Colorado DNA Analyst Gets 10 Years for Manipulating Case Data

A state judge sentenced former Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic analyst Yvonne “Missy” Woods to 10 years in prison on Tuesday for manipulating DNA data in criminal cases.

The sentence follows a misconduct scandal that forced prosecutors to review hundreds of cases involving homicide, sexual assault, robbery and other crimes, and that contributed to at least one overturned murder conviction.

Woods pleaded guilty in June to perjury, attempting to influence a public servant, forgery and committing a cybercrime. Dozens of other counts were dismissed under a plea agreement. She faced a sentencing range of eight to 16 years before state district judge Andrew Poland in Golden, Colorado.

Woods resigned in 2023 after a decades-long career. Authorities said she altered data to conceal tampering, deleted data that showed she had failed to troubleshoot issues within the testing process, and did not thoroughly document tests performed in case records.

The investigation began in September 2023 after an intern at the bureau discovered missing information in a case Woods had handled in 2018. According to an arrest affidavit, Woods told investigators at one point that she had changed data to complete cases more quickly.

The legal fallout has been concrete. Michael Clark was released from prison in 2025 after his lawyers argued that DNA evidence was mishandled by Woods; prosecutors said they would seek to retry him. In two homicide cases, defendants received lesser sentences under plea deals because prosecutors feared Woods’ involvement could lead to acquittals.

Convictions in other cases have also been challenged in courts across Colorado.

A 2024 Colorado Bureau of Investigation internal affairs report found that concerns about Woods’ work first surfaced more than a decade ago. As early as 2014, a worker questioned her testing of evidence, and in 2018 she was temporarily removed from working on DNA cases after being accused of data manipulation.

Woods apologized during Tuesday’s hearing but said she knew saying sorry would not undo the harm she caused, the Denver Post reported. “For many years I was entrusted with evidence that could have profound consequences for defendants, victims, families and the courts. I failed that responsibility. I am deeply sorry for that failure,” she said.

State officials have said the response to Woods’ actions could end up costing more than $11m. At least one retrial is pending, and other convictions remain under challenge in courts across Colorado.