Tennessee’s long rape kit processing times cut in half after jogger’s 2022 killing exposed delays

By JONATHAN MATTISE
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee officials say it now takes less than half the time it took to process rape kits in August 2022. During a budget hearing with Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said funding for new positions and better pay helped spur the improvements. Tennessee’s turnaround times for sexual assault kits drew scrutiny after the killing of teacher Eliza Fletcher in September 2022. The man charged with killing Fletcher was charged in a 2021 rape of a different woman shortly afterward, when the rape kit from that case was finally processed. The state says the average turnaround time this August was 19.6 weeks, compared to 45.4 weeks last August.