'Is rape really illegal' when rape kits go untested?

It took almost a decade to test Meaghan Ybos' rape kit, and during that time her attacker raped six other women

May 6, 2014 10:00AM ET

by Lori Jane Gliha @ljgliha & Bryan Myers

Meaghan Ybos was 16 years old and her body was a crime scene. In 2003, a rapist attacked her at knifepoint in her family’s suburban Memphis home. She never got a good look at him; he was wearing a ski mask and covered her face with a blanket during the assault.

But he did leave behind one thing that would ultimately lead to his identification: DNA.

Meaghan Ybos on her 16th birthday.

Meaghan Ybos

Despite her attacker's threat to return and kill her if she cooperated with police, Ybos decided to undergo a physical exam to prepare what is known as a “rape kit.”

Fluids, hairs and skin left behind by an attacker can be tested for DNA. Once that DNA is extracted, the police can look for a match in CODIS – a law enforcement database of DNA profiles. Think of it as a genetic version of the FBI’s fingerprint files. Even if a match isn’t found right away, having that DNA profile in the records is important, because an attacker’s DNA can turn up at crime scenes in the future.

But instead of analyzing Ybos’ kit right away, it sat untested for nine years. Ybos says she believes it’s because the police never believed she had been raped in the first place.

"The law enforcement response was worse than the rape,” Ybos, now 27, told America Tonight in her first national TV interview. “I was just interrogated as if I was a suspect myself. They kept saying, ‘You know you can go to jail for making this up, right? You’re not just doing this for attention, right?’”

Officials still can’t explain why Ybos' kit went untested for so long. The Shelby County Sheriff's Office, which conducted the initial investigation of Ybos' case, declined America Tonight's request for an interview. The Memphis Police Department – which, according to records, took possession of Ybos’ rape kit on the night of her attack – is allowing the mayor to speak on its behalf.

It happened again

For the next nine years, Ybos said her life was a “nightmare.” Trapped in a permanent “survival mode,” she was scared to even talk about her rape, for fear of being seen as an “attention-seeker.” She was also worried her rapist was still out there, always remembering his threat to return and kill her.

“I was on edge all the time. I didn’t know what the man looked like, so I couldn’t protect myself,” Ybos said. “He could be anywhere, he could be anyone.”

"The law says it’s illegal, but in practice, if nothing’s done, I have to wonder, is it really illegal?"

Meaghan Ybos

rape survivor

A technician tests a rape kit at a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation lab. Each kit costs between $500 and $1,000 to process.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation

In 2004, less than a year after Ybos was raped, police responded to a call at motel on the outskirts of Memphis. In the room, they found a man named Anthony Alliano with a 16-year-old girl. The girl appeared to be drugged. Police recovered bloodstained sheets. They took Alliano’s clothes and did a rape kit on the girl – all evidence that could have been tested for his DNA. But like Ybos' kit, that evidence went untested for years.

Alliano was charged with rape in the hotel incident, but those charges were dropped for reasons that still remain unanswered. Bill Gibbons, who was district attorney at the time, declined America Tonight’s request for an interview.

In early May 2012, Alliano was caught on surveillance cameras attempting to use credit cards stolen from yet another rape victim. Authorities made those pictures public hoping to identify him.

Ybos' mother saw them on a local news report and told her daughter. Ybos, who hadn’t heard a word about her case in years, called the police thinking it might be the man who attacked her. It was then that Ybos learned her rape kit had been untouched since the attack.

In early May 2012, Alliano was caught on surveillance cameras attempting to use credit cards stolen from yet another rape victim. Authorities made those pictures public hoping to identify him.

Ybos mother saw them on a local news report and told her daughter. Ybos, who hadn’t heard a word about her case in years, called the police thinking it might be the man who attacked her. It was then that Ybos learned her rape kit had been untouched since the attack.

"(The) person told me that they would send in the rape kit to be tested," Ybos recalled. "They said, ‘We’ll send it in. We’re sending it now.'"

Tips from the public based on the surveillance photos led to Alliano’s identification. And Ybos’ kit was finally sent in for testing. Her kit tested positive for Alliano’s DNA.

Alliano eventually pleaded guilty to the rape of Ybos and six other women. DNA evidence was crucial evidence in many of those cases. He was sentenced to 178 in prison in March.

“It’s disgusting, but I’m not surprised,” said Ybos, about how her rapist slipped through the cracks in 2004. “Given the way they responded to my report, I’m not surprised at all.”

In March 2013, Anthony Alliano pleaded guilty to multiple counts of rape, burglary and robbery.

Courtesy of Shelby County Sheriff’s Office

"(The) person told me that they would send in the rape kit to be tested," Ybos recalled. "They said, ‘We’ll send it in. We’re sending it now.'"

Tips from the public based on the surveillance photos led to Alliano’s identification. And Ybos’ kit was finally sent in for testing. Her kit tested positive for Alliano’s DNA.

Ybos says the day police finally identified her rapist was the best day of her life. After so many years, Ybos felt validated – a crime had, in fact, been committed against her – and the sense of danger she carried suddenly lifted. She says it completely transformed her “outlook and ability to live.”

Alliano eventually pleaded guilty to the rape of Ybos and six other women. DNA evidence was crucial evidence in many of those cases. He was sentenced to 178 in prison in March.

“It’s disgusting, but I’m not surprised,” said Ybos, about how her rapist slipped through the cracks in 2004. “Given the way they responded to my report, I’m not surprised at all.”

Many more kits

The Department of Justice estimates that there are 400,000 rape kits that have been left untested by police departments across the country. In Detroit, police found 11,000 untested kits. Cleveland had 4,000 and Phoenix had 3,000.

The city of Memphis recently announced it failed to test more than 12,000 rape kits, some dating back to the 1980s.

A C Wharton, Jr. has been the mayor of Memphis since 2009. He’s taken the lead in responding to the rape kit controversy on behalf of the city and the police.

According to Wharton, there are several reasons the kits went untested. He says kits from the city and county were often poorly catalogued and stored. In other cases, he says state law prevented DNA from being extracted and submitted to CODIS. He also blames a culture among police that leads to doubts about reports of rapes.

Asked by America Tonight what he would say to victims who feel they’ve been treated unfairly, Wharton says, “There’s no way in the world I will stand here and tell them, ‘No you shouldn’t feel that way.’ All I can say is, ‘Watch us, day in, day out.’ If a victim wants a weekly report, or a daily, or whatever, they’re going to get it.”

Wharton says the city has undertaken an ambitious plan to test all of the 12,000 kits. So far, some 2,500 have been sent to laboratories, resulting in the opening of at least 90 cases and more than 14 indictments.

Wharton says the city will not rest until any and all criminals have been caught and brought to justice.

To Meaghan Ybos, that assurance is cold comfort.

“You start to wonder, is rape really illegal?” Ybos said. “Apparently, it was not a big deal for the nine years Alliano was on the loose. The law says it’s illegal, but in practice, if nothing’s done, I have to wonder, is it really illegal?”