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Thousands of backlogged rape kits yield more than 1,800 matches in state database

The results are in on the thousands of backlogged rape kits that investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have finished testing.

Officials said that out of more than 8,000 kits, nearly 25 percent of them had matches in a federal database.

The matches with the more than 1,800 kits will allow federal, state and other local forensic labs to exchange and compare DNA profiles across state lines and potentially solve other crimes from their "CODIS" database.

In 2016, Florida passed a law that requires labs to test rape kits within 120 days of getting them. The move came after 9 Investigates reported thousands of untested rape kits had gone unprocessed.

"To know that it is being acted on with expediency and with determination to move that case along is of the utmost importance when you are asking someone to come forward with such a vulnerable situation in their lives," said Attorney General Ashley Moody.

Moody is also warning about new at-home sexual assault testing kits.

She said the kits likely wouldn't be admissible in court and warns that their use could allow an attacker to get away with a crime.

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