Tulsa Anti-Racist Action

"We've identified a little over 7,200 kits in Oklahoma that have never been tested," OSBI said on Friday.

About three months ago, the agency said it was working to process thousands of r**e kits that were left on shelves, some as far back as the 1980s.

At that time, there were just over 2,000 kits not yet processed. At the time, OSBI said part of the problem was funding.

Lauren Doty, co-founder of Believe Women OK, is a Tulsa r**e survivor.

"In August 2019 I was carjacked at gunpoint, kidnapped for 12 hours and sexually assaulted by three teenagers actually," Doty said.

The same day, Doty said she filed a police report and went to Hillcrest to have a r**e kit done.

She finally found out this April that her kit had been processed.

Next month, it will be two years since she was r**ed and she still doesn't have the answers she wants.

"The online tracking system only helps survivors from January 2020 on. Helps I use loosely," Doty said.

Doty was told that her kit found a match to someone already in the criminal system, but nothing has been done.

In the meantime, she's helped get the Believe Women OK group off the ground in Tulsa.

Since 2019, the group now includes almost 100 women across Oklahoma working to hold the state accountable to testing these kits, providing victims with answers and seeking justice.

During OSBI's Friday update, they said 3,500 of the more than 7,200 untested kits fall under TPD's jurisdiction.

Tulsa and Oklahoma City test their kits independently with OSBI testing around 2,200 of the more than 7,200.

With money being allocated to testing the kits, Erin Martin, co-founder of Believe Women OK, said victims shouldn't have to wait this long.

"They should really answer to the reason why they've taken so long to test these kits," Martin said.

The backlog issue isn't uncommon nationwide, but Believe Women said Oklahoma is falling far behind other states.

Caitlin Pryce, co-founder of Believe Women OK, said she's particularly concerned with Native American women falling between the cracks.

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