Ilse G. Knecht

Committed to ensuring DNA is used to bring justice to crime survivors and accountability to offenders. Policy Director at Joyful Heart Foundation.

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

The case, Bell said, is just the latest example of why law enforcement should be motivated to test every rape kit — ones from stranger attacks and ones with named suspects that weren’t prosecuted. #ENDTHEBACKLOG #testallkits https://t.co/d2d6TVBm4O

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

Here's what I believe: no more business as usual in the Senate. We shouldn't be voting to proceed to normal legislation until Republicans schedule a debate and a vote and on a declaration of war against Iran. Let's see if Trump has the votes to authorize war. I bet he doesn't.

[NY AG James @NewYorkStateAG]

DOGE has no authority to access Americans’ private information or to block critical payments.

Elon Musk may be the world's richest man, but he is not above the law.

I intend to sue to stop this injustice.

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

Something is SERIOUSLY wrong when these Supreme Court Jackasses don't feel compelled to tell their wives not be be insurrectionists, but they feel entitled to tell America's women what to do with their bodies.

We put a stop to this in Roevember.

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

AI is shockingly good at making fake nudes — and causing havoc in schools https://t.co/xOsPtCo2nT via @politico

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

@NYSenDems @Fernandez4NY This bill is crucial to survivors of sexual assault in NY. Drinking acohol should not give perpetrators a license to assault someone with impunity!

[NYS Senate Democrats @NYSenDems]

“Existing law regarding a victims inability to consent has raised concerns … if a victim voluntarily consumes alcohol or drugs, and becomes impaired they are not considered legally incapacitated under the current rape statutes” — @Fernandez4NY
https://t.co/SDE88MFCou

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

@HowThingsWorkOH @JessicaEMiranda Thank you for staying on the case @JessicaEMiranda!! 💙💚

[How Things Work at the Ohio Statehouse @HowThingsWorkOH]

🥳HUGE news! The bill to close #Ohio's rape loophole (HB 161) is scheduled for another hearing AND A VOTE this Tuesday (4/23)!

Use this template to submit testimony to support HB 161: https://t.co/Cry9waJeJ0

Then make 3 quick phone calls to help HB 161 pass committee...

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

@SeawrightForNY Thank you for your work to help survivors find healing and jsutice!

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

Two Hampton Roads cold cases solved through Virginia sexual assault initiative - https://t.co/V1dH8uGXUu

[Joyful Heart @TheJHF]

GREAT NEWS! Five years into the sexual assault kit initiative, Omaha police have gone from over 2,000 untested kits to only 141 kits left to test.
https://t.co/KYkr7OIleN

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

@LaurenLee_915 Wow, Lauren. Can't wait to hear. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🧬🧬🧬🧬🧬💙💙💙💚💚💚

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

@AGOWA As a person who works on this issue day in and day out, I want people to understand that some of these kits go back to early 2000s and maybe even before. So this is a problem that started long before Bob Ferguson. Read why the backlog happens here https://t.co/GBOkfjYeAp

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

Insane that we have to legislate this but here you go:
nonconsensual pelvic exams!!! https://t.co/NVI0XveGUb

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

@LaurenLee_915 I feel strongly that you will find out, Lauren. The truth is out there! ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️💙💚💙💚

[Lauren Lee Malloy @LaurenLee_915]

Day 296

I don’t even really know what to write today. I started sharing these updates as we approached day 100, hoping maybe the hundredth day would be the one.

When that milestone came and went, I silently looked to day 200.

Now, a small part of me foolishly hopes somewhere around day 300 will be the one where I have answers about how my mom died.

I try to keep updates positive, look on the bright side and find reasons to just be grateful my mom was exhumed and modern forensics are getting answers I’ve waited my entire life to know — but it’s hard. It’s really, really, ridiculously hard to wake up every day and be hit by this reality.

Part of me feels bad for feeling frustrated when I know so many other families would give anything to have their loved one’s case make it this far. Part of me feels bad complaining when I know my mom’s forensic tests aren’t the only ones in process; she’s no more important than anyone else.

But she’s my mom.

Her remains were removed from her grave and now she’s sitting in the morgue while some lab — and I don’t even know which one — handles her forensic tests. I can’t visit her final resting place because she doesn’t have one right now.

I know she’s always with me, but it hurts to not be able to be close to her. I used to have this ritual of getting an iced coffee, then spending time pruning her flowers and cleaning her stone on weekend mornings, my weird way of visiting my mom, and now I can’t even do that. I can’t visit with her.

For over two years I fought so hard to get her case reopened. I poured absolutely everything I had into the investigation, sacrificing sleep, time with family and friends and putting myself into sometimes dangerous situations to push her case forward.

I know her case inside out, can tell you names and dates, historical details, exact quotes of things she wrote in journals that are now with the police. I’ve paid $80 a month to keep her belongings safe in storage, just in case they’re ever needed for evidence. I’ve met with experts, witnesses, people she knew in life. I’ve done absolutely everything in my power to solve her death.

And now there’s nothing more I can do. There’s no way for me to make the process go faster or even get a real answer about why it’s taking so long. I hear rumors about some things but can’t get those confirmed. I’m given timeframes that come and go, to the point where I don’t even believe new timeframes I’m told because it’s been almost a year when I was initially told “four to five weeks.”

All I can do is hope the waiting means something good, that this Hail Mary effort for my mom’s case is the one that wins, that some scientific miracle happens and all the effort wasn’t for nothing.

Hope is a funny thing…It’s like this last defense between joy and despair, a thin line separating a feeling of success from absolute failure. I cling to hope. I allow myself to feel it, the only thing that keeps me moving forward while the day count continues to rise.

I hope, I hope, I hope.

#day296 #justiceforlorilee #teamsleddog #lorileemalloy

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

@LaurenLee_915 @RICSAR401 So amazing. You are a #SHEro!

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

@AdyBarkan My condolences. He sounds like an amazing person. ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

[Ilse G. Knecht @maximizeDNA]

Thank uou @Catch_LISK for doing this! 🙏🧬🧬♥️

[Catch_LISK @Catch_LISK]

All #NewYorkState #UnidentifiedPersons are finally on the map.
The date range is 1/20/1969 - 9/29/2023 and consists of 1446 persons, who have at least 1 person who loves them and misses them and wondered what might have happened to them...

#SolveColdCases #GiveThemBackTheirNames

[Catch_LISK @Catch_LISK]

All #NewYorkState #UnidentifiedPersons are finally on the map.
The date range is 1/20/1969 - 9/29/2023 and consists of 1446 persons, who have at least 1 person who loves them and misses them and wondered what might have happened to them...

#SolveColdCases #GiveThemBackTheirNames