DNA — and peanut butter — lead to arrest in theft

Using DNA to catch culprits is certainly nothing new.  But peanut butter?

Northampton, Massachusetts police used both to charge a suspect with the 2020 theft of an apartment complex laundry room, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

On Jan. 14, 2020, police responded to a report of a man carrying a jar of peanut butter attempting to break into a washing machine’s coin changer. The man said he needed money to get “home,” according to the witness.

When officers arrived, “the panel of the machine seemed to have been pried open with a tool, and the lock appeared broken,” according to a police report. They also noticed an “extensive amount of peanut butter inside the broken part of the washing machine and on the floor in front of it.”  They also found a drop of blood, which they collected for analysis.

More peanut butter was found in the hallway, as well as on the doorknob of an apartment, prompting police to note “it was likely that whoever had broken into the machine had peanut butter all over their hands for some reason.”

The resident wasn’t helpful — and also had peanut-butter-free hands.  But after further investigation, police later returned to the same apartment and learned that Andre Davis, 44, was staying there as a guest. He allegedly said he has a peanut allergy that makes it dangerous for him to touch peanut butter.  Lacking further evidence, police again departed.

But third time’s the charm.  The blood evidence finally came back, and matched Davis’s, which was already in the DNA database because of past convictions.  He’s now charged with breaking into a depository and malicious destruction of property valued at less than $1,200 and is due to be arraigned on March 2.