Police admit computer mix-up in serial rape case
Colorado man suspected in at least six attacks
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- A DNA sample that might have identified an alleged serial rapist two months before a series of rapes in Colorado was not matched to the suspect because of a computer glitch, police said Monday.
Last week, police said they used DNA evidence from victims to link three sexual assaults earlier this month to 35-year-old Brent J. Brents, whose DNA profile was in a state database because of previous convictions for child molestation.
Brents was released from prison last year after serving more than 16 years for sexual assaults on two children in 1988.
Police also discovered that Brents' DNA matched evidence from an October 2004 sexual assault in the city.
The Denver Police Department and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation then began investigating why the DNA from the earlier case did not trigger a match with Brents, according to a joint statement issued Monday.
In December, Denver police submitted the DNA evidence from the October case to CODIS, a computer system operated by the FBI that allows electronic comparison of DNA profiles around the country. But it was apparently never uploaded, the statement said.
Police blamed the glitch, which delayed a DNA match with Brents, on an FBI contractor's transfer of data to a new server.
That resulted in the sample not being uploaded. Other DNA samples submitted by Colorado police around the same time were also found to be missing from the database, the statement said.
"Since then, the FBI contractor has notified CBI that it has added additional quality assurance measures to be followed whenever any data conversions are performed in any crime laboratory in the nation," the statement said, adding that all of the missing DNA profiles have now been accounted for.
Brents was captured Friday in Glenwood Springs after a massive manhunt and is being held on $25 million bond. Police said he is the suspect in at least six sexual assaults, including five during February in the neighborhoods around Denver's Cheesman Park.
Investigators have said they fear there are more victims who have not yet come forward.
The missed DNA match is the second law enforcement mix-up in the Brents case that is drawing public ire in Denver, where the serial rape spree galvanized the community.
In November, under questioning by police in suburban Aurora, Brents confessed to molesting an 8-year-old boy, police said. However, he was not arrested.
Aurora police have defended their actions, saying more investigation was needed before they could make a sufficient case to arrest Brents. But critics have insisted that his confession should have been enough to hold him.
CNN's Sean Callebs contributed to this report.
