Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) GranteeState of Kentucky

Kentucky Office of the Attorney General

In FY2017, SAKI awarded the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General (KOAG) a $2,998,090 grant; the KOAG will use the money to investigate and prosecute cold case sexual assaults, offer services to victims throughout the criminal justice process, and establish an additional Kentucky State Police cold case unit.

In FY2019, SAKI awarded the KOAG an additional grant in the amount of $1.49 million. With this funding, the KOAG will hire another investigator dedicated to the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) cold cases to ensure thorough follow-up on the results of all tested sexual assault kits (SAKs) belonging to LMPD. The KOAG will also use this funding to add a crime analyst to their team to review data returned from the Kentucky State Police (KSP) Crime Laboratory, provide analysis and investigative support, enter all criteria cases into the FBI Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, and coordinate with the Regional Information Sharing Systems (e.g., Regional Organized Crime Information Center^®) and KSP to disseminate Combined DNA Index System hit packets to law enforcement agencies across the state.

In FY2021, the KOAG received an additional grant for $2 million to use toward a renewed comprehensive approach that focuses on statewide training and technical assistance to build a sustainable process to address current SAKs. The FY2021 SAKI project will provide training and technical assistance to professionals working with crime victims—whether advocates or policy makers—to recognize, respect, and respond to the needs and experiences of sexual assault survivors. Additionally, the funding will be used to outsource forensic genealogy searches and phenotyping/ancestral analysis for up to 25 cases.

Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet

In FY2020, the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet (KY Justice Cabinet) received $1.5 million in SAKI funding to finalize testing of the last phase of the statewide inventory that includes all partially tested sexual assault kits (SAKs). The KY Justice Cabinet also plans to enhance the successful investigation and prosecution of cold case sexual assaults and sexually motivated homicides. Additionally, the funding will be utilized to collect data about cases associated with Combined DNA Index System and Violent Criminal Apprehension Program hits, increase the number of officers in jurisdictions that have a majority of untested SAKs, and assign a specialized cold case prosecutor.

In FY2021, the KY Justice Cabinet received an additional grant in the amount of $849,491, which will be used to continue testing the backlog of SAKs and to expand the investigational support to local jurisdictions. Specifically, the KY Justice Cabinet will provide additional investigative and administrative support to Louisville-Jefferson County, which contains the largest amount of unsubmitted and partially tested SAKs in the state. Additionally, the KY Justice Cabinet will use the funding to continue collecting data on cases associated with the Combined DNA Index System and the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program.

In FY2023, SAKI awarded the KY Justice Cabinet $2.5 million to continue its SAKI Program in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney General and Kentucky SAKI Taskforce. The KY Justice Cabinet will continue to partner with stakeholders and victims and use a methodical, data-driven approach consistent with SAKI best practices to increase investigations and prosecutions of cold case sexual assaults and sexually motivated homicides. This effort will enhance public safety by (a) identifying and apprehending serial sex offenders through testing sexual assault kits, (b) bringing justice to victims and reengaging them in the criminal justice process, and (c) preventing future violent crimes committed by these serial offenders.

Find out more information about Kentucky's efforts to address previously unsubmitted SAKs.

For more information on the specific SAKI awards for this site, see the table below.

State of Kentucky Funding

Year	Amount	Purpose Area
Kentucky Office of the Attorney General
FY2017	$2,998,090	Comprehensive Approach to Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits
FY2019	$1,493,089	Comprehensive Approach to Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits
FY2021	$2,000,000	Comprehensive Approach to Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits
Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet
FY2020	$1,500,000	Comprehensive Approach to Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits
FY2021	$849,491	Investigation and Prosecution of Cold Case Sexual Assaults
FY2023	$2,500,000	Comprehensive Approach to Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits

News and Events

DNA links Kentucky man to 2005 sexual assault in Louisville
— WHAS11 Staff, Aug 29, 2023
"A program used to solve sexual assault crimes in Kentucky has led to the arrest of a man in a decades old case. Kentucky State Police funding from their sexual assault kit initiative (SAKI) to charge 53-year-old George Wayne Aldridge. The SAKI grant program is funded by the Department of Justice and gives money to police departments to address the backlogs of untested sexual assault kits."

Man kidnapped and sexually assaulted three women in 7-year period, Lexington police say
— Lexington Herald Leader/Kentucky.com, Feb 4, 2023
"George Wayne Aldridge, 52, was arrested Friday and charged in three abductions and sexual assaults between 2009 and 2016, the Lexington Police Department said in a news release early Saturday. Police said they worked the cold cases in conjunction with Kentucky State Police, the Jessamine County Sheriff’s Office and Kentucky Office of Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Task Force."

DNA leads to arrest 15 years after brutal rape
— WLWT5, Sep 1, 2022
"Fifteen years after a brutal rape and robbery, science has led investigators to a suspect and an arrest in the case. “There was grant funding the commonwealth of Kentucky obtained four or five years ago to take old sexual assault kits off the shelf and have them tested,” Sanders said. The rape kit from the motel attack was entered recently and there was a hit. “Once you have that in the system, they compare it to everything else that was put in the system, and it’s the old game of cards. You flip over and bam, you got a match,” former prosecutor Jason Phillabaum said."

