Crime

A forensic scientist who analyzed DNA in UT dance freshman Haruka Weiser’s case has resigned after an investigation by the Texas Forensics Science Commission found she gave incorrect testimony during the pretrial hearings of the person convicted of killing Weiser, Meechaiel Criner.

Austin Police Department’s thousands of backlogged rape kits have been tested, but still need to be reviewed and entered into the Combined DNA Index Systems, the FBI’s national DNA database. While the Austin-area DNA lab is indexing DNA kits from the backlog, APD needs other labs to index the new cases that arrive each month.

APD has recorded 26 burglaries since Jan. 22 in West Campus, which spans from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to 30th Street and in between Lamar Boulevard and Guadalupe Street. During the same time period last spring, APD reported 41 burglaries.

When one of our readers asked us, "How can students stay safe on or near campus late at night?" we looked into it as part of Curious Campus, a series where we answer reader-submitted questions.