At a time when there is an estimated backlog of 225,000 rape kits in the U.S., authorities in Indiana arrested the suspect in a 17-year-old rape cold case this week.
According to a press release from the Fort Wayne Police Department in Indiana, 55-year-old Brad A. Battershell was arrested Friday at U.S. 27 and Interstate 469 by detectives and transported to the Allen County Jail. He’s been charged with three counts of rape, three counts of criminal deviate conduct and one count of sexual battery.
All are felony charges and they stem from a 2008 rape cold case. After years of mystery regarding the suspect in the crime, the Fort Wayne Police Department received a DNA hit from the Combined DNA Index System, also known as CODIS.
“The Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, blends forensic science and computer technology into a tool that enables federal, state, and local forensic laboratories to exchange and compare DNA profiles electronically, thereby linking serial violent crimes to each other and to known offenders,” according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It also added that “CODIS generates investigative leads in cases where biological evidence is recovered from the crime scene.”
When the DNA match came in, the FWPD Crimes Against Persons Unit and Crime Scene technicians conducted a follow up investigation and Battershell was identified as the suspect.
“Through a combined effort from the FWPD’s Crimes Against Persons Unit and Vice & Narcotics Division, Investigators successfully located Battershell and he was taken into custody,” said the department. “He was transported to the Allen County Jail. Detective Kim Seiss of the Crimes Against Persons Unit (CAPS) was assigned to the investigation.”
As of Saturday, he was still in custody, per inmate records.
In a report issued last December, the Joyful Heart Foundation said that “more than 225,000 untested [rape] kits have been uncovered by investigative reporters and through The Accountability Project,” highlighting the severity of the backlog. Organizations like the Joyful Heart Foundation and End the Backlog work to make sure the kits get tested. This April, the National Conference of State Legislatures also noted that legislation introduced in Indiana would create a rape kit backlog fund to help law enforcement agencies and testing labs to eliminate their inventories.
“Indiana crime labs are often unable to pay competitive wages, as the people working in these labs can get higher paying jobs with the degrees that they are required to receive,” says the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Becky Cash (R-Ind.).