Charles Baker, who has been arrested for a raping a woman at gunpoint after a rape kit from 2000 was finally tested . Police in Memphis have identified 25 rape suspects after finally testing evidence kits that had been forgotten about for 40 years. Some rape victims have sued the city, alleging that the failure to test around 12,000 kits, some dating back to the 1970s, has allowed too many rapists to escape prosecution. The kits contain samples of semen, saliva and blood taken from a victim, with the DNA then uploaded to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System to check for a match. Now it has been revealed that the backlog, which is now being cleared, has identified 25 suspected rapists with 16 of them believed to have assaulted multiple victims. Memphis Police Lieutenant Cody Wilkerson also confirmed that 5,386 kits had now been sent for testing and that 58 cases have been sent to prosecutors for indictment. However, he added dozens of investigations have been cut short because of statutes of limitations on rape charges, or the deaths of victims or suspects. It comes after it emerged last month that accused rapist Charles Baker, who allegedly assaulted a woman at gunpoint, had finally been arrested after a backlogged rape kit was tested. Baker, 44, was charged with aggravated rape after the attack in Memphis 15 years ago. He is accused to have abducted the victim at gunpoint in 2000 in downtown Memphis and raped her. The woman then consented to a rape kit test but the evidence wasn't tested by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation until July 2012. It was then revealed that the DNA then matched that of Baker earlier this year. In a report about the kit testing backlog last year, former U.S. Attorney Veronica Coleman-Davis said nobody maliciously or wantonly allowed the kits to remain untested. Instead she attributed the problem to 'a general and collective failure to understand the importance of DNA testing as was reflected in common practices in place locally and nationwide.' The kits contain samples of semen, saliva and blood taken from a victim, with the DNA then uploaded to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System to check for a match . Meanwhile in February, officials in Houston said evidence from more than 6,600 rape kits that went untested there for years has turned up 850 hits in the FBI's nationwide database of DNA profiles. And in Detroit, prosecutors discovered more than 11,000 rape kits in an abandoned police warehouse in 2009. In Cleveland, prosecutors have also sent their entire 4,700-kit backlog for testing.
Memphis has started testing rape evidence kits that had been backlogged .
Thought around 12,000 kits had been forgotten, some dating back to 1970s .
Tests have identified 25 suspects, 16 of them accused of multiple assaults .
Also led to arrest of Charles Baker, who allegedly raped victim at gunpoint .
Report has said nobody was to blame for the massive backlog in testing .
Charles Baker, who has been arrested for a raping a woman at gunpoint after a rape kit from 2000 was finally tested . Police in Memphis have identified 25 rape suspects after finally testing evidence kits that had been forgotten about for 40 years. Some rape victims have sued the city, alleging that the failure to test around 12,000 kits, some dating back to the 1970s, has allowed too many rapists to escape prosecution. The kits contain samples of semen, saliva and blood taken from a victim, with the DNA then uploaded to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System to check for a match. Now it has been revealed that the backlog, which is now being cleared, has identified 25 suspected rapists with 16 of them believed to have assaulted multiple victims. Memphis Police Lieutenant Cody Wilkerson also confirmed that 5,386 kits had now been sent for testing and that 58 cases have been sent to prosecutors for indictment. However, he added dozens of investigations have been cut short because of statutes of limitations on rape charges, or the deaths of victims or suspects. It comes after it emerged last month that accused rapist Charles Baker, who allegedly assaulted a woman at gunpoint, had finally been arrested after a backlogged rape kit was tested. Baker, 44, was charged with aggravated rape after the attack in Memphis 15 years ago. He is accused to have abducted the victim at gunpoint in 2000 in downtown Memphis and raped her. The woman then consented to a rape kit test but the evidence wasn't tested by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation until July 2012. It was then revealed that the DNA then matched that of Baker earlier this year. In a report about the kit testing backlog last year, former U.S. Attorney Veronica Coleman-Davis said nobody maliciously or wantonly allowed the kits to remain untested. Instead she attributed the problem to 'a general and collective failure to understand the importance of DNA testing as was reflected in common practices in place locally and nationwide.' The kits contain samples of semen, saliva and blood taken from a victim, with the DNA then uploaded to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System to check for a match . Meanwhile in February, officials in Houston said evidence from more than 6,600 rape kits that went untested there for years has turned up 850 hits in the FBI's nationwide database of DNA profiles. And in Detroit, prosecutors discovered more than 11,000 rape kits in an abandoned police warehouse in 2009. In Cleveland, prosecutors have also sent their entire 4,700-kit backlog for testing.
was finally tested . Police in Memphis have identified 25 rape suspects after finally testing evidence kits that had been forgotten about for alleging that the failure to test around 12,000 kits, some dating back to the 1970s, has allowed suspected rapists with 16 of them believed to Baker, who allegedly assaulted a woman at abducted the victim at gunpoint in 2000 in Veronica Coleman-Davis said nobody maliciously or