Colorado DNA Analyst Yvonne Woods Pleads Guilty to Four Felonies

com reported. The charges stemmed from conduct between 2008 and 2023 while she worked as a forensic laboratory scientist for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Prosecutors consolidated more than 100 original felony counts into the four convictions.

Woods faces a mandatory prison term of eight to 16 years and is scheduled for sentencing on September 8, 2026. She had been employed by the agency from 1994 until 2023. The plea has returned focus to the 1996 murder of JonBenét Ramsey.

Woods altered and deleted data tied to the laboratory’s DNA quality control process, according to prosecutors. Boulder authorities reviewed the records and stated that her actions had no effect on the Ramsey investigation. “The Boulder Police Department does not believe the actions of Missy Woods have had any effect on the JonBenét Ramsey case after a review of all the records by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation,” a department spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The Boulder County District Attorney’s Office reached the same conclusion and noted that the investigation team met as recently as last month. John Ramsey, JonBenét’s father, said the first DNA testing in the case was performed by Bode Labs in Virginia, which reported unidentified male DNA in January 1997.

He has urged police to apply forensic genetic genealogy through an outside laboratory, stating that investigators already possess the killer’s DNA profile on multiple items.

“We have the killer’s DNA and FGG is the new tool which could give us the killer’s name if the police would only use it,” Ramsey said. The district attorney’s office said it is reviewing evidence to ensure the investigation uses the latest forensic methods and is exploring advanced DNA testing at independent labs.