• Delaware is one of the few states without a formal law mandating the preservation of evidence like blood, semen or hair.
• Senate Bill 214 would require evidence to be kept as long as a crime is unsolved or a person remains in custody.
• Two other related bills would modernize post-conviction DNA testing laws and allow challenges to convictions based on discredited forensic science.

Television crime dramas have trained audiences to believe DNA evidence is always collected, stored and available to be tested years later. In Delaware, that assumption is often wrong. A new legislative package would overhaul how the state preserves biological evidence, a change advocates say could determine whether wrongly convicted people ever get a real chance to prove it.

According to data from the University of Michigan Law School, Delaware has recorded just five known exonerations. That figure stands in sharp contrast to nearly 4,000 exonerations nationwide since 1989. Lawmakers and advocates say the disparity is evidence of a criminal justice system that makes it difficult to prove innocence after a conviction becomes final.

Efforts to address that concern center on Senate Bill 214, introduced by Sen. Kyra Hoffner. The bill would, for the first time, require the state to preserve biological evidence connected to criminal cases. The proposal is supported by Innocence Project Delaware, which has received nearly 200 requests for post-conviction assistance since opening in 2020 from people who say they were wrongly convicted.

Dan Signs, a staff attorney with Innocence Project Delaware, said Delaware is one of a small handful of states without a formal statute that sets clear standards for how long biological evidence must be preserved. As a result, there is no uniform system for maintaining blood, semen, hair or other material that could later be tested using DNA technology unavailable at the time of trial.

By failing to keep pace with national standards, Delaware leaves people with credible innocence claims unable to access evidence that could vindicate them.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE: Lawmakers press Meyer for answers on Plummer in closed door meeting

What’s in Senate Bill 214?

If passed, SB 214 would mandate the preservation of all biological evidence in the state’s custody that is connected to a criminal investigation or prosecution. Evidence would have to be retained for as long as a crime remains unsolved or for as long as a convicted person remains in custody, regardless of whether the conviction resulted from a trial or a guilty plea.

The bill also spells out the when biological evidence may be destroyed. Under limited and clearly defined circumstances, destruction would be allowed only if all five of the following conditions are met:

• More than five years have passed since the conviction became final and all appeals are exhausted.
• The evidence is not tied to a Class A through Class E felony.
• No other state or federal law requires the evidence to be preserved.
• The state sends certified written notice of its intent to destroy the evidence to specified parties, including anyone still incarcerated because of that conviction.
• No person who has received such notice files a motion for DNA testing or a written request to retain the evidence within 180 days.

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Rehoboth Bay Aquaculture Oysters Not Affected; Crabs, Conch and Finfish Harvest Remains Open

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has issued an emergency closure of Indian River Bay to the harvest of bivalve shellfish, including clams and mussels, after DNREC received notice of an ongoing sewage release connected to the town of Millsboro’s sewer system that is affecting the Indian River and may impact the bay.

Under National Shellfish Sanitation Program requirements, waters must be closed to bivalve shellfish harvest for 21 days following the end of the release to protect public health and allow time for natural cleansing. Because the release is currently ongoing, the 21-day closure period will begin once DNREC confirms the discharge has ended. DNREC will provide an update and reopening date when available.

This closure does not affect Rehoboth Bay. Oysters grown under commercial aquaculture leases in Rehoboth Bay are not affected by the Indian River Bay closure and remain suitable for raw consumption by healthy individuals. (Recreational oyster harvesting is not permitted in Delaware to protect oyster populations.)

The harvest of crabs, conch and finfish is not affected by this closure.

As an added precaution, DNREC advises water users to limit water contact in Indian River Bay and nearby waters for the next few days, particularly in areas potentially affected by the discharge.

Delaware Natural Resources Police will patrol the area and help inform the public about the closure. DNREC will also notify any affected commercial aquaculture leaseholders.

More information about closures and the DNREC Shellfish Program is available at de.gov/shellfish.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship develops and implements innovative watershed assessment, monitoring and implementation activities.  For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, Bluesky or LinkedIn.

Media contacts: Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov; Nikki Lavoie, nikki.lavoie@delaware.gov

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A soldier from Delaware who was killed during World War II has been accounted for, military officials announced this week. 

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Louis E. Roemer, 43, of Wilmington, Delaware, who died while he was being held by Japan as a prisoner of war, was officially accounted for in July 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said on Wednesday. The agency is sharing details publicly now that his family has received a full briefing, the announcement says.

Roemer was assigned to the Army’s Chemical Warfare Service in early 1942 and was stationed on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines, according to the agency’s news release. He was captured and held as a prisoner of Japan in the Philippines until 1945, when the Japanese military moved POWs to Manila for transport to Japan aboard a ship called the Oryoku Maru. Unaware that Allied POWs were on board, a U.S. carrier attacked the ship, which then sank in Subic Bay. Roemer was then put on a different ship, the Enoura Maru. The Taiwan-bound ship was also attacked by the U.S. on Jan. 9, 1945 and eventually sank. Roemer was then placed aboard a ship called the Brazil Maru bound for Japan but reportedly died during the journey of acute colitis.

Japanese records from this time contain errors, so Roemer may have died sooner in the transport process or even in the second ship attack, military officials said.

After the war ended, the American Graves Registration Command was responsible for investigating and recovering missing U.S. personnel.

A search and recovery team recovered 311 bodies from a mass grave in Takao, Formosa, in 1946 but was unable to identify them. The remains were then buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, officials said in the announcement.

In 2022 and 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency disinterred unidentified bodies tied to the Enoura Maru from the Punchbowl. Scientists used dental records and other evidence to identify Roemer’s remains. 

A newspaper clipping shared by officials about Roemer’s death says his wife, Mary D. Roemer, found out he died the day before Japan surrendered. According to another article, a soldier said Roemer slipped away from the camp during the Bataan Death March to get wood to make medicine for soldiers suffering from dysentery. He saved hundreds of lives, it says.

Roemer’s widow accepted two military awards on behalf of her husband, one newspaper article says. He left behind a son, also named Louis.

Roemer’s name is on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. A rosette will be added next to his name to show he has been accounted for, officials said. His remains will be buried again on a date to be determined.