The Forensic Scandal That Shook Colorado — and the Dangerous Human Weakness Behind Scientific Evidence
Disclaimer: This article discusses a criminal case involving former Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods and the consequences of her admitted criminal conduct. The article distinguishes established facts, court proceedings, official findings, and reported allegations. It does not imply that every case touched by Woods produced an incorrect conviction or false DNA identification. The full legal and investigative consequences of the scandal continue to develop.
Introduction: When Science Becomes Evidence, Trust Becomes Part of the Test
For decades, DNA has occupied a special place in the public imagination.
It is often described as the ultimate forensic evidence.
A fingerprint can be disputed.
A witness can forget.
A surveillance camera can be unclear.
A confession can be challenged.
But DNA?
DNA seems different.
It is biological.
It is microscopic.
It is measurable.
It can be compared statistically.
And when a laboratory report places a person's genetic profile at a crime scene, the result can appear almost mathematical in its certainty.
But there is something easy to forget.
DNA evidence does not walk into a courtroom by itself.
Before a DNA profile becomes evidence, somebody has to collect the sample. Somebody has to receive it. Somebody has to label it. Somebody has to process it. Somebody has to operate the instruments. Somebody has to interpret the results. Somebody has to document what happened. And somebody has to prepare the report that eventually reaches investigators, prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges.
The science may be objective.
The process is performed by humans.
And that creates a vulnerability.
In Colorado, that vulnerability became one of the most serious forensic scandals in recent American history.
Former Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods pleaded guilty in June 2026 to four felony charges connected to her manipulation of forensic laboratory data. On September 8, 2026, a Colorado judge sentenced her to 10 years in prison.
The consequences, however, are far larger than one criminal sentence.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has had to examine more than a thousand cases connected to Woods' work. Some defendants have challenged convictions or prosecutions. At least one murder conviction was vacated, and prosecutors have had to reconsider other cases.
The scandal raises a frightening question:
What happens when the person responsible for protecting forensic evidence becomes the person who compromises it?
And perhaps an even more important question:
How much should we trust forensic science when we have not examined the system that produces it?
The Scientist Behind the Scandal
Yvonne “Missy” Woods worked for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for nearly three decades.
She joined the agency in 1994 and eventually became a forensic laboratory scientist working with DNA evidence.
Her career placed her in a position of extraordinary trust.
The evidence passing through a forensic laboratory can represent some of the most consequential material in the criminal justice system.
A biological sample may come from a homicide.
A sexual-assault kit may contain evidence that could identify an unknown perpetrator.
A swab may determine whether investigators continue pursuing a suspect.
A DNA profile may influence whether prosecutors file charges.
A laboratory report can affect whether someone remains in prison—or goes home.
Forensic scientists therefore do more than perform laboratory procedures.
They become part of the chain connecting the crime scene to the courtroom.
When that chain is compromised, the damage can spread far beyond the laboratory.
According to the Colorado First Judicial District Attorney's Office, the criminal investigation ultimately identified 53 cases in which Woods' laboratory reports contained false or misleading statements. Her manipulation of laboratory values affected hundreds of additional cases.
Importantly, investigators did not find that Woods created false DNA identifications or false DNA matches.
That distinction matters.
The scandal was not simply a story about someone inventing a suspect's DNA profile.
The problem was more subtle—and in some ways more disturbing.
Data could be omitted.
Results could be altered.
Information could disappear from the record.
And a laboratory report could consequently give investigators a different picture of the evidence than the underlying laboratory work actually produced.
The First Crack in the Wall
The scandal did not begin with a dramatic courtroom revelation.
It began with missing information.
According to the Colorado prosecution, the investigation began in September 2023 after a CBI intern discovered missing DNA data in a sample Woods had processed in 2018.
That discovery triggered a much larger examination of her work.
The investigation eventually led to the conclusion that Woods had manipulated or omitted data in numerous cases over many years.
This is one of the most important lessons in the entire story.
The forensic system did not initially fail because someone discovered a spectacular false DNA match.
It began because someone noticed that something was missing.
In forensic science, missing information can be just as important as positive information.
A laboratory result is not merely a final number.
It is part of a sequence.
A sample produces observations.
Observations produce measurements.
Measurements produce interpretations.
Interpretations produce reports.
