Blood evidence solves 2-year-old burglary
Butler police say blood evidence helped them solve a more than 2-year-old burglary.
Dean R. Krelko, 57, of Lyndora was arrested Monday in connection with the burglary of a Highland Avenue apartment on March 30, 2016.
Police did not have to look hard to find Krelko: he’s already serving time in the Butler County Prison for an unrelated break-in of a neighbor’s home in February.
The investigating officer found a small amount of blood on the wall near the front door in the home that was burglarized. A sample was lifted and sent to the state police crime lab and entered into CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System, an FBI database of criminal suspects’ biometric data.
During his investigation that day, the investigating officer said he noticed Krelko following him around the apartment building.
A small, V-shaped cut on the defendant’s left arm also caught the officer’s attention. Police subsequently obtained a search warrant that allowed them to collect a DNA sample from Krelko.
That sample, according to authorities, matched the defendant’s DNA profile in CODIS. Police only learned of that match earlier this month.
Read the full story in the Butler Eagle.
