The law is named for Melissa Bitter, who was killed by a serial rapist in Portland in 2001. Evidence kits from two other women attacked by the same rapist four years earlier sat untested on a shelf in the Portland Police Bureau until an investigator noticed similarities between the cases following Bitter's death.
Rep. Ann Lininger, D-Lake Oswego, who helped craft Melissa's Law, said in a legislative debate that Bitter's death could have been avoided. Yet her situation is not unique.
In July 2015, a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation found that at least 70,000 untested rape kits sit in crime labs across the nation. That backlog is important because untested kits containing DNA evidence can't be used to prosecute sex crimes — or exonerate the wrongfully convicted.
Since publishing the investigation, at least 20 states pursued reform efforts for rape kit testing standards.
