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Years after it secured a funding for a new crime lab, Wake County leaders on Wednesday annonced that it had opened its first forensic DNA testing laboratory.
According to the county, the laboratory features modern instrumentation, skilled analysts and access to CODIS, the FBI's Combined DNA Index System.
Before the lab opened, the county said it was one of 99 counties in North Carolina relying on the State Crime Laboratory for all DNA analysis. Now, the county says the new lab will allow it to solve crimes and bring families closure even faster, without relying only on the State Crime Lab for DNA testing.
"Our community takes a giant step forward in its ability to secure justice in a timely manner with the opening of the DNA Laboratory,” said Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman. “This laboratory will bolster our ability to bring closure for victims of terrible crime while also ensuring we are holding the correct individuals accountable."
State and county leaders began working on the facility after it secured funding for the $1.5 million facility in 2022. At the time, they said the funding would help with two projects aimed at improving public safety and reducing the backlog of tested DNA kits.
“I am proud to see Wake County's new DNA lab open after years of collaboration among our federal, state and local partners to make this facility a reality,” said U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC).
According to Wake County, the Bureau of Forensic Services includes three divisions that work to support criminal justice across the county: Laboratory, identification and crime scene science. The county says the addition of DNA testing now strengthens their work.
"The DNA laboratory will be a major asset to the work we do every day to bring answers to Wake County victims and their families,” said Bureau Director Sam Pennica. “The services the laboratory provides will benefit our residents and free up resources at the State Crime Laboratory that were being consumed by Wake County.”
The new county lab will start with a small number of cases and add more over time.
The state has made significant strides in recent years to improve the backlog on DNA testing. In 2024, then-attorney general Josh Stein announced the state had cleared the backlog of untest rape kits. It took five years for the state to test the more than 16,000 untested kits that sat on shelves of local law enforcement in 2019.
In 2023, the state approved $5 million in renovations to the State Crime Lab, which they said would process testing evidence more efficiently and allow court cases to move more swiftly.
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