Sex abuse victim Kelly Yancy says attacker will walk free after two years, blames Illinois State Police and Chicago police

CHICAGO (WLS) — One sexual assault victim says her attacker is still walking the streets almost two years later.

Her case has been postponed and she blames this on delays in laboratory testing and the way some evidence was handled.

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Now she’s coming forward because she’s frustrated with the system.

Kelly Yancy still struggles with the memories of her sexual assault. Her attacker, she said, asked for a ride in her car after meeting him at a party.

“I tried to scratch and get as much DNA as I could,” Yancy said. “I was held in my car for five and a half hours while it was freezing outside. Immediately after being sexually assaulted, I drove myself to the police department at 71st and Cottage Grove.”

Now, almost two years later, Yancy says, her case is far from solved.

“I’m hurt. I felt like, I feel like,” Yancy said emotionally. ‘It’s difficult. I feel like I’ve been forgotten.’

Yancy points the finger at the Illinois State Police crime lab and the Chicago Police Department. She says CPD found DNA evidence left behind by her attacker, including fingerprints, a liquor bottle and vomit.

She says the detective told her about nine months after the attack that the evidence had not been submitted to the state crime lab.

“She verbally told me it was filed under another case,” Yancy said.

But months later, the detective said in an email: “The request to test the evidence from your vehicle was submitted on April 1, 2024.”

That was almost a year and a half after the attack.

Yancy said she is now waiting for the results to be processed by the state lab.

CPD responded to the ABC7 I-Team saying, “The Chicago Police Department is committed to thoroughly investigating cases of criminal sexual assault, and supporting the victims living with the trauma and aftermath of these attacks. Detectives are in contact with the police victim in this specific case, which remains an active and ongoing investigation.”

“I felt like I was being neglected,” Yancy said.

Yancy believes that car evidence should have been immediately submitted to state labs, along with the hospital sex abuse evidence.

“Things on my body, from choking, to scrapes and bruises,” Yancy said.

However, the sexual assault kit tested, without the evidence of the car, was inconclusive. Adding to the frustration, Yancy said, the sexual assault kit test was delayed nine months at the state lab.

ISP said they can’t talk about specific cases, but since May 2022, processing sex abuse kits has met state law requirements within six months or 180 days.

When asked what he says to critics who think 180 days is not good enough, ISP Forensics Deputy Director Robin J. Woolery said: “I agree. I certainly agree, that’s just the minimum. That’s the bare minimum. And we have to come down.” to a turnaround time that will be more acceptable to our victims.”

ISP says that so far in 2024, 15% of sex crime packages have been processed in less than 30 days, 27% in less than 90 days and all have been processed in less than 180 days.

ISP said it is aware of the latest technology, such as rapid DNA, which they showed to the I-Team in 2020. But they say the biggest challenge is staffing.

“A big part of that is finding qualified candidates and then getting them through. And to work in the crime lab, there are a lot of different steps, requirements and background checks,” Woolery said.

Carolina Sanchez of survivor advocacy group Resilience said some states are now processing results in 30, 60 or 90 days, and said Illinois needs to do better than 180 days.

“So many of these cases aren’t going anywhere, they’re just waiting for the results of the evidence collection kit,” Sanchez said. “Especially when you have survivors who continue to live in fear: ‘Will the perpetrator come after me again?'”

When asked where she went, Yancy said, “Hopeless.”