Fingerprint on beer can leads to burglary arrest
A 22-year-old Madison man was arrested last week for a burglary committed in December, thanks to a fingerprint the suspect left on a can of beer.
Pedro Tamayo-Zelhua was arrested Jan. 9 at his apartment on Cypress Way and tentatively charged with burglary.
Investigators were able to match a fingerprint found on a discarded Tecate beer can with prints stored in the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, leading to Tamayo-Zelhua's arrest.
The burglary happened Dec. 1 at a home in the 900 block of Midland Street. The owner returned home about 9 p.m. that night and found glass on a front door had been broken and electronic items taken from the house.
An officer at the scene found the beer can in the driveway of the burglarized home.
"The victim said it wasn't his brand," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain.
The can was brought back to the lab and dusted for fingerprints, with a very usable latent print found on the can's surface.
Many of the items stolen in the burglary were recovered from the suspect's apartment upon his arrest, and have been returned to the owner.
