at Keturah George Rogers Clark KY.

Tonight.

DNA can be the key factor in capturing violent criminals and closing cold cases, but Kentucky is one of the few states that does not collect a DNA sample when booking a felony offender.

House Bill 414 aims to change that.

Our Mackenzie Spink brings us the testimony of a woman who waited over 30 years to see a DNA match, bring her offender to justice.

>> Michelle Kuiper is a sexual assault forensics expert.

She has worked in the Kentucky State Police forensic Lab and currently teaches a college course on rape criminology.

She also uses her personal story as a rape victim to advocate for DNA collection at felony arrest.

>> Two weeks into my freshman year of college in 1994, I was kidnaped and raped by a stranger.

He grabbed me from behind so I didn't even see him coming.

His moves were swift, smooth, manipulative, and he made me fear for my life.

It was obvious that he had done this before.

Around 2005, law enforcement called me to let me know that the man who victimized me went on to burglarize, rape, and terrorize two other women.

Where the DNA from their safe catch, which was a sexual assault forensic exam kit, all matched the same offender.

But there was no match to the DNA in the Codis databank, so the offender remained unknown.

>> Her offender, Curtis Boyd, continued to be in and out of police custody for felonies like tampering with evidence and trafficking controlled substances.

But his DNA was not entered into Codis or the combined DNA index system.

>> And it wasn't until 2012, when he was swabbed for his DNA.

Upon conviction of trafficking cocaine, that there was finally a match in Codis to the crimes against three women.

And if Kentucky would have had DNA collection at felony arrest, he would have been caught much sooner, and it would have saved so many lives from being harmed.

>> Ashley Spence also has a personal story regarding sexual assault, and now advocates for DNA collection at felony arrest.

She says House Bill 414 will bring justice to victims in Kentucky and help to exonerate the innocent.

>> In Texas.

When we expanded to collect for all felony arrests in one year, we closed 1005 cold cases.

When New Mexico did this, they saw an 83% match rate increase in searches in matches in the database.

>> She also touts the potential financial benefits of House Bill 414.

>> Doctor Jennifer Doleac found in her 2017 economic study.

For every DNA cheek swab that is entered into Codis, we prevent 0.57 serious offenses, which saves taxpayers $27,000 in crime costs.

>> According to bill sponsor Representative Patrick Flannery, who chairs the House Local Government Committee, where the bill was heard.

Today, 31 other states have DNA collection as part of the booking process for felony crimes, including six out of the seven states that border Kentucky.

House Bill 414 passed the Local Government Committee unanimously for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Mackenzie Spink.