Prints help finger suspect in burglary
BUTLER TWP — Police say they have solved the nearly seven-month-old burglary of a Lyndora home, thanks to fingerprint evidence.
The suspect, it turned out, was a relative of one of the victims. He also was already in the Butler County Prison on several unrelated bench warrants.
Butler Township police on Wednesday charged Harold D. Wilson Jr., 23, of Butler after he confessed to the crime.
“He stated he is addicted to heroin,” according to court documents, “and that is why he did it.”
Police allege Wilson stole $1,650 worth of property from the apartment.
He was arraigned Wednesday on felony charges of burglary and trespass, and misdemeanor charges of theft and receiving stolen property.
He remains locked up on the warrants and an additional $20,000 bail for the latest criminal charges.
Police began their investigation Sept. 19 when Tim Steighner and Ryan Kirkwood reported their apartment on Penn Avenue was burglarized. Stolen were coins, jewelry and cell phones.
It appeared the home was entered through a front porch window, which was pushed off its frame, police said. Investigators also noticed what appeared to be several partial fingerprints on the outside of the window.
The window was seized, photographed and dusted for prints. State police assisted and the lifted fingerprints were eventually run through the FBI's Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
Township police March 23 received the AFIS report, which identified the suspect.
The report, documents said, “indicated that the prints lifted from the window were from the index, middle, ring finger and palm of Harold Dwayne Wilson Jr.'s right hand.”
The findings did not surprise investigators. The defendant, who was identified in charging documents as Steighner's stepbrother, emerged as a possible suspect early in the investigation.
Township police Sgt. Robert Murphy on Tuesday interviewed Wilson at the county prison. It didn't take the officer long, police said, to secure a confession.
But although he admitted taking the coins, Wilson denied taking the jewelry or cell phones.
His preliminary hearing is set for Thursday.
