About 300 strangulation cases happen in Cincinnati every year, and roughly 80% of them never end in a conviction, according to Councilmember Mark Jeffreys. Now he's asking the city to bring hospitals, police, prosecutors and victim advocates to the same table to fix that, pushing for a consistent system to collect evidence before it's lost.
Jeffreys wants hospitals across the city to follow a uniform strangulation-kit protocol, much like the one already used for rape kits, according to FOX19. He said Fraternal Order of Police President Ken Kober told him the kits simply aren't used consistently when victims show up at hospitals. Without that evidence, cases that could lead to charges often stall before they start.
The stakes are personal, Jeffreys said, calling the crime deeply personal and horrific. He also noted that strangulation victims often know the person who strangled them, a detail that underscores how these cases frequently unfold inside relationships rather than between strangers.
What a Strangulation Kit Actually Captures
According to the International Association of Forensic Nurses, as cited in the station's report, strangulation kits can collect DNA evidence, document injuries, photograph visible trauma and preserve physical evidence. They can also help establish a medical record that prosecutors could later use to build a case. Kober called the kits a valuable tool for officers that aids both investigations and potential prosecutions, and he commended Jeffreys for working to make sure law enforcement has what it needs to pursue justice for victims.
Jeffreys is asking for representatives from hospitals, law enforcement, the prosecutor's office and victim advocacy groups to hash out recommendations within 90 days. Those recommendations would then go before the city's Public Safety and Governance Committee for consideration, per the proposal described by the same outlet.
A Reported Spike in Strangulation Cases
The push comes as Cincinnati police data show a sharp increase in reported strangulations. The department's Oct. 12 STARS report counted 334 reported strangulations through Oct. 10 of this year, up from 222 over the same period a year earlier — a 50.5% jump, according to WLWT. Women Helping Women told the station that its hospital responses rose more than 150% in September compared with the previous September. Among the survivors the group assisted at hospitals that month, 83% had experienced strangulation and 55% had experienced threats of homicide, the organization said.
How Other States Have Handled the Same Problem
Cincinnati wouldn't be the first place to formalize this kind of evidence collection. Virginia's Department of Forensic Science purchased 1,000 strangulation evidence kits for distribution to forensic nursing teams at hospitals statewide, The Virginian-Pilot reported. The kits include swabs for the neck and fingernails, evidence envelopes, a victim questionnaire and counseling resources. A state law that took effect July 1, 2025, allows that evidence to be stored anonymously for two years, extendable to ten at a victim's request, giving survivors time to decide whether to pursue charges without committing immediately. Because strangulation evidence degrades fast, Virginia requires it be collected within 48 hours, compared with a five-day window for sexual assault evidence, the paper noted.
Statewide advocacy groups have flagged the same gap closer to home. The Ohio Domestic Violence Network lists improving systemic responses to strangulation among its policy priorities, saying it will push for legislation expanding access to forensic evidence collection and explore options for anonymous reporting, according to the organization's own materials. Whether Cincinnati's hospitals, prosecutors and police adopt a formal protocol remains to be seen, but Jeffreys' proposal sets a 90-day clock for that conversation to start.
