Interviews reveal details of CBI analysts’ investigation

DENVER — A DNA scientist considered the “gold standard” at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) mishandled evidence for years, an internal investigation shows, despite repeated warning signs. The CBI now knows that Yvonne “Missy” Woods’ misconduct impacted more than 650 cases.

9NEWS gained access to interviews conducted as part of an internal investigation that began in late 2023. It details what people knew about a 2018 complaint against Woods’ work.

Someone accused the experienced analyst of tampering with evidence back in 2018. Woods was taken off casework and given other duties, including training a newer analyst, until the allegation was verified. A staff member reviewed Woods’ work and she said she could not find any similar problems. People at the lab determined it was mental health related.

Then-CBI director Jon Camper told an investigator in February 2024 that he could not remember people at the lab telling him about this serious complaint.

“It depends on how it’s framed. In other words, if it’s framed as a personnel matter where someone is having problems for some reason, has to work overtime because of personal issues or something like that – that’s one thing,” Camper said in his interview. “On the other hand, if I had been informed of the allegations to the extent that I read about them in the news, you can be damn sure we would have launched a full investigation.”

There was no internal investigation.

Today’s investigation into Woods is directly related to the events of 2018.

Lab staff told investigators they kept Camper informed, but Camper himself does not remember anyone telling him about the data manipulation.

“We wrote it down and considered it a one-time event,” the former deputy director of forensics said in an interview.

The former deputy director told investigators the 2018 situation was classified as a “mistake.”

“It was a psychological problem… that’s what we identified, and that’s why we made efforts to improve her mental state,” the deputy director said in his interview.

He said the remedial measures included removing Woods from casework, asking her to see a psychologist and reviewing work from previous batches.

“Missy had told her that she was overworked and very stressed and that she was having health problems at the time. Missy believes that at some point she deleted those cells because of those problems and stress,” the deputy director said.

Woods’ attorney Ryan Brackley told 9NEWS that his client raised concerns about burnout with CBI lab management in 2018 when they became aware of anomalies in her work. Brackley said she asked to be removed from lab work.

“Yet the CBI not only ignored Ms. Woods’ request to be removed from lab work, but continued to praise her for her hard work and productivity while ignoring the warning signs that she was suffering from the stress, trauma and burnout that came with that work,” Brackley said. “Instead, they continued to assign her the most demanding, challenging and emotionally exhausting work. This is a cautionary tale that should have started with lab management paying attention to the signs that an extremely valuable and hard-working employee was suffering from burnout and work-related trauma, and certainly should not end with lab management pointing fingers about who knew what and when.”

People at the lab traced the problem to Woods’ mental health in 2018. She was taken off casework for a few months and went to see a psychologist.

During one of the interviews, the investigator said that scientists had re-examined Missy Woods’ work from 2017 and 2018 and found a number of problems – although a staff member in 2018 had determined that there were no further problems.

In a statement released in June, the CBI said Woods kept her activities secret before the technical verification process. The agency said it was reviewing its processes and procedures to prevent similar manipulation in the future.