BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder police have submitted forensic evidence from a gang-rape to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in hopes that lab results will yield DNA that can lead detectives to one or multiple suspects.
Investigators have thoroughly searched an area one block east of Boulder High School, near Arapahoe Avenue, where a 20-year-old woman said she was attacked by four men and raped in an alley about 12:45 a.m. Friday as she was walking home alone from a party.
Detectives also are following up on tips from the public, but they have no solid leads so far.
Boulder police Chief Mark Beckner said officers are waiting for the state's crime lab to test evidence that medical professionals and detectives compiled from a rape exam.
"It can take several weeks," Beckner said.
Should crime lab investigators find DNA connected with the sexual assault, Beckner said, that information immediately will be entered into the federal Combined DNA Index System. The software program compares local, state and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, crime scene evidence and missing persons.
DNA samples collected from the scene could provide profiles for "one or two or three or four suspects," Beckner said.
Investigators also have a system in which they can compare fingerprints obtained from evidence with prints taken from law-enforcement agencies around the state and nation.
The victim is continuing to talk with police about the little she remembers of her attackers, and Beckner said the department's sketch artist plans to work with the woman.
Because the victim hasn't been able to pinpoint the exact location where four men grabbed her and held her down so two men could sexually assault her, police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley has said investigators have struggled to determine "if there's any evidence left to follow up on." But, based on the woman's description of the men — she said they were in their 20s and had dark, slicked-back hair — Huntley said members of the public have called police to report potential suspects.
Huntley said officers haven't been able to tie anyone to that location that night.
"Nothing looks immediately promising, but we're tracking them down to make sure we're not missing anything," Huntley said.
Although officials with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation aren't discussing details of the case, Pete Mang, deputy director of the bureau, said his office will be diligent in its search for fingerprints or DNA. Mang said he can't say how long it will take to produce results in the sexual assault, and the lab "has quite a few cases that we're working on."
"It's hard to tell until you get the evidence in the lab and see how much it is and the complexity," he said.