Yvonne "Missy" Woods, a former Colorado Bureau of Investigation DNA analyst, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after admitting she deliberately mishandled thousands of pieces of DNA evidence in murder and sexual assault cases over her nearly 30-year career. The 66-year-old pleaded guilty to cybercrime, perjury, forgery and attempting to influence a public servant, in one of the largest scandals in the history of US forensic DNA testing, which undermined confidence in cases stretching back decades.

Judge Andrew Poland imposed 10 years for cybercrime plus three years' parole, six years each for perjury and influencing a public servant, and three years for forgery, exceeding the eight-to-16-year range prosecutors had proposed under her June plea deal. A 14-month inquiry, launched in September 2023 after an internal review found altered or missing data, established that at least 1,003 cases dating from 1994 to 2023 were affected, including more than 30 sexual assault cases where she allegedly deleted findings or falsely reported no male DNA present. Woods, who apologised in court, had previously worked on high-profile cases including that of "Hammer Killer" Alex Ewing.