Former Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic DNA analyst Yvonne “Missy” Woods, 66, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on September 8, 2026. It’s the biggest turn yet in a scandal that has reopened questions about the unsolved 1996 killing of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey, even as investigators say her misconduct didn’t touch that case’s evidence.
Woods’ June plea agreement had exposed her to 8 to 16 years; she admitted to four felonies — cybercrime, perjury, forgery and attempting to influence a public servant — with her sentences on the latter three running concurrently, plus three years of mandatory parole. The deal dismissed the remaining charges from the 102 felonies prosecutors originally filed. Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King said after sentencing that while the criminal case is over, “it is only the beginning of our work in our state to fix what she destroyed.”
Woods spent nearly 30 years at CBI before retiring in 2023 after an intern found altered data in a 2018 case. Investigators ultimately identified problems in 1,045 of her cases dating to 2008 — including 156 with altered evidence data, 233 with incomplete documentation, and 227 instances of intentional data changes — though her defense attorney noted roughly 900 of those showed no evidence of altered testing. More than 400 of the affected cases were sexual assaults; state officials have put the cost of untangling the fallout above $11 million. A restitution hearing is scheduled for November 12.
Fallout Across Colorado Cases
Denver police have reopened 13 closed sexual-assault cases after retesting DNA tied to Woods’ work; 11 of those retests produced CODIS-eligible profiles, and six generated investigative leads. One conviction has already unraveled: Michael Clark spent 12 years in prison for the 1994 murder of Marty Grisham in Boulder before a judge vacated his conviction in April 2025, after independent retesting contradicted the DNA evidence Woods had presented at his 2012 trial. Prosecutors intend to retry Clark, with a trial set for 2026. His attorney, Adam Frank, separately sought access to Boulder police’s files from the first 48 hours of the Ramsey investigation, arguing similar investigative failures tainted both cases — a judge denied that request in October 2025.
What the Boulder Review Found
Boulder police and the county DA’s office say their review found no evidence that Woods’ misconduct — which ran from 2008 to 2023 — affected evidence in the Ramsey case, which predates that window by more than a decade. Authorities haven’t said Woods personally handled Ramsey evidence; John Ramsey has said the case’s key DNA sample went to an outside lab rather than the state agency, which he says insulates it from the broader scandal.
Investigators are nonetheless revisiting the case for what newer forensic methods might uncover, exploring advanced testing at independent labs and consulting a Colorado Cold Case Review team, according to the Boulder Police Department. Ramsey, JonBenét’s 82-year-old father, has pushed for forensic genetic genealogy — tracing biological relatives through genealogical databases — to identify the unidentified male DNA found on her underwear and long johns, and has offered to help fund testing at a private lab rather than rely on state resources.
JonBenét was reported missing from her family’s Boulder home on December 26, 1996, and found dead in the basement; an autopsy ruled the cause of death strangulation. Detectives have since pursued more than 21,000 tips across 19 states, interviewing over 1,000 people. Nearly 30 years on, the case remains unsolved. Anyone with information is asked to call Boulder police’s tipline at 303-441-1974 or email BouldersMostWanted@bouldercolorado.gov.