Remove something from that sequence, and the final conclusion can change.
That is why forensic laboratories depend so heavily on documentation, audit trails, quality assurance, technical review and chain-of-custody procedures.
The laboratory notebook matters.
The raw data matters.
The instrument output matters.
The discarded result matters.
The failed test matters.
The unexpected result matters.
Even a result that appears useless may become important later.
A scientist cannot always know which piece of information will become significant tomorrow.
What Was Being Manipulated?
The details of the Woods investigation reveal why forensic integrity depends on more than simply obtaining a DNA profile.
According to the Colorado prosecution, Woods deleted or altered laboratory values and, in some cases, reported that DNA was not present when DNA had actually been detected.
The prosecution specifically identified cases involving women and children who reported sexual assault. In those cases, investigators found that Woods had deleted values indicating male DNA was present and then issued reports saying that no male DNA had been found.
Imagine what that means from the perspective of an investigation.
A victim provides biological evidence.
The sample enters the laboratory.
The laboratory produces information.
But the information reaching the investigator does not accurately reflect what happened inside the laboratory.
The investigation may stop.
A detective may decide there is no useful DNA evidence.
A comparison may never be attempted.
Another sample may never be tested.
A potential suspect may never be examined.
A case may remain unsolved.
And the person who provided the evidence may never know that the laboratory information was incomplete.
This is one reason forensic misconduct can be so devastating.
The damage does not always announce itself.
Sometimes it looks like an ordinary dead end.
The Difference Between a False Match and a False Absence
There is an important forensic distinction here.
People often imagine forensic manipulation as someone taking a suspect's DNA and deliberately declaring it a match.
That would be an obvious form of misconduct.
But there is another type of failure:
making potentially useful evidence disappear.
Suppose investigators have a biological sample from a crime.
If the laboratory identifies a usable male DNA component, that information could potentially lead to further testing or comparison.
If the laboratory instead reports that no male DNA was found, investigators may stop looking.
The scientific information has not merely been misunderstood.
It has been removed from the investigative pathway.
The Colorado prosecution said many of the affected cases stopped at this earliest stage because the manipulated information prevented additional testing, comparison or investigation.
That distinction is critical.
A false positive can point investigators toward the wrong person.
A false negative can prevent investigators from looking for the right person.
Both can damage justice.
The Numbers Tell Only Part of the Story
The scale of the investigation is staggering.
The CBI reviewed more than 1,000 cases in which Woods had some involvement, covering work performed between 1994 and 2023.
But those cases were not all equally affected.
This is another important point.
A forensic scientist can touch a case without necessarily producing a false result in that case.
The Colorado investigation distinguished between different levels of impact.
Some cases involved laboratory data manipulation.
Some involved false or misleading reports.
Some cases resulted in criminal charges.
Others did not.
The prosecution stated that the investigation did not establish that Woods produced false DNA identifications, false comparisons or false positive results.
That means the number “more than 1,000” should not be interpreted as “more than 1,000 wrongful convictions.”
The reality is more complicated.
And forensic science requires that kind of precision.
Numbers without context can themselves become misleading evidence.
When the Evidence Never Became a Match
Perhaps the most disturbing consequences involved cases where the manipulated information prevented evidence from progressing.
The Colorado prosecution said 41 of the cases underlying the charged criminal conduct did not result in criminal charges against a suspect.
Thirty-two involved women and children reporting sexual assault.
That creates a different kind of forensic harm.
In a criminal investigation, justice is not only about proving guilt.
It is also about discovering what happened.
When biological evidence is mishandled, an innocent person can be falsely accused.
But a different person can also remain unidentified.
A victim can be denied an investigative opportunity.
A family can remain without answers.
A detective can make decisions based on incomplete information.
A cold case can become colder.
That is why forensic misconduct cannot be measured only by convictions overturned.
Sometimes the damage is found in the cases that never progressed.
The Murder Case That Became a Symbol
One of the most visible consequences of the scandal involved a murder conviction.
Michael Clark was released from prison in 2025 after his attorneys challenged the DNA evidence connected to Woods' work. Prosecutors indicated they would seek to retry him.
The case illustrates another uncomfortable reality.
When forensic evidence becomes questionable, the problem does not automatically become:
“Guilty person versus innocent person.”
Instead, it becomes:
Can the justice system still prove what happened using reliable evidence?
