USA TODAY’s investigation: Justice elusive in US rape kit backlog

A decade ago, a USA TODAY investigation helped reveal the national backlog of rape kits.
Evidence from thousands of sexual assaults had been left to sit – untested – in law enforcement storage. In time, the backlog grew to hundreds of thousands of kits. 
Since 2015, a federal program aimed at addressing the backlog has doled out nearly $350 million to states and local jurisdictions. Officials promised the money would put rapists behind bars and give victims long-awaited answers. 
But in many of those cases, justice remains elusive, a new USA TODAY investigation has found.