How an Ohio reporter helped convict more than 100 rapists - Columbia Journalism Review

"Dissell first began asking questions about rape kits in late 2009, when Ohio was rocked by the gruesome story of 11 bodies found in and around the Cleveland home of Anthony Sowell, a convicted rapist. The story prompted Dissell and Atassi to investigate how sexual assault cases were handled in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland. They filed a public records request, asking for the number of untested rape kits in storage at the Cleveland police department. The answer they got: We don’t know. But the department promised to find out. Dissell and Atassi stayed on it until they received an estimate of roughly 4,000 untested kits. Once the backlog was made public, things moved steadily forward. Ohio Attorney General Michael DeWine declared that every kit would be tested at the state’s crime lab, secured funding, and increased the lab staff to meet demand."   Source: How an Ohio reporter helped convict more than 100 rapists - Columbia Journalism Review