Former Colorado Bureau of Investigation DNA analyst charged over allegedly mishandling evidence
A former Colorado Bureau of Investigation DNA analyst has been criminally charged over a year after CBI officials first learned about possibly mishandled or manipulated evidence.
Yvonne "Missy" Woods, 64, has been charged with over 100 separate charges related to forgery, perjury, attempting to influence a public servant, and cybercrime. She'll be tried in Jefferson County Court and was booked into the Jefferson County Jail on a $50,000 bond Tuesday, court records show.
In addition to the CBI's internal investigation, the agency also asked the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation to conduct an outside investigation. On Tuesday, CBI also said it hired a Wisconsin-based consulting firm to assess CBI's forensic services and operations.
"We want to thank the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation for their diligence in conducting a complex investigation," Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King said in a statement Wednesday. "Based on the available facts and after careful legal analysis, we have filed charges and will now proceed with a criminal prosecution. My office remains committed to reviewing all affected cases within our jurisdiction on behalf of the defendants and victims involved."
CBI launched an investigation in September 2023 and found that Woods manipulated data in the DNA testing process and posted incomplete test results in some cases. Woods had been with the CBI for nearly 30 years before she was placed on administrative leave on Oct. 3, 2023 and retired on Nov. 6, 2023.
That investigation found that Woods omitted facts in official criminal justice records and tampered with DNA testing results by omitting some results. CBI has identified hundreds of cases impacted by Woods' alleged data manipulation between 2008 and 2023. A review of her work from 1994-2008 was also underway. CBI says 1,003 criminal cases have been identified so far as having had some sort of involvement from Woods.
"Public trust in our institutions is critical to the fulfillment of our mission," CBI Director Chris Schaefer said in a statement last year. "Our actions in rectifying this unprecedented breach of trust will be thorough and transparent."
According to a 35-page arrest affidavit, Woods would intentionally leave DNA samples out of tests or reports or sometimes test samples until the results showed the results she wanted.
One CBI forensic scientist told investigators that Woods would ask him to delete files sometimes. "She would tell him things like, 'This is getting messy or there's too many versions. Will you just delete this for me, and I'll upload the most current one,'" her arrest report read.
That scientist said Woods often didn't log sample deletions or other workflow status updates "because it's a pain," he said.
She worked at CBI's Denver regional laboratory in Lakewood until the facility moved to Arvada in 2016, where she worked until she retired in 2023.
Investigators interviewed Woods at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in on April 18, 2024.
Woods allegedly told investigators that she made some mistakes during "rush" DNA analysis requests, the report said. Investigators, in their interviews with Woods, said that she admitted to intentionally deleting files and samples on multiple occasions.
"I can't argue with the data," she allegedly told them in an interview. "I just started trying to think of what I've been doing and why I was doing it."
"She was asked what the benefit would be for deleting or manipulating data and she quickly replied, 'Being able to report the case,'" investigators wrote in the arrest report. "She was asked if it was to simply move a case along quickly and she replied, 'Yes.'"
After the initial allegations came to light, attorneys for inmates and defendants demanded their criminal cases -- which may have hinged on evidence provided by Woods -- be reviewed and dismissed or retried.
"This is supposed to be the premier law enforcement agency in our state, and they've been falling down on their duty to all of us citizens," Mary Claire Mulligan, a defense attorney in Boulder who represents some people whose cases have been and will be impacted, told CBS News Colorado last year. "It's really, really upsetting."
Groups like the ACLU and Kory Wise Innocence Project also called for a transparent and independent audit of cases Woods worked with or may have impacted.
"CBI allowed Missy Woods to alter forensic evidence for years. This misconduct brings CBI's entire forensic operation into question, and a thorough, independent audit, followed by full disclosure of the results to stakeholders and the public is essential," said Emma Mclean-Riggs, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Colorado, said in a statement.
Woods faces 102 felony charges:
- 52 counts of forgery of a government-issued document
- 48 counts of attempting to influence a public servant
- 1 count of first-degree perjury
- 1 count of cybercrime
In addition to the potential impact of Woods' alleged activity on criminal cases, CBI says her activity and the subsequent investigations has cost the agency millions of dollars.
"The validity of these cases is in question due to the manipulation of data committed by Analyst Woods. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation provided an estimate of the fiscal costs to the State of Colorado through 2024 due to the misconduct by Yvonne Missy Woods on these cases to be $11,071,486. This estimate is based on the time CBI employees spent 'addressing the misconduct, State allocated funds for retesting and District Attorney reimbursement, and the contracted Forensic Services organizational assessment,'" investigators wrote in Woods' arrest report.
She's due in court on Thursday for a first appearance. Reached on Wednesday, her attorney declined to comment.