Authorities have charged a former Colorado-based crime lab analyst with more than 100 criminal counts over allegations that she altered reports in cases of sexual assault.
On Tuesday, a Colorado district attorney, Alexis King, announced that Yvonne “Missy” Woods was charged with 102 counts related to 58 instances of alleged criminal misconduct between 2008 and 2023 during her career as a lab analyst for the state’s bureau of investigation.
The counts against Woods include cybercrime, perjury in the first degree, attempts to influence a public servant and forgery.
Woods allegedly altered and deleted quantification values, reran entire batches of DNA multiple times without any documentation and concealed possible contamination, according to investigators.
Additionally, in more than 30 sexual assault cases, Woods has been accused of deleting specific values in samples and submitted reports to agencies that reflected, “No Male DNA Found”, when small amounts of male DNA or possible contamination were actually present – and additional troubleshooting as well as retesting was required.
Woods’s alleged misconduct initially came to light when an intern for the investigations bureau was working on a project in September 2024 that involved reviewing quantification data in vestibular swabs within historical sexual assault cases.
According to authorities, the intern discovered a sample where the male cycle threshold (CT) value was noted – but there was no male quantification value listed. Authorities added that the specific sample missing the quantification value was processed by Woods in 2018.
After eliminating the possibility of an instrument or quantification kit error, an internal investigation was conducted into Woods’s DNA workbooks.
The bureau’s management eventually discovered similar discrepancies within Woods’s workbooks, including altering or deleting data related to critical parts of the quality control process, authorities said.
According to an affidavit reviewed by NBC, investigators asked Woods “what the benefit would be for deleting or manipulating data and she quickly replied: ‘Being able to report the case.’”
The affidavit added that Woods “agreed” when she was asked whether she deleted the data to “simply move specific cases forward quickly to avoid having to do additional work”.
Colorado’s bureau of investigation estimates that through the end of 2024, the financial costs associated with Woods’s alleged misconduct was $11,071,486.
In a statement on Tuesday, King said her office remained “committed to reviewing all affected cases within our jurisdiction on behalf of the defendants and victims involved”.
