You deserve to have your cases prioritized and taken seriously.
Eleven years after Melissa Zimmerman was assaulted on an October evening in Minneapolis, a jury convicted Mohamud Bulle — not because the system moved swiftly, but because it eventually moved at all. The case turned on a DNA kit collected in 2013 and left untested until federal funding arrived in 2020, part of a broader reckoning with over 1,700 backlogged sexual assault kits that had accumulated in storage, each one a case suspended in time. Bulle was sentenced to 235 months in prison, a measure of justice that arrived late but arrived nonetheless — a reminder that institutional failure can be repaired, though never without cost to those who waited.
- A 2013 sexual assault kit sat untested for seven years while its perpetrator remained unidentified and free — one of more than 1,700 kits warehoused in Minneapolis Police storage.
- A 2019 audit exposed the backlog as a systemic failure, forcing a public reckoning with how hundreds of victims had been left without any path toward identifying their attackers.
- Federal funding through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative arrived in 2020, triggering a methodical testing effort that finally extracted a DNA profile from Zimmerman's kit — though no match existed yet.
- A 2024 link to a separate domestic assault case cracked the investigation open, and when Bulle's DNA was obtained through an unrelated criminal matter, it matched after eleven years of silence.
- Bulle was convicted on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping, sentenced to 19.5 years — with the county attorney publicly apologizing to Zimmerman and all victims forced to wait.
On an October evening in 2013, Melissa Zimmerman was separated from her group at a Minneapolis event when a man offered her his phone to make a call. After she returned it, he pushed her into a ditch in a nearby park and assaulted her. A passerby found her and called 911. At Hennepin County Medical Center, medical staff collected a sexual assault kit — evidence that would remain untested for seven years.
The kit was one of more than 1,700 that had accumulated in Minneapolis Police storage without being processed. A 2019 audit exposed the backlog as a systemic failure, leaving hundreds of victims with no DNA match and no way to identify their attackers. In 2020, federal funding through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative enabled the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to begin working through the backlog. When Zimmerman's kit was finally analyzed, technicians extracted a DNA profile — but it matched no one in the system.
The case broke open in 2024, when that profile linked to an unidentified male sample from a separate domestic sexual assault case. Months later, Bulle's DNA was obtained through an unrelated criminal matter. It matched. Eleven years after the assault, the case had a suspect.
A jury convicted Bulle, 36, on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of kidnapping. The judge imposed consecutive sentences totaling 235 months — 19.5 years in prison. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty issued a public apology to Zimmerman and to all victims whose cases were delayed: 'You deserve to have your cases prioritized and taken seriously.'
The backlog initiative has since worked through all 1,700-plus kits, reestablishing contact with victims and filing charges where DNA matches were found. It is slow, late work — but it is work that closes cases that might otherwise have remained open forever. Bulle, who also received an additional 36 months in 2025 for a separate assault conviction, is now incarcerated at Rush City prison, his crimes across more than a decade finally accounted for.
On an October evening in 2013, Melissa Zimmerman became separated from her group at an event in Minneapolis. A man approached her and offered his phone so she could make a call. After she handed it back, he pushed her into a ditch in a nearby park and assaulted her. A passerby found her and called 911. She was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, where medical staff performed a sexual assault examination and collected evidence that would sit untested for seven years.
That man was Mohamud Bulle, though no one knew it at the time. The evidence kit from Zimmerman's examination was one of more than 1,700 sexual assault kits that accumulated in the Minneapolis Police Department's storage without being tested. In 2019, an audit uncovered the backlog—a systemic failure that meant hundreds of victims had no path forward, no DNA match, no way to identify their attackers. The kits simply waited.
In 2020, federal funding through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative arrived in Minneapolis. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension began the methodical work of testing the backlog. When Zimmerman's kit was finally analyzed that year, technicians extracted a DNA profile. It didn't match anyone in the system. The profile sat in the database, waiting for a match that might never come.
Then, in 2024, something shifted. The DNA from Zimmerman's kit matched an unidentified male profile from a domestic sexual assault case. The lead was thin but real. Months later, in October 2024, Bulle's DNA was obtained through an unrelated criminal case. It matched. After eleven years, the case had a suspect.
On Wednesday, a jury found Bulle, 36, guilty on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of kidnapping. The judge sentenced him to 187 months for the sexual assault and 48 months for the kidnapping, to be served consecutively—235 months total, or 19.5 years in prison. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty issued a statement acknowledging the cost of the delay: "To Melissa Zimmerman and to all those victims who had to wait years to have their cases examined, I am so sorry. You deserve to have your cases prioritized and taken seriously."
The backlog initiative has become a measure of institutional repair. Since 2020, prosecutors have worked through more than 1,700 backlogged kits, reestablished contact with victims, provided resources, and filed criminal charges in cases where DNA matches were found. It is slow work, and it comes late, but it is work that closes cases that might otherwise have remained open forever.
Bulle's criminal history did not end with this conviction. In March 2025, he was sentenced to an additional 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon—he had shot another man in the face. He is now incarcerated at Rush City prison, serving time for crimes separated by more than a decade, both finally accounted for.
Citas Notables
To Melissa Zimmerman and to all those victims who had to wait years to have their cases examined, I am so sorry. You deserve to have your cases prioritized and taken seriously.— Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did it take so long for this kit to be tested? Was it just a matter of resources?
Partly, yes—but it was also a matter of priority. These kits accumulated without anyone systematically working through them. They weren't lost or destroyed. They were just sitting there, waiting for someone to decide they mattered enough to process.
And the victim waited all that time without knowing if her case would ever be solved?
She did. Eleven years. She had the medical exam, she reported the crime, and then nothing. No updates, no sense of movement. The system had her evidence but not her case.
What changed in 2020?
Federal money arrived. The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative provided funding to actually test the backlog. It wasn't a sudden revelation that these cases mattered—it was resources finally being allocated to the work that should have been done years earlier.
So the DNA match came from an unrelated case?
Yes. His profile was obtained in October 2024 through a separate criminal matter. That's when the match to Zimmerman's kit was made. Without that second case, without his DNA being in the system, her case might still be waiting.
What does this say about how we handle sexual assault cases?
That we have the tools to solve them, but we don't always use those tools. The evidence was there. The science was available. What was missing was the decision to prioritize it. The backlog initiative is an acknowledgment of that failure—and an attempt to correct it, though it comes years too late for the people who were harmed.