A former Colorado Bureau of Investigation scientist is being investigated for “anomalies” in DNA testing work she conducted as an employee in the agency’s Forensic Services division, state officials announced Monday.
The CBI is conducting an internal investigation of Yvonne “Missy” Woods, who worked for the agency for 29 years. The bureau, in a Monday news release, said “she is no longer an employee” of the CBI, without further elaboration.
Anomalies in Woods’ work were discovered during an internal review of a sampling of cases, the agency said in the news release.
The internal investigation is being conducted with involvement from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The CBI is also working to find an outside state investigative agency to conduct a criminal investigation, officials announced Monday.
Agency spokesperson Susan Medina declined to discuss the nature of the criminal investigation, other than saying CBI officials felt it was necessary.
The CBI is reviewing Woods’ work as well as testing procedures and processes at the forensic lab.
“These are extremely serious allegations, and I want to assure the public and our public safety partners that the CBI is committed to conducting a complete review of this matter to ensure the integrity of this critical function remains intact,” Stan Hilkey, executive director of the Colorado Department to f Public Safety, said in a statement.
CBI officials are reviewing all of Woods’ cases to determine how many were impacted, Medina said.
The exact number of cases Woods has worked on was not immediately available, Medina said, but her caseload was “extensive.”
Denver Post archives show Woods testified in court about DNA analysis in numerous high-profile criminal cases over the years, including the 1994 kidnapping, rape and murder of Rhonda Maloney by Robert Harlan and the prosecution of Aaron Thompson in the death of his daughter Aaroné after she was reported missing in 2005.
In an unusual move, Kobe Bryant’s defense team discussed calling Woods — despite her position at the CBI — to rebut the prosecution’s DNA testimony in the late NBA star’s 2004 sexual assault trial in Eagle County, according to the Los Angeles Times.
And in 2009, Woods testified in a Boulder courtroom about the DNA profile she developed of suspect Diego Olmos Alcalde that linked him to the brutal rape and murder more than a decade earlier of University of Colorado student Susannah Chase, the Daily Camera reported.
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