A more than two-year-old stolen vehicle case in Butler was solved by matching DNA samples taken from within the pickup truck’s interior to the suspected thief, authorities said.

State police Wednesday arrested Robert S. McKivigan, 47, of Butler, accusing him of taking the truck, which city officers found crashed and abandoned on Oct. 15, 2014.

McKivigan was arraigned on felony charges of theft and receiving stolen property, and a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle. He remains free on his own recognizance.

The old case first surfaced when Butler police Sgt. William Mayhugh came upon the wrecked pickup — a 1996 GMC Sonoma, then valued at $5,000, according to court documents.

It appeared that the truck had traveled off Thomas Avenue near Roosevelt Boulevard and hit a utility pole with its passenger side before rolling on the driver’s side.

The truck’s engine compartment was still warm and the interior lights were on, police said, but the driver was already gone when the officer discovered the crash.

He noticed blood and fingerprints on the inside passenger side window and door, indicating the driver got out of the pickup by pushing open the front passenger door.

The state police forensics unit eventually came in to help, lifting latent prints and collecting blood evidence.

Mayhugh ran the license plate and found the truck’s owner — A Preferred Restoration Company. It turned out that prior to the wreck the truck had been at Butler Tire on Route 8 in Butler for repair work.

McKivigan subsequently emerged as a suspect as the investigation — headed by the state police Western Regional Auto Theft Task Force — moved forward.

He lived near where the wreck happened and at the time he worked at Butler Tire.

Because of his work, police said, he had access to customers’ vehicles and keys.

When investigators checked at the tire store, they learned that the Sonoma’s keys were missing there. They were also advised that McKivigan had failed to show up for work the three days immediately after the wreck.

And when police later went there to speak to him on more than one occasion, “he was seen abruptly leaving the business” in what investigators believed was effort to avoid speaking to them.

It would take a while, but police finally gathered sufficient evidence to obtain a search warrant that allowed them to collect a DNA sample from the defendant.

The sample was taken Aug. 4, 2016. By the end of the following month, a state police crime lab report confirmed McKivigan’s DNA sample matched the profile collected from the pickup’s interior passenger side window.

Trooper Joseph Doris, who filed the charges, noted Friday that in Pennsylvania the statute of limitations for auto theft is five years.

He said McKivigan made no statement to police following his arrest.

His attorney, Richard E. Goldinger, did not return several telephone calls seeking comment.