Dean Krelko

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 Butler County Prison for an unrelated break-in at a neighbor's home in February.

The victim in the city crime told police that he was out of town in March 2016 when his apartment was burglarized, according to court documents.

He reported finding two broken windows when he returned. Taken was $50 in currency.

The investigating officer found a small amount of blood on the wall near the front door. A sample was lifted and sent to the state police crime lab.

The sample was subsequently processed and entered into CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System, an FBI database of criminal suspects' biometric data.

During his investigation that day, the officer said he noticed Krelko, who at the time lived nearby, following him around the apartment building.

He described Krelko as appearing “very nervous” and asking questions about the break-in.

A small, V-shaped cut on the defendant's left arm also caught the officer's attention. When asked about the cut, documents said, Krelko claimed he got it in a fall.

But the investigator thought the wound looked like it could have been received from being cut with a piece of glass, such as from a broken window.

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.

He was arraigned Monday on charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief. Bail in the case was set at $35,000.

Krelko has been in the county jail since Feb. 13, a day after Butler Township police say he broke into an apartment on the 600 block of Hansen Avenue in Lyndora.

Police said he took two televisions, a mini fridge and printer.

He eventually pleaded guilty in June to felony trespass and misdemeanor theft. In exchange, prosecutors withdrew a charge of burglary, a felony.

Krelko was sentenced to 9 to 23½ months in prison followed by 12 months of county probation.