{"id":491832,"date":"2026-06-23T13:29:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T19:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/?p=491832"},"modified":"2026-06-23T13:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T19:35:18","slug":"yvonne-missy-woods-guilty-plea-colorado-bureau-of-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2026\/06\/23\/yvonne-missy-woods-guilty-plea-colorado-bureau-of-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Former CBI scientist Missy Woods pleads guilty in Colorado DNA evidence scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former state forensic scientist Yvonne \u201cMissy\u201d Woods pleaded guilty Tuesday to four felonies and could face up to 16 years in prison, bringing her prosecution to a close after a yearslong scandal that cast doubt on DNA evidence in more than 1,000 criminal cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woods, who spent 29 years analyzing DNA evidence for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, testifying in some of the state’s most high-profile criminal trials, pleaded guilty to cybercrime, perjury, forgery and attempting to influence a public servant. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the remaining 100 charges against her as part of a plea agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disgraced scientist faces eight to 16 years in prison through her plea agreement, according to the First Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The charges against Woods, 65, were tied to 58 separate instances of alleged criminal misconduct <\/a>committed between 2008 and 2023 during which she worked at two laboratory locations in Jefferson County. Among them were more than 30 sexual assault cases in which Woods allegedly deleted specific values in samples and submitted reports to agencies that reflected \u201cNo Male DNA Found,\u201d when in fact small amounts of male DNA were present or possible contamination was present, requiring additional troubleshooting and retesting, the district attorney\u2019s office said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-four law enforcement agencies around Colorado received fraudulent reports by Woods, according to the DA\u2019s office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Colorado inmate who died this month had asked for new trial due to errors in lab evidence by Missy Woods<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\u25b6 FULL STORY\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The criminal investigation into Woods began in November 2023 by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, at the request of CBI. In an interview with investigators, Woods said the discrepancies in the work were partly the result of haste. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a rush batch and I was trying to get data out, and that\u2019s how it happened,\u201d Woods said, according to an arrest affidavit. She said she didn\u2019t have a \u201cgood reason\u201d as to why she manipulated the data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woods\u2019 attorney did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colorado Bureau of Investigation Director Armando Saldate said Woods\u2019 actions represented \u201cintentional criminal fraud\u201d and did not reflect the agency\u2019s work or mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis moment is not about moving on, for CBI it\u2019s about moving forward,\u201dSaldate said in a statement. \u201cToday\u2019s guilty plea is an important moment of accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CBI has implemented reforms since the investigation revealed Woods\u2019 misconduct that \u201creflect a commitment to national best practices in forensic science,\u201d he said. More improvements to the agency\u2019s laboratory systems are underway with the goal of ensuring \u201cthe highest standards of accuracy and accountability,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

District Attorney Alexis King said Woods’ guilty plea represents an acknowledgment of responsibility not only for individual acts of misconduct, but for a broader pattern of criminal conduct that spanned decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite Colorado law allowing for these offenses to be probation eligible, this disposition guarantees a prison sentence and eliminates any possibility of a community based sentence,\u201d King said in a statement. \u201cSecuring a term of imprisonment, protecting the interests of the community, and our shared expectations of integrity in the justice system is reflected in this resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 8. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a developing news story that will be updated. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woods, whose worked for Colorado Bureau of Investigation for 29 years, faces up to 16 years in prison<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":430556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"credibility_indicators":{"original_reporting":true,"on_the_ground":false,"sources_cited":true,"subject_specialist":false},"gigafact_has_fact_brief":false,"gigafact_remote_fact_brief_post_id":0,"gigafact_remote_sync_timestamp":"","gigafact_remote_sync_status":"","gigafact_remote_sync_response":"","gigafact_has_been_published":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-06-23T19:29:36Z","apple_news_api_id":"28976eb1-f366-4351-adf4-92dd972c4e61","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-06-23T19:35:17Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AKJdusfNmQ1Gt9JLdlyxOYQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Woods, whose worked for Colorado Bureau of Investigation for 29 years, faces up to 16 years in prison","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18557,30],"tags":[3326,3328,1156,1546],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[16955],"class_list":["post-491832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-and-courts","category-news","tag-cbi","tag-colorado-bureau-of-investigation","tag-dna-testing","tag-jefferson-county","entry"],"credibility_indicators":[{"description":"This article contains firsthand information gathered by reporters. This includes directly interviewing sources and analyzing primary source documents.","label":"Original Reporting","slug":"original_reporting","icon":"<\/svg>"},{"description":"A journalist was physically present to report the article from some or all of the locations it concerns.","label":"On the Ground","slug":"on_the_ground","icon":"<\/svg>"},{"description":"This article includes a list of source material, including documents and people, so you can follow the story further.","label":"References","slug":"sources_cited","icon":"<\/g><\/svg>\n"},{"description":"The journalist and\/or newsroom have\/has a deep knowledge of the topic, location or community group covered in this article.","label":"Subject Specialist","slug":"subject_specialist","icon":"<\/svg>"}],"fact_brief":null,"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nMissy Woods pleads guilty in Colorado DNA evidence scandal<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n