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American Morning
Investigation Slowed in Miami Serial Rape Case?
Aired June 17, 2003 - 07:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To Miami now, where the case of a serial rapist is revealing an unsettling weakness in that police department.
Our national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, looks at how this investigation has stumbled.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Had it not been for a series of attacks, including three children as young as 11, police say they might not have discovered a DNA sample that fell by the wayside, a situation that horrifies Kellie Greene.
KELLIE GREENE, DIRECTOR, SPEAKING OUT ABOUT RAPE: There is no excuse for any rape kit to sit on a shelf.
CANDIOTTI: Greene was raped in 1994. She's now an advocate to speed up DNA processing nationwide.
GREENE: I know at one time I felt like I was the walking dead, you know? He might as well have murdered me.
CANDIOTTI: A DNA matching system was not available then, but when it became available, Greene's attacker, a repeat offender, was discovered, already in prison.
GREENE: Criminals don't always follow that pattern that we want them to follow. DNA is going to point out that pattern for us. And so, that's one of the prime reasons why that kit should have been processed in a timely manner.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Crime labs around the country are bombarded with requests for DNA testing for all kinds of crimes, from burglary to murder.
CHIEF JOHN TIMONEY, MIAMI POLICE: The consequence is clear that there are serial rapists out there that remain unknown. There are communities that have a serial rapist that are unaware of it.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): DNA from unidentified rapists is a high priority.
PROF. LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: It can tell the police that a criminal has crossed state lines, that this criminal is performing multiple assaults or rapes or murders. CANDIOTTI: Yet, in Miami-Dade County, Florida, officials estimate it takes an average of one month to process DNA, and Florida's state-run labs usually take more than five months to fully analyze DNA samples and enter them into a national database, known as CODIS.
Also troublesome, the potential for lawsuits if rape kits like these sit around for months, putting others at risk.
KOBILINSKY: Failure to test a rape kit in a timely fashion could result in victims that could claim that had the police not been negligent in performing their duties that they wouldn't have become victims.
CANDIOTTI: Last month, Kellie Greene appeared with the U.S. attorney general to back a billion-dollar five-year presidential proposal to expand the current system.
GREENE: We just owe it to society to make our lives and our world as safe as possible.
CANDIOTTI: For Greene, her way of fighting back.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired June 17, 2003 - 07:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To Miami now, where the case of a serial rapist is revealing an unsettling weakness in that police department.
Our national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, looks at how this investigation has stumbled.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Had it not been for a series of attacks, including three children as young as 11, police say they might not have discovered a DNA sample that fell by the wayside, a situation that horrifies Kellie Greene.
KELLIE GREENE, DIRECTOR, SPEAKING OUT ABOUT RAPE: There is no excuse for any rape kit to sit on a shelf.
CANDIOTTI: Greene was raped in 1994. She's now an advocate to speed up DNA processing nationwide.
GREENE: I know at one time I felt like I was the walking dead, you know? He might as well have murdered me.
CANDIOTTI: A DNA matching system was not available then, but when it became available, Greene's attacker, a repeat offender, was discovered, already in prison.
GREENE: Criminals don't always follow that pattern that we want them to follow. DNA is going to point out that pattern for us. And so, that's one of the prime reasons why that kit should have been processed in a timely manner.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Crime labs around the country are bombarded with requests for DNA testing for all kinds of crimes, from burglary to murder.
CHIEF JOHN TIMONEY, MIAMI POLICE: The consequence is clear that there are serial rapists out there that remain unknown. There are communities that have a serial rapist that are unaware of it.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): DNA from unidentified rapists is a high priority.
PROF. LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: It can tell the police that a criminal has crossed state lines, that this criminal is performing multiple assaults or rapes or murders. CANDIOTTI: Yet, in Miami-Dade County, Florida, officials estimate it takes an average of one month to process DNA, and Florida's state-run labs usually take more than five months to fully analyze DNA samples and enter them into a national database, known as CODIS.
Also troublesome, the potential for lawsuits if rape kits like these sit around for months, putting others at risk.
KOBILINSKY: Failure to test a rape kit in a timely fashion could result in victims that could claim that had the police not been negligent in performing their duties that they wouldn't have become victims.
CANDIOTTI: Last month, Kellie Greene appeared with the U.S. attorney general to back a billion-dollar five-year presidential proposal to expand the current system.
GREENE: We just owe it to society to make our lives and our world as safe as possible.
CANDIOTTI: For Greene, her way of fighting back.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
