About half of NC's rape kit backlog sits unexamined, so Stein requests more funding

When the state conducted an audit a few years ago, officials found more than 16,100 rape kits that were unexamined, sometimes sitting on shelves in police departments, hospitals or universities for years.

"A rapist will never stop until we stop him," a survivor of sexual assault identified only as "Ms. Linda" said during a Tuesday news conference. "Test kits. Arrest offenders. Empower victims to heal."

Stein said testing is complete on about 3,000 rape kits, and an additional 5,400 are under review.

The kits that have been processed have helped provide justice to some survivors. According to Stein,, there have been around 40 arrests linked to 58 assaults – all due to processing the evidence from the kits which hadn't been looked at. Additionally, 1,055 had sufficient evidence to enter a national crime database, and 470 of those – about 45% – hit a profile already in the database.

"These hits have jump-started many cold cases," Stein's office wrote in a press release.

Still, nearly 49 percent of the backlog still hasn’t been looked at.

"We have to keep working together to get across the finish line," Stein said.

On Tuesday, Sen. Warren Daniel, R-Burke, said lawmakers knew at the time they'd likely need more money.

Now, since the private company the state is contracted with increased the price they're charging per test from $700 to $1,245, Stein said $9 million is necessary to get all of the remaining tests processed by May 2023.

"Each kit comes from a person who suffered a terrible trauma and then willingly provided evidence, went through an invasive examination to deliver evidence to the criminal justice system," said Stein. "We owe it to them to test their kits."