Colorado crime lab analyst faces more than 100 counts for allegedly altering reports in sexual assault cases

A Colorado crime lab analyst is facing more than 100 criminal counts in connection with allegations that she altered reports in sexual assault cases.

Yvonne “Missy” Woods was charged with 52 counts of forgery, 48 counts of attempt to influence a public servant, one count of first-degree perjury and one count of cybercrime, according to the district attorney for the First Judicial District. Woods is accused of altering and deleting quantification values, rerunning batches of DNA without documentation and hiding potential contamination.

She is alleged to have submitted reports that said “No Male DNA Found” in over 30 sexual assault cases where DNA was found or contamination was present.

Jail records show Woods was in custody on Thursday morning. An attorney who was named in an affidavit for Woods’ arrest warrant did not immediately return an email requesting comment.

In November 2023, Colorado authorities asked the the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation to investigate Woods’ work, the affidavit said. She worked at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation from January 1994 until her retirement in November 2023.

According to the affidavit, an error was discovered by a Colorado Bureau of Investigation intern two months prior to the request. The intern, who was not identified, was assigned a project to review quantification data and alerted the lab’s management that specific data appeared to be missing, the affidavit said.

An internal investigation was launched reviewing all of Woods’ cases, finding several instances of deleted or altered data, according to the affidavit.

In a recorded interview, Woods was asked about her work at the lab and how contaminated DNA samples were handled. Woods told investigators that prior to around 2017 or 2018, some contamination was accepted, the affidavit said.

But since then, she allegedly said, any contamination would have to be addressed, and she agreed with investigators that it would take a “considerable amount of time” to rerun batches of DNA. Woods was asked during the interview about discrepancies in her work, including a time she was placed on leave in 2018 over concerns of manipulated or altered data, the affidavit said.

Woods allegedly said during the interview that she didn’t know if similar cases of manipulated data were all intentional and could not give a timeline for when she allegedly began altering data.

“She was asked what the benefit would be for deleting or manipulating data and she quickly replied, ‘Being able to report the case,’” the affidavit said.

At one point, the affidavit said, Woods was asked if she deleted the data “to simply move specific cases forward quickly, to avoid having to do additional work and she agreed.”

Over 500 cases were affected by Woods’ inaccurate reports beginning in 2008, according to the the affidavit. Those cases are now “in question” due to the alleged data manipulation.

The district attorney’s office said the financial cost of Woods’ alleged misconduct totaled more than $11 million.

A Wisconsin-based firm has been contracted to review the bureau’s policies and procedures in the fallout and provide solutions for any potential improvements, according to NBC affiliate KUSA. The firm has been given a $770,000 contract, the station said.