| Louis Vitullo | |
|---|---|
 Louis Vitullo investigates a knife supposedly used by Richard Speck in the murder of eight nurses. | |
| Born | (1924-07-02)July 2, 1924 |
| Died | January 3, 2006(2006-01-03) (aged 81) Barrington, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | police sergeant, microanalyst |
Louis R. Vitullo (July 2, 1924 – January 3, 2006) was a Chicago police sergeant and chief microanalyst at the city's crime lab.
Vitullo helped to develop the rape kit, which standardized evidence collection in cases of sexual assault. Marty Goddard, a victim advocate, had seen the need for more systematic evidence at trial, and brought her concerns and the idea for a kit to Vitullo. Vitullo helped develop Goddard's prototype. Although the resulting evidence kits were for a time called Vitullo kits, this name has more recently come under criticism as part of a general push to honor Goddard's contribution to the kits.
Death
Vitullo died at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Illinois, on January 3, 2006, after he collapsed at his home in Cary.
References
- "Louis R. Vitullo (obituary)". Northwest Herald. January 5, 2006. Retrieved January 12, 2021 – via Legacy.com.
- ^ "Crime lab expert developed rape kits: Standard system to collect" Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine by Chris Fusco, Chicago Sun-Times (published January 12, 2006; accessed October 19, 2006).
- ^ Ravitz, Jessica (November 21, 2015). "The Story Behind the First Rape Kit". CNN. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
- T. Christian Miller; Ken Armstrong (6 February 2018). A False Report: The chilling true story of the woman nobody believed. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4735-3943-3.
- ^ Freudenheim, Betty (2 December 1978). "Chicago Hospitals Are Using New Kit to Help Rape Victims Collect Evidence". The New York Times. p. 48. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
- ^ Kennedy, Pagan (17 June 2020). "Opinion | The Rape Kit's Secret History". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
- Shelby, Renee (December 2018). "Whose Rape Kit? Stabilizing the Vitullo Kit Through Positivist Criminology and Protocol Feminism". Theoretical Criminology. 24 (4): 669–688. doi:10.1177/1362480618819805. S2CID 149793380.
Further reading
- Engels, Tristin (2020). The Power of Truth: The Life of Louis R. Vitullo and the Legacy of the Rape Kit. Genius Book Publishing. ISBN 978-1-947521-71-1. (A book by Vitullo's granddaughter.)
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