Cases in Progress

Unidentified Human Remains

NamUs and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children “NCMEC”

Existing Cuyahoga SAKI Cases

Cuyahoga law enforcement SAKI Cases that Firebird Forensics has/is currently assisting. This chart will be updated as more cases are solved and more kits become available.

What is SAKI?

“The National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) provides funding through a competitive grant program to support the jurisdictional reform of approaches to sexual assault cases resulting from evidence found in sexual assault kits (SAKs) that have never been submitted to a crime laboratory.”

Learn more about the initative by clicking here.

Cuyahoga is a SAKI Grantee!

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office (CCPO) has received eight SAKI awards totaling over $12 million in funding. Initially funded in FY2015, Cuyahoga County has used their SAKI funding to achieve many milestones and successes, including the following:

  • Completed DNA testing on over 7,000 sexual assault kits (SAKs), which has revealed 508 serial rapists within Cuyahoga County's SAK backlog; among those serial rapists is Nathan Ford, who has been linked to 19 SAKs. Ford has already been convicted in connection with 13 of those sexual assaults. He is currently serving a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole. (A serial rapist is anyone whose DNA profile has been detected in at least two SAKs.)

  • Indicted 176 John Does by DNA profile to date, 15 of whom have been identified post-indictment. Among the identified John Does is John Doe #1/George Young, who was linked to two SAKs, and John Doe #2/Jonas Rhodes, who was linked to seven SAKs.

  • Indicted 796 unique defendants to date, including John Does. Cuyahoga County is closing in on their 900th SAK that will result in indictment. As of August 18, 2020, 769 of the tested and investigated SAKs have resulted in criminal charges.

Learn more about Cuyahoga County’s SAKI funding by clicking here.

Learn more about Cuyahoga County’s Sexual Assault Kit Task-force by clicking here.