Blood found at the scene of a burglary helped police identify a suspect.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

STRONG – A teen was charged with burglarizing a health center in town after a blood smear found at the scene provided DNA cops needed to crack the case.

Early Saturday morning on Aug. 9, Franklin County Sheriff’s Department Cpl. Stephen Charles and reserve deputy Nathan Reid, responded to a security alarm at the Strong Area Health Center.

When the two arrived they saw that a screen in the office manager’s office had been removed and a window pried up. Nothing was reportedly taken as the suspect had fled when the alarm sounded.

The following day, Charles, Det. Tom White and Lt. Niles Yeaton headed back to process the scene. A smudge of blood was found on the inside of the doorknob leading out of the office that was broken into.

Charles said on Wednesday that the burglar may have been cut opening the window.

White collected the sample and sent it off to the state laboratory in Augusta.

Last week, the department was told that DNA extracted from the blood sample matched a sample previously entered into a FBI database.

The match was for Stephen Tripp, 19.

White obtained a search warrant to search Tripp’s body and collect another sample of blood. The Strong teen was called in the Sheriff’s Department offices and interviewed last week, Charles said.

During the interview, Tripp confessed to breaking into the health center, as well as into a motor vehicle that same night and stealing several bottles of alcohol, according to the deputy.

Tripp also revealed that he had broken into the Cousineau office building in Strong twice, according to police. Charles said that the Cousineau burglaries are still under investigation as to exactly what was taken and when, but so far, investigators believe an expensive printer and a large amount of cash, over $1,000, was snatched.

At the end of the interview, Tripp’s finger was pricked for a blood sample. The match of the DNA from the sample he gave and the smudge at the health center will back up Tripp’s confession in court, Charles explained.

The teen has been officially charged with a Class E theft.

More and more, the department is relying on DNA evidences to prove crimes. Charles said DNA can be taken from hair, saliva, skin and blood and is usually found on gum, soda cans or cigarette butts discarded at the scene.

“It’s hit or miss,” he explained, because often there is not a positive match in the FBI database for the DNA found.

“Every crime scene has it, it’s just a matter of finding it,” Charles said of DNA.

Tripp is scheduled to be arraigned on May 26 in Farmington.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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