A person may have been correctly convicted despite contaminated or compromised evidence.
A person may have been wrongly convicted.
Or the available evidence may simply no longer be strong enough to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Those are very different conclusions.
That is why courts must examine individual cases rather than treating every Woods-related case as automatically invalid.
The Hidden Enemy: Laboratory Culture
The Woods scandal is also a story about organizational culture.
According to an internal CBI investigation, concerns about Woods' work had surfaced years before the scandal became public.
The 2024 internal report found that questions about her testing arose as early as 2014. Woods was also temporarily removed from DNA work in 2018 after concerns about data manipulation, according to reporting on the internal investigation.
That raises one of the most difficult questions in forensic science:
How does misconduct survive inside a scientific institution?
A laboratory may have sophisticated machines.
It may have validated procedures.
It may have quality-control systems.
It may have experienced scientists.
But none of those protections matter if warnings are ignored.
Forensic laboratories therefore have two different responsibilities.
The first is scientific:
Produce accurate results.
The second is organizational:
Create an environment where inaccurate or dishonest work can be identified and challenged.
The second responsibility is often less visible.
But it may be just as important.
The Myth of the Infallible Laboratory
Popular culture has trained audiences to think of forensic laboratories as almost magical places.
A scientist puts a sample into a machine.
The machine produces a result.
The result reveals the truth.
Real forensic science is much messier.
Machines can malfunction.
Samples can be degraded.
DNA can be mixed.
Contamination can occur.
Interpretation can be difficult.
Thresholds matter.
Statistical assumptions matter.
Documentation matters.
Human judgment matters.
And laboratory personnel can make mistakes—or intentionally violate procedures.
The Woods case demonstrates something that forensic scientists have understood for years:
Scientific evidence is only as reliable as the process used to generate and interpret it.
This does not make DNA unreliable.
Quite the opposite.
It explains why reliable DNA science requires rigorous safeguards.
The Chain of Custody Is More Than a Signature
When people hear the phrase “chain of custody,” they often imagine paperwork.
A box arrives.
Someone signs for it.
Another person signs it out.
Then another person receives it.
But chain of custody is really about something deeper.
It is about preserving the identity and integrity of evidence.
If a biological sample is collected at a crime scene, investigators need confidence that the material analyzed in the laboratory is the same material collected during the investigation.
Then comes another chain:
What happened to the sample?
Who tested it?
What instruments were used?
What results were obtained?
Were tests repeated?
Were unexpected results documented?
Were controls successful?
Were results interpreted correctly?
Were all relevant findings included in the report?
This is why modern forensic quality systems emphasize documentation.
The goal is not simply to produce a result.
The goal is to make the result auditable.
A second scientist should be able to examine the work and understand how the conclusion was reached.
The Importance of Raw Data
The Woods scandal also illustrates why raw laboratory data is so important.
A final report is a summary.
It is not the entire scientific history of the test.
The raw information generated during analysis may contain details that do not appear in the final report.
Those details can later become important.
Perhaps a sample produced an unexpected result.
Perhaps contamination was suspected.
Perhaps a measurement fell outside a normal range.
Perhaps a test failed.
Perhaps a result changed after troubleshooting.
Without access to the underlying information, independent reviewers may be unable to determine what actually happened.
This is why forensic transparency increasingly emphasizes the preservation of underlying data and the ability to reconstruct the analytical process.
The final report tells you what the scientist concluded.
The underlying records can tell you how the scientist got there.
The Computer Was Part of the Crime Scene
There is another dimension to this case that deserves attention.
The criminal charges against Woods included cybercrime.
That is significant because modern forensic laboratories are increasingly digital environments.
Laboratory instruments produce electronic data.
Case-management systems store evidence information.
DNA analysis software produces files and calculations.
Reports are generated electronically.
Data can be copied, altered, deleted or overwritten.
In other words:
The modern forensic laboratory has its own digital crime scene.
When something goes wrong, investigators may need to reconstruct not only laboratory science but also digital activity.
Who accessed the file?
When was it changed?
What information existed before the change?
Was data deleted?
Was a report generated from an earlier version?
Did the electronic record match the paper record?
Was a result omitted intentionally or accidentally?
Digital forensic techniques can therefore become essential to investigating forensic misconduct itself.
