Criminalist Supervisor
Pilar is working for the State of Utah in the Department of Public Safety as Supervising Criminalist at the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services. She supervises the Forensic Biology Section, which covers the areas of Serology and DNA analysis of forensic items.
She has worked for the State’s Crime lab for 17 years in this section. During this time, she was instrumental in the development of the DNA program introducing 4 different methodologies of DNA analysis into the laboratory. She has defended the use of DNA in criminal cases in numerous court cases and to the Supreme Court of Utah. As a result, the Supreme Court of Utah has ruled not only that the current DNA technology used in the State of Utah is valid but that she isqualified as a DNA analyst. Pilar is a 2005 recipient of the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology for her work in establishing the DNA program.
In 1997, she chaired the committee to develop a statewide Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Protocol Manual. And in 1998 was a member of the committee developing the Guide for Utah Law Enforcement To Crimes of Sexual Assault. She is a board member of the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center (RMIC). The RMIC is a program that reviews evidence for post conviction relief.
On the home front, she married and the mother two boys. They have a dog and seven gold fish. She is an active member of the Utah Basque community. She teaches folk dancing and plays the Basque flute and drum in performances throughout the western US. And when she has time, she loves to sew, do needle point, read, play volleyball, softball and ski.