is waiting for expert guidance before doing anything involving the evidence in question. Though the discovery was made two months ago, the department says they still don't know how this happened.

"I can't stand here today and tell you how it happened, and again hopefully, that's part of what we can understand from the review that we'll have done," says interim chief Brian Manley.

Manley says of 1,629 evidence kits inspected, 849 had signs of mold on them. The department has yet to look and see if that mold is also inside.

"We want to make sure that we're taking the appropriate steps not only with the evidence that we have but with the equipment that we're storing the evidence in," says Manley.

There is mold inside at least one kit. That's how APD learned about the problem. A memo to city council on June 26 reveals the mold was first discovered on April 25 when a private company hired to analyze the DNA kits found the mold on an article of clothing from a sexual assault case. Further investigation revealed hundreds of boxes with mold on them at APD's storage facility.

"We also had done a humidity test and we discovered that the humidity level was too high in this particular refrigerator," says Manley.

Manley says he doesn't believe the mold negatively impacted the testing of the first kit it was found inside. Most of the moldy kits are from the 1990s and early 2000s, unprocessed and not used in court. About 25 of the evidence kits are related to cases filed since 2011. Many kits stored in the same refrigerator had no signs of mold, according to Manley.

"We are taking an aggressive stance on this trying to making sure we handle his as timely and as appropriately as possible, but what we understand right now is that this issue has not negatively impacted well over 1,000 kits we have sent off for processing," says Manley.

They city and police department is now asking state and national experts about how to preserve the evidence, but the discovery is raising questions about whether the samples are usable. Since the April discovery, APD had a commercial refrigeration company seal all seams on the outside of the refrigerator to prevent moisture from entering. They also installed a $14,000 industrial dehumidifier.

Ongoing issues with APD's DNA lab led to interim Austin Police Chief Brian Manley announcing the ceasing of all operations last year.

In May, a new APD squad was announced to look into sex crimes left uninvestigated by the city's ongoing rape kit backlog.