The people who investigate evidence sometimes become the subjects of forensic investigation.
Why Independent Review Matters
One of the safeguards used in the Woods investigation was external examination.
Because the allegations involved a state forensic agency, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation requested an independent criminal investigation by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation. The Colorado prosecution said mathematical analysis was used to help verify the findings.
This illustrates a fundamental principle:
A laboratory should not always be the sole judge of its own failure.
Independent review can reduce conflicts of interest.
It can also provide a fresh perspective.
When an institution discovers that one of its own scientists may have compromised evidence, the institution has two responsibilities that can pull in opposite directions:
Protect the integrity of the investigation.
And protect confidence in the institution.
External oversight can help separate those responsibilities.
What Does This Mean for DNA Evidence?
It would be easy to read about this scandal and conclude:
“DNA cannot be trusted.”
That would be the wrong lesson.
The better lesson is:
DNA must be trusted because it has been properly generated, documented, reviewed and interpreted—not simply because it is called DNA evidence.
DNA remains one of the most powerful tools available to forensic investigators.
But scientific power does not eliminate the need for scientific discipline.
In fact, the more powerful the evidence, the more important the safeguards become.
A weak piece of evidence may influence a case.
A highly persuasive piece of evidence can determine the case.
That is why forensic science demands extraordinary care.
The Human Being Behind the Sample
There is another dimension that laboratory discussions can sometimes obscure.
A DNA sample is not just a tube.
It belongs to someone.
Perhaps a victim.
Perhaps a suspect.
Perhaps an unidentified person.
Perhaps someone who has been waiting decades for an answer.
Behind every barcode is a human story.
Behind every sexual-assault kit is a person who may have trusted the criminal justice system at one of the most vulnerable moments of their life.
Behind every homicide sample is a family waiting for answers.
Behind every defendant's DNA evidence is a person whose liberty may depend on whether the science was handled correctly.
This is why forensic integrity is not simply a technical issue.
It is an ethical obligation.
When Forensic Science Fails, Innocence and Guilt Both Suffer
There is a temptation to frame forensic misconduct as something that helps defendants.
That is incomplete.
When forensic evidence is compromised, everyone loses.
An innocent defendant may be convicted.
A guilty defendant may escape identification.
A victim may be denied justice.
A family may receive the wrong answer.
A prosecutor may unknowingly present unreliable evidence.
A defense attorney may spend years uncovering laboratory problems.
A judge may have to reconsider evidence that was once considered reliable.
And forensic scientists who followed the rules may find their profession's credibility damaged by someone else's actions.
The consequences spread outward.
The Courtroom Problem: How Much Evidence Is Enough?
Once forensic evidence is questioned, courts face a difficult problem.
Suppose a conviction relied partly on DNA evidence processed by Woods.
Does that automatically mean the conviction must be overturned?
Not necessarily.
The answer depends on the individual case.
What exactly did Woods do?
Was the DNA result itself affected?
Was the disputed evidence material to the conviction?
Was there independent evidence?
Were other laboratory results available?
Could the original evidence be retested?
Did the prosecution disclose the forensic problem?
Could the error have affected the jury's decision?
These are legal questions as much as scientific ones.
That is why the Woods scandal will likely continue generating litigation long after her criminal sentence.
A New Kind of Forensic Re-Examination
Traditional cold-case investigations usually revisit the crime.
Investigators reopen files.
They retest evidence.
They interview witnesses.
They search for new suspects.
But cases affected by forensic misconduct require something different.
They must sometimes investigate the investigation itself.
That can involve:
Laboratory notebooks
Raw DNA data
Instrument records
Computer activity
Quality-control records
Analyst notes
Previous reports
Case-management systems
Retesting of biological evidence
Independent laboratory analysis
Court transcripts
Prosecutorial files
Evidence storage records
It is forensic science turned inward.
The evidence is no longer simply:
Who committed the crime?
The question becomes:
Can we still trust the evidence that was used to answer that question?
The Dangerous Psychology of “Closing the Case”
The Colorado prosecution's account raises another uncomfortable issue: the pressure to finish.
Forensic laboratories can face enormous workloads.
Investigators want answers.
Prosecutors want reports.
Victims and families want progress.
Administrators want efficiency.
Scientists are expected to process evidence accurately and quickly.
