Former Colorado DNA analyst guilty of manipulating data sentenced to prison on 4 counts

A former Colorado Bureau of Investigation DNA analyst has been sentenced to a decade in prison. On Tuesday, Jefferson County District Court Judge Andrew Poland sentenced Yvonne "Missy" Woods just months after she pleaded guilty to charges tied to manipulating and mishandling evidence in criminal investigations across Colorado.

Woods admitted to the evidence manipulation in hundreds of cases going back decades.    

Woods pleaded guilty in June to four charges as part of a plea deal, with prosecutors agreeing to a 8-16 year range for sentencing. Her plea deal included guilty pleas on charges of attempting to influence a public servant, perjury, forgery and cybercrime.

Poland sentenced Woods to 10 years in prison for Count 1- Cybercrime, with three years mandatory parole; six years for Count 2- Perjury, to be served concurrent to count 1; six years for Count 103- Influencing a Public Servant, to be served concurrent to count 1; three years for Count 104- Forgery, to be served concurrent to count 1. 

"Because this was intentional conduct by a highly-trained professional occupying a position of extraordinary trust, considerations of punishment, accountability, proportionality and general deterrence carry substantial weight; professionals entrusted with work upon which the justice system depends much understand that compromising the integrity of that work carries serious consequences," said Poland.

Woods spoke in front of the judge before her sentence was handed down. 

"Your Honor, I understand the seriousness of what I have done and I understand that my actions have not only impacted the integrity of the criminal justice system but also the people whose lives were touched by the cases in which I worked," said Woods. "I take responsibility for the offenses to which I pled guilty, and I know that an apology cannot undo the harm or restore the trust that was lost."

Woods was charged in Jefferson County Court in January 2025 with forgery, attempting to influence a public servant, perjury, and cybercrime. She initially pleaded not guilty to the charges in February of this year before changing her plea to guilty in June.

CBI said it launched an investigation into over 1,000 cases in which Woods had some sort of involvement. The agency said it looked at cases from 1994 to 2023, when she was placed on administrative leave and then retired.

According to an arrest affidavit, investigators said Woods intentionally left DNA samples out of tests or reports and sometimes would test samples until the results showed what she wanted. CBI asked the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation to conduct an outside investigation into the case since it involved one of its own employees.

Investigators alleged that Woods deleted some findings of what are called "specific values" in more than 30 sexual assault cases. She was accused of submitting reports that said no male DNA was found when there was, in fact, male DNA or possible contamination that should have been retested.

Woods 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.

Last year, state lawmakers passed a bill sparked by the Woods investigation that creates procedures for reporting misconduct.  

There is a backlog caused by problems with the cases. The cost was estimated at over $ 11 million two years ago, but there's been no recent estimate.