A TBI spokesperson confirmed the agency received the sexual assault kit September 23, 2021, but the evidence was placed in a "queue of unknown assailant kits, as no request was made for TBI analysis to be expedited, and no suspect information or DNA standard was included in the submission."
The kit was eventually pulled from evidence storage, according to TBI, along with 19 other kits on June 24 and the first results were received August 29. When the 2021 DNA was entered into a national database, it returned a match for Henderson and TBI reported this to MPD.
Henderson's kit was one of 316 submitted to TBI from all Shelby County law enforcement agencies, which was the most of any county in Tennessee. Knox County was in second with 168 kits. A TBI spokesperson further elaborated on the workload the Jackson Crime Lab faces, with a small staff.
"The Jackson Crime Lab's average turnaround times for SAKs (sexual assault kits) ranged from approximately 33 weeks to 49 weeks between September 2021 and August 2022," the statement read. "The length of time to work these cases is attributed to the workload of the four scientists assigned to this unit. These forensic scientists work every biological evidence submission, ranging from homicides to SAKs, to robberies, assaults, and break-ins."
In 2021, those categories totaled 602 evidence submissions. TBI will rush DNA tests when requested by local law enforcement agencies, which they did for Fletcher's abduction, but MPD did not ask for the 2021 sexual assault kit to be rushed.
TBI has one crime lab in West Tennessee, the Jackson Crime Lab. TBI has a field office in Memphis, but it doesn't include a lab for testing evidence.
Memphis police say they had the DNA of the man charged in Eliza Fletcher's disappearance and death after a 2021 investigation, but it wasn't tested
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I like this reporter, by the way. He actually investigates and isn't just reporting canned news!
Lucas Finton-covers breaking news for The Commercial Appeal.