Missy Woods, DNA Analyst Tampered With 1,000 Cases – Why?

Yvonne “Missy” Woods, a former Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist, tampered with DNA evidence during her lengthy career and will spend a decade in prison. However, one question continues to puzzle true crime followers: What was her motive?

The Charges

The 66-year-old was handed a 10-year prison sentence on September 8, 2026, according to a press release from the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Woods had pleaded guilty in June to four felonies, including cybercrime, perjury, forgery, and attempting to influence a public servant.

The sheer scale of the DNA mess seems staggering. Colorado Public Radio reported that more than 1,000 cases were affected. It added, “State officials say more than 400 cases of the 1,100 affected by Woods’ altering of data were sex assaults.”

What Did She Do?

What did Missy Woods actually do? If we take away the complex laboratory jargon, Woods cheated. She manually altered digital data, deleted test values and omitted findings from laboratory records.

The First Judicial District Attorney’s Office noted that she repeatedly deleted values showing male DNA was present and then produced laboratory reports claiming that she hadn’t found any male DNA at all.

Her deliberate shortcuts interfered with investigations and, in some cases, stopped them before police could identify a suspect. In other instances, she skipped required testing steps to close files faster.

However, the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office noted that “the criminal investigation found no evidence that Woods produced false DNA identifications, false comparisons, or false positive results.”

What Was Her Motive?

Then comes the real head-scratcher: Why on earth did she do it?

Jefferson County Chief Deputy District Attorney Darren Kafka struggled to make sense of her actions during the sentencing hearing.

“As a criminal justice professional and a former scientist myself, I find them impossible to comprehend,” Kafka said.

According to Colorado Public Radio, Kafka told the court there seemed to be “no purpose behind” her choices, noting that Woods wasn’t lazy and routinely logged more hours than anyone else in the lab.

When investigators pressed Woods in 2024 about her behavior, she offered little clarity.

“I wouldn’t even remember that I did that,” Woods said during a recorded police interview played in court.

She later added: “To disconnect, was make it go away, make it go away, make it go away. I don’t know why I was doing it.”

A Heavy Workload

Defense attorney Tom Ward argued in court that an overwhelming workload drove Woods to make terrible choices. In 2013, Colorado lawmakers passed a law requiring all sexual assault kits to be tested, and the laboratory was flooded with work.

Ward argued that Woods was trying to process cases as quickly as possible to assist law enforcement.

However, it makes for a rather strange defense. Missy Woods was supposedly trying to help move investigations forward by taking shortcuts that, in some cases, rendered potentially useful evidence useless.

The Consequences

The consequences of Woods’ laboratory misconduct were substantial. In April 2025, prosecutors agreed to vacate the 2012 murder conviction of Michael Clark, who spent more than 12 years behind bars for the 1994 shooting death of Marty Grisham.

Woods’ misconduct prompted prosecutors to have important evidence in Clark’s case independently retested. The new DNA results, along with claims of juror misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel, led prosecutors to conclude that his conviction should be vacated.

Derailed Cases

Meanwhile, sexual assault cases were among those affected by Woods’ misconduct. In some cases involving women and children who reported it, Woods deleted values showing male DNA was present before issuing reports stating that none had been found.

District Attorney Alexis King summed up the damage in her office’s official release, stating that Woods “substituted her own judgment for the evidence and for the investigative process.”

Retesting And Legal Hoops

Colorado officials estimated the fiscal cost of Woods’ misconduct had already exceeded $11 million by the end of 2024. Prosecutors, defense attorneys and courts across the state have been left reviewing cases and convictions linked to Woods’ work.

Courts are still picking through the cases, trying to clean up a disaster that nobody can truly explain.

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