Catherine Rentz is a journalist and fellow with Johns Hopkins University Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund where she is developing this series into a documentary.
Catherine Rentz
Decades-Old Trove of DNA Evidence, Collected by a Maryland Doctor, Leads to a Serial Rape Arrest
A ProPublica investigation highlighted a critical collection of evidence and inspired a law to preserve it. Now, that evidence has been used to charge a man with three rapes.
Maryland AG Seeks to Preserve Massive Set of Sexual Assault Evidence
Samples saved by a Baltimore doctor have been used to solve more than 80 cold cases, but evidence from 1,800 cases remains untested. The state's new attorney general and some lawmakers are acting to protect this evidence trove from destruction.
Early Results on DNA Evidence From Decades-Old Rape Cases Are Both Promising and Alarming
Baltimore County police have started testing a backlog of evidence from rape cold cases. Ten of 49 cases processed so far have yielded actionable DNA profiles. In at least one case, the answers came too late.
Testing Rape Kits Can Deliver Exonerations, Closure and Cost Savings. Why Does It Still Take So Long to Do?
DNA evidence has helped overturn convictions and identify serial rapists, but even with recent reform laws, only a tiny fraction of Maryland’s backlog has been tested.
He Admitted to a Rape 41 Years After the Fact. For One Survivor: “It’s the Most Freeing Experience in the World”
In 1980, Julienne Wood was assaulted by a stranger during her first year at Goucher College. Following our investigation into untested DNA evidence and a clue from a fellow alumna, police were able to link her attack to a convicted serial rapist.
How Our Investigation Into Untested DNA Evidence Helped Solve a 1983 Murder
When reporter Catherine Rentz found a 1983 article about a student who was raped and murdered, she immediately recognized the similarities to crimes committed by a serial perpetrator she’d been investigating.
“The Best Bargain in the History of Law Enforcement” — and the High Cost of Not Testing Backlogged Rape Kits
When reporter Catherine Rentz began looking at the criminal histories of men who’d been arrested for rape based on DNA evidence, she found a system that protected serial criminals rather than survivors.
“A Horror Movie in Reverse”: How I Investigated Decades of Untested Rape Kits
Reporter Catherine Rentz goes behind the scenes of her serialized investigation into the outrage and promise of untested DNA from rape victims.
“This Is How You Get Your Power Back”
Police had long since destroyed the evidence from their cases. Decades later, a group of women got a second chance at justice.
“You Save as Long as You Have To”
Distressed by authorities’ poor treatment of rape victims and destruction of evidence, one doctor became a DNA archivist long before we had the technology to test it. For potentially hundreds of survivors, his faith in science is paying off.
“Who Is This Monster?”
She went undercover to catch a rapist. Two decades later, she finally got her chance.
