KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In the summer of 2013, 22-year-old Corey Laykovich was rushed to the hospital after he was stabbed.
His mother, Michelle Metje claims that if her son's clothing had been properly handled at the hospital, his killer would have faced justice sooner.
"There was some confusion as to whether or not the police told them to throw away the clothes or if it had just happened out of an accident," Metje said.
Now, she's pushing for stricter evidence-collection procedures in emergency rooms.
"At the end of this case, the only evidence that they were able to actually convict Corey's killer on was his confession," Metje said.
Along with Metje, there's a renewed push in Jefferson City for a proposed bill (HB 2086) introduced by Missouri State Rep. Rory Rowland called "Corey's Law."
It would require hospitals with emergency rooms to keep evidence-collection kits on-hand, and identify a place in the hospital to securely store the evidence collected.
"[Corey's Law] will help ensure that if something happens to other family members, they'll in fact, have that evidence that in fact there was a crime or a homicide — that they're protected," Rowland told 41 Action News.
Nurses involved in the process would be required to undergo three hours of training each year.
If passed, the law also mandates that hospitals report any stab wounds that are at least one inch deep to law enforcement.
"The homicide rate in this area keeps growing and growing and part of that is because we're not solving the homicides," Metje said. "How many homicides can we solve if we have the proper investigation from the very beginning?"
This is the second time the bill is making its way through Missouri’s capitol, but Metje and Rowland said they are confident it will pass this time.
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