But science does not always cooperate with deadlines.
A sample may fail.
A DNA mixture may be difficult to interpret.
A biological trace may be too small.
A result may be inconclusive.
Sometimes the scientifically correct answer is:
We don't know.
That is a difficult answer for a criminal justice system built around finding answers.
But it is also an essential one.
A forensic scientist must never replace uncertainty with certainty simply because uncertainty is inconvenient.
The Most Dangerous Forensic Result
It may not be a wrong result.
It may be a confident wrong result.
An inconclusive result tells investigators that more work may be necessary.
A carefully qualified result tells a court about the limitations of the evidence.
But an inaccurate report presented as reliable can close doors.
Investigators may stop searching.
Prosecutors may stop questioning.
Defense attorneys may never know what was missing.
Courts may accept the conclusion.
That is why transparency about uncertainty is not weakness.
It is scientific strength.
What Should Change?
The Woods scandal will likely influence forensic policy in Colorado, but the lessons extend far beyond one state.
Forensic laboratories should continually examine how they protect against human error and misconduct.
That includes:
1. Stronger audit trails
Every meaningful alteration to electronic laboratory data should be traceable.
2. Independent technical review
Important conclusions should receive meaningful review by another qualified scientist.
3. Preservation of raw data
Original analytical information should be retained so later reviewers can reconstruct the work.
4. Automated safeguards
Software can help flag unexpected deletions, repeated testing, unusual result patterns or unexplained changes.
5. Clear whistleblower mechanisms
Scientists and laboratory employees need safe methods to report concerns.
6. External audits
Independent organizations should periodically examine forensic laboratories.
7. Separation of productivity from scientific integrity
Scientists should never feel that completing cases quickly is more important than reporting accurately.
8. Continuing education
Forensic science evolves. Training must evolve with it.
9. Transparent error reporting
Laboratories should learn from mistakes rather than hiding them.
10. Independent investigation of serious misconduct
When allegations involve a laboratory employee, the institution should not be the only organization determining what happened.
Could Artificial Intelligence Help?
Ironically, the same technology increasingly discussed as a threat to forensic science may also become part of its defense.
Artificial intelligence and machine-learning systems could potentially assist laboratories by identifying unusual patterns.
Imagine a system that notices:
an analyst repeatedly deleting particular data fields;
unusually high numbers of amended reports;
repeated testing until a preferred result appears;
suspicious differences between raw instrument data and final reports;
unexplained gaps in electronic records;
abnormal case-processing patterns.
An automated system might flag the behavior for human review.
But AI should not become another unquestioned authority.
An algorithm can make mistakes.
It can produce false alerts.
It can inherit biases.
And it cannot replace scientific judgment.
The ideal future is not:
Humans replaced by machines.
It is:
Humans supported by systems capable of detecting patterns that humans might overlook.
The Forensic Laboratory of the Future
Imagine a forensic laboratory designed around one principle:
Every conclusion must be reconstructable.
A sample enters.
Its movement is recorded automatically.
The analyst accesses the case.
Every analytical action creates a secure audit record.
Raw data is preserved.
Unexpected results are flagged.
Software checks quality-control requirements.
A second scientist reviews critical conclusions.
An independent audit system searches for unusual patterns.
If a report changes, the original remains preserved.
If information is deleted, the system records who did it and why.
If a scientist repeatedly produces unusual results, the laboratory knows.
This is not science fiction.
Much of the technology required already exists in different forms.
The challenge is implementing it consistently.
The Lesson Is Bigger Than Yvonne Woods
It would be easy to make this entire story about one person.
A scientist committed crimes.
A court imposed a sentence.
A laboratory was forced to review thousands of cases.
But the deeper lesson is more uncomfortable.
Forensic science is a human system.
And human systems require safeguards.
The Woods case does not prove that forensic science is unreliable.
It proves that forensic science cannot be separated from the institutions and people responsible for producing it.
The laboratory is part of the evidence.
The documentation is part of the evidence.
The quality-control system is part of the evidence.
The scientist's integrity is part of the evidence.
The audit trail is part of the evidence.
The ability to reproduce the analysis is part of the evidence.
When any of these fail, confidence in the final result can fail with them.
The Strange Paradox of Scientific Evidence
There is a paradox at the heart of forensic science.
The public wants forensic evidence to be objective.