Kentucky State Police sexual assault kit initiative team expands
— Steve Rogers, WTVQ, Jan 13, 2022
Gov. Andy Beshear and Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Kerry Harvey announced Thursday an additional $849,491 in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been awarded to expand the Kentucky State Police (KSP) Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) Investigative Team through an additional investigator who will focus their efforts on the Louisville-Jefferson County region.

Funding gives help for victims of sexual assault
— Tom Latek, Kentucky Today, Jul 7, 2021
Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Mary Noble announced a $1.5 million grant from the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, or SAKI, for a new program to be operated at the KSP.

An evaluation of Kentucky’s sexual assault investigator training: results from a randomized three-group experiment
— Journal of Experimental Criminology, Dec 10, 2019
This study evaluated a 40-h statewide sexual assault investigations training program implemented in Kentucky in 2017. The study examined short- and long-term effects of training on police officers’ self-reported rape myth acceptance, knowledge of state laws, and knowledge of trauma-informed practices.

New DNA evidence helps lead to arrest of Louisville man in 29-year-old rape case
— Billy Kobin, Courier Journal, Dec 7, 2019
A 70-year-old Louisville man was arrested Saturday thanks to DNA testing of a rape kit from an alleged sexual assault that took place 29 years ago to the day, according to police.

Man sentenced 20 years in 1981 Fayette County rape case
— WKYT News, WKYT, Sep 30, 2019
A man was sentenced 20 years after being convicted of a rape that happened in 1981 as a result of Kentucky's SAFE Kit Backlog Program.

As 1 of 2 states with all rape kits tested, Kentucky is seeing results
— Lauren Adams, WLKY, Jun 28, 2019
Kentucky is one of only two states in the US with no previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits remaining. So far, this testing has led to 10 indictments.

Kentucky man indicted again in backlogged sexual assault kit test case
— WKYT Staff, WKYT, Jun 27, 2019
The Kentucky Attorney General's office announced a second indictment Thursday of a Hardin County man after testing of a backlogged Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence (SAFE) kit led to further investigation.

AG, FBI PARTNER TO TRAIN LAW ENFORCEMENT TO BETTER SOLVE CRIMES
— WTVQ Social, Jun 4, 2019
In July, the SAKI Cold Case Unit and the FBI will host two intensive trainings on ViCAP. The trainings are for detectives, homicide and sex crime investigators as well as cold case and missing persons units.

Elizabethtown man indicted in cold case rape thanks to backlog testing
— Matthew Glowicki, Louisville Courier Journal, Apr 11, 2019
DNA from a previously unsubmitted sexual assault kit in which the offender was known and convicted of the crime, matched DNA from a separate previously unsubmitted sexual assault kit from 2011 leading to more charges being pressed against the offender and justice for the 2011 victim.

New bill would allow rape victims to track assault kits online
— Makayla Ballman, Wave 3 News, Feb 5, 2019
A new bill proposed in 2019 legislative session would allow victims of sexual assault to track their sexual assault kits through the testing process in Kentucky.

I-Team: University of Louisville professor tracing origins of rape kit backlog, looking for solution
— Hilary Lake, WCPO Cincinnati, Oct 16, 2018
Kentucky is using research to better understand the factor's that created a backlog of 3,400 sexual assault kits in order to prevent it from happening again.

Rape kit testing leads to arrest of a Louisville man in 2005 youth case
— Matthew Glowicki, Louisville Courier Journal, Aug 30, 2018
The testing of sexual assault kits in Kentucky has linked a Louisville man already on the lifetime sex offender registry to the 2005 rape of a minor.

DNA Cracks 1993 Rape Cold Case
— LEX 18, Aug 9, 2018
DNA testing of unsubmitted sexual assault kits has linked a Lexington, KY man to a 1993 sexual assault.

BESHEAR TO CO-HOST TRAINING FOR NEARLY 20 STATES FOCUSED ON UN-SUBMITTED SEXUAL ASSAULT KITS
— BereaOnline.com, Aug 3, 2018
The SAKI TTA Team, in collaboration with the Kentucky State Attorney General's Office, hosted the 2018 Statewide Sexual Assault Reform in SAKI workshop bringing together approximately 20 statewide jurisdictions addressing sexual assault response reform.

How rape kits in Kentucky are processed
— Louisville Courier Journal, Jul 18, 2018
View this video to learn more about how rape kits are processed in Kentucky.

Man indicted in Louisville rape case from 1983 thanks to DNA testing
— Matthew Glowicki, Louisville Courier Journal, Jul 18, 2018
A Kentucky man already serving a 200-year prison sentence for rape has been linked through DNA testing to a 1983 rape.

Efforts to clear Kentucky's rape kit backlog appear to be working
— Mark Vanderhoff, WLKY, Jun 12, 2018
A draft report from Kentucky's research partner, the University of Louisville, finds law enforcement agencies in the state are submitting more evidence from sexual assault kits than previous years.

Renewed push to test rape kit DNA in Kentucky leads to two indictments
— WYMT News Staff, KY, Apr 27, 2018
After an audit several years ago revealed more than 3,000 unsubmitted SAKs, the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office is making a renewed push to solve these cold cases. All 3,300 SAKs have now been tested and have led to two indictments so far.