Why the Eliza Fletcher case proves that a backlog of rape kits is dangerous | Opinion THE TENNESSEAN

Here we go again. A terrible thing has happened to a Tennessee woman, because of Tennessee’s Republican policies.  

The nation heartbreakingly watched recently as media outlets covered the brutal kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher in Memphis. Eliza was kidnapped off the street at 4:30 a.m. during a marathon training run.  

Recently, we’ve learned that the serial monster arrested for the crime kidnapped and raped another woman in November of 2021, but wasn’t caught because nobody bothered to run the DNA. They already had his DNA on file from his first felony kidnapping back in 2000.

He was even a suspect in the case. Yet, nobody bothered to run the rape kit for his DNA. If they had, Eliza Fletcher would still be alive today.  

This is not a new problem in Tennessee. In 2014, the last report, Tennessee had over 9,000 untested rape kits in its backlog. The fact that no public number has been reported since makes me certain the number has only increased overtime.

This is one of the reasons why only 6% of rapists are actually convicted, according to RAINN. This problem could be easily be fixed by Tennessee’s Republican leadership with some allocated funding.

It's not surprising that they don’t care.

These are the same Tennessee Republicans that have decided that Tennessee women should be forced to birth their rapists' babies.  

Things have only gotten worse for Tennessee women in 2022. Under Tennessee's new draconian abortion laws, if a woman this monster kidnapped and raped became pregnant, she would now be forced to give birth to his baby.  

Laura Brown is a Tennessee native and business woman. She holds degrees from University of Tennessee Knoxville, Middle Tennessee State University, and Vanderbilt, and works in strategic management and communications.