Scientists want it to be objective.
Courts want it to be objective.
But the path to that evidence is not automatically objective.
A scientist decides how to interpret an ambiguous result.
A laboratory decides which quality-control procedures to implement.
An institution decides how to respond to a warning.
An investigator decides which evidence to submit.
A prosecutor decides which evidence to present.
A defense attorney decides which evidence to challenge.
A judge decides what evidence is admissible.
And a jury decides what evidence persuades them.
Forensic science therefore exists inside a human system.
The goal is not to pretend humans are absent.
The goal is to build enough safeguards that human weaknesses cannot silently transform scientific evidence.
What the Woods Scandal Leaves Behind
Yvonne Woods is now serving a prison sentence.
But the investigation is not finished simply because the criminal prosecution reached a sentencing hearing.
The cases remain.
The evidence remains.
The questions remain.
Some convictions may survive scrutiny.
Some may be reconsidered.
Some prosecutions may be dismissed.
Some evidence may be retested.
Some victims may finally receive information that was previously hidden from investigators.
Some defendants may continue challenging convictions.
And some cases may never be completely resolved.
That uncertainty is part of the cost of forensic misconduct.
The justice system can correct an individual scientist's criminal behavior.
It cannot instantly reconstruct years of damaged confidence.
The Real Victim May Be Trust
Every forensic laboratory depends on something that cannot be stored in a freezer or entered into a database.
Trust.
Investigators must trust laboratory scientists.
Courts must trust laboratory reports.
Victims must trust that their evidence will be handled carefully.
Defendants must trust that scientific evidence against them is accurate.
Families must trust that forensic conclusions are based on facts rather than convenience.
And the public must trust that science is being used to pursue truth rather than simply to support a predetermined conclusion.
When that trust is broken, rebuilding it can take years.
Perhaps decades.
Forensic Perspective
The most important lesson from the Colorado DNA scandal is not that forensic science failed.
It is that forensic science must be designed to detect when it fails.
No laboratory can promise that every test will be perfect.
No scientist can guarantee that every interpretation will be correct.
No technology can eliminate human error completely.
But a trustworthy forensic system can make mistakes visible.
It can preserve the original evidence.
It can expose unexpected results.
It can encourage scientists to challenge one another.
It can protect whistleblowers.
It can allow independent experts to reproduce analyses.
And when misconduct occurs, it can investigate itself honestly.
That is the difference between a system that merely claims to be scientific and one that actually behaves scientifically.
Science is not defined by never being wrong.
Science is defined, in part, by the ability to discover when it is wrong.
The Woods scandal is therefore not only a story about corrupted DNA evidence.
It is a warning about what happens when scientific authority becomes detached from scientific accountability.
A DNA profile may be microscopic.
A laboratory data file may contain only a few numbers.
A missing value may look insignificant.
But behind those numbers can stand a person's freedom, a victim's search for justice, a family's grief, or an investigation that may never get another chance.
The smallest piece of forensic evidence can carry an enormous human consequence.
That is why every result matters.
And why every scientist who handles it matters too.
Recommended Tools & Resources
For readers interested in developing their knowledge of forensic science, digital investigation, data analysis and emerging technology, the following types of resources can complement the subjects discussed in this article:
Forensic science and scientific learning:
Courses in biology, genetics, forensic science, laboratory quality systems and scientific methodology can provide a stronger understanding of how evidence is generated and evaluated.
Cybersecurity and digital investigation:
Training in digital forensics, cybersecurity, data integrity and incident investigation is increasingly relevant because modern forensic laboratories depend heavily on electronic systems.
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AI and data analysis:
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Some links in the recommended resources section may be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service through one of these links, Forensic Perspectives may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Our editorial analysis, conclusions and opinions remain independent of any affiliate relationship.
References
Colorado First Judicial District Attorney's Office — official information concerning the Yvonne “Missy” Woods investigation and September 2026 sentencing.
Colorado Bureau of Investigation — official Woods investigation information and criminal charges.
Associated Press — reporting on Woods' September 2026 sentencing and the consequences for affected cases.
CBS Colorado — reporting on the sentencing, laboratory investigation and review of more than 1,000 cases.
Axios — reporting on the August 2026 dismissal of a Colorado criminal case connected to the broader Woods forensic scandal.
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