Is Pennsylvania the only state with a DNA backlog?

Questions arose in the case of the Kensington Strangler about why it took so long to match DNA to a suspect. What’s going on in neighboring states?

Hal Brown is Deputy Director of the Delaware Forensic Sciences Laboratory. He says the first state has about 59 cases sitting on the shelf, but they aren’t priority crimes involving death or bodily injury.

“Crimes against persons are going to take priority over crimes against property,” said Brown.

Brown says people need to understand DNA matches don’t happen like they see on TV.

“On television the person has a sample and they put it on an analyzer get a soda and come back with the results,” he said. “In all reality it takes between three and four months depending on the complexity of the case.”

In New Jersey, State Police Sergeant Steven Jones says the Garden State is current on DNA, but samples are not processed in the order they come in.

“If the sample is not deemed as a priority sample for some specific case related investigation, it may take quite a while, it might take 30, 60 days to run that course.”