Norman O. Wheeler probably wishes he had finished that cinnamon bun.
DNA evidence from the partly eaten pastry led to Wheeler’s arrest in a 2004 car theft.
The 40-year-old Detroit resident already was serving time for another auto theft when authorities made the DNA match. Wheeler pleaded guilty earlier this month, and he now faces sentencing May 22.
Eastpointe police Officer Ed Lulko was investigating the car-theft report when a witness described seeing a man arrive in one car and then break out the windows of the other car and steal it, according to police in the Detroit suburb.
“Officer Lulko found the partially eaten pastry in the car and sent it to the Michigan State Police crime laboratory with hopes that the DNA left on the roll could lead to the identity of the perpetrator,” Detective Eric Keiser told The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens. As a convict, Wheeler’s DNA was on file, leading to the match and arrest.
