After a nearly two-year wait, Whatcom man arrested for suspected rape at 2018 party
After a nearly two-year wait for lab results, a Maple Falls man has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 19-year-old at a Whatcom County party.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office booked Eric Jason Bjornstad, 40, into Whatcom County Jail Wednesday, Sept. 23, on suspicion of second-degree rape. Jail records show he was released on $10,000 bail Thursday.
Deputies began investigating the case Nov. 1, 2018, after receiving a report of a sexual assault of a 19-year-old victim by an adult man that occurred sometime during the night at a Maple Falls party, sheriff’s office spokesperson Deb Slater told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
The victim went to the hospital the next morning to have a sexual assault kit done, Slater reported, and the completed kit was sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory for analysis.
After receiving the report, deputies also interviewed others who had attended the party, Slater wrote.
Results from the crime lab were returned to the sheriff’s office earlier this month and established probable cause for the arrest of Bjornstad for the crime, Slater reported, and he was arrested without incident Wednesday.
Slater reported it is not abnormal for the sheriff’s office to see longer waits, such as this one, to receive results from sexual assault kits, adding “Turn around times on those tests depend on the state’s caseload and backup.”
The 2019 passage of House Bill 1166 by the Washington State Legislature should help speed up the process, though.
The bill requires the lab to eliminate the backlog and complete testing of all sexual assault kits collected before July 24, 2015, by Dec. 1, 2021, according to the 2019 Annual Report for the Crime Laboratory Division. The bill also requires a 45-day turnaround time on tests by May 1, 2022.
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced his office won an additional $2.5 million in federal grants to hit fund eliminating the backlog of sexual assault kit testing.
As of Dec. 31, the crime lab reported 3,832 of the 9,232 historical sexual assault kits from before July 24, 2015, had been tested, leaving 5,400 to be tested.
Last year 4,299 DNA test requests were received by the crime lab, and that 2,651 of them included sexual assault kits for testing, according to the annual report.
The report also stated nearly half of those kits (1,109) would be tested by the State Patrol’s new high-throughput lab in Vancouver, Wash. The lab was scheduled to open last June, according to a story by The Columbian, even though it loaned two complex testing machines to the University of Washington to help increase COVID-19 testing.
Resources
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or sexual assault, you can contact the following local resources for free, confidential support:
▪ Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services: 24-hour Help Line: 360-715-1563, Email: info@dvsas.org.
▪ Lummi Victims of Crime: 360-312-2015.
▪ Bellingham Police: You can call anonymously at 360-778-8611, or go online at cob.org/tips.
▪ WWU Consultation and Sexual Assault Support Survivor Advocacy Services: 360-650-3700 or wp.wwu.edu/sexualviolence/.
