LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky State Police Forensic Laboratory, which handles evidence from crime scenes across the state, is experiencing delays that could impact the resolution of criminal investigations.
The main lab located in Frankfort processes a wide range of evidence, from bullets to blood samples in sexual assault cases. Jeremy Triplett, the lab's manager, said its mission is clear.
"Our laboratory is committed to ensuring public safety and that victims and survivors of crime achieve a sense of justice, security and healing."
For Triplett, this is more than just a job. His grandmother, Geneva Vaughan, was "brutally murdered," he said, when he was 14 years old.
"I still remember that agonizing wait for justice, and so, to the victims and families, we will not forget you and what you are going through," he said.
The KSP crime lab has helped crack some of the state's most noteworthy cases. Back in September, a manhunt for Joseph Couch, 32, began after he allegedly fired randomly at vehicles on the highway on Sept. 7. A total of 12 vehicles were hit, and five drivers were injured by the gunfire. Investigators focused their search in a rugged, wooded area near London, a city of about 8,000 people roughly 75 miles south of Lexington.
Eleven days later, a couple found a body in the deep brush. And quickly, KSP's lab was able to confirm it was Couch from DNA extracted from bone.
But not all cases go that fast. Triplett said DNA and biology evidence testing at the lab takes, on average, about 13 months to complete. The Louisville Metro Police Department even started outsourcing some of its work to an out-of-state lab for quicker turnaround times.
"The cases we test most for LMPD are drug-related cases — seized drugs and toxicology cases," Triplett said, adding that tests on seized drugs take about 36 days to complete.
Toxicology is averaging 53 days, but it's faster if it's just blood alcohol content. And firearms and trace chemistry testing take five months on average, Triplett said.
That slow process creates a sizeable backlog. Right now, Triplett there are about 800 pending sexual assault kits at the lab, all of which were submitted in the last two years.
"All of those kits are what you would call current," Triplett said.
But why is the turnaround time taking so long? The lab has 186 employees but is still short 23 people ,which is leading to the delays, Triplett said employees get trained and often leave for higher-paying jobs.
Sherry Bray, a spokeswoman for KSP, said Gov. Andy Beshear proposed a 6% across-the-board raise effective July 1, 2024, and another 4% increase July 1, 2025.
"Combined, this would have been the largest four-year increase that the administration is aware of," Bray said. "... The Governor said this is an effort to catch up after workers saw no pay increases for 10 of the past 12 years. The General Assembly did not adopt this proposal and instead issued a 3% raise on July 1, 2024, and another 3% raise on July 1, 2025."
The lab provides forensic services to law enforcement agencies in all 120 counties in Kentucky, including local police departments and sheriff's offices. Despite the challenges, Triplett emphasized the lab's commitment to its work.
"Currently, the laboratory has about 6,500 assignments waiting to be processed," he said. "About one-third of those are less than 30 days old, and about half of those are less than 90 days old."
In 2023, KSP processed evidence from 400 different police agencies for more than 32,000 police investigations. So far this year, the lab has processed evidence for nearly 28,000 cases.
"We will work every day to maintain where we are doing well and improve in areas where we are not," Triplett said.
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