DNA from cigarette leads Iowa City police to burglary suspect

DNA pulled from a cigarette left at a crime scene helped lead to the arrest of a man accused of burglarizing an Iowa City home last summer.

Darryl G. Jenkins, 43, of 209 Holiday Rd. Apt. 309 in Coralville, faces a second-degree burglary charge for the incident.

Police say a man returned to his home on North Johnson Street on June 19, 2009, and saw a man running away. The resident found items from his home missing, including computers and video games. He also found a cigarette butt still burning on the ground next to his house.

Police sent the cigarette to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation for testing, and a match was through an FBI indexing system. Secondary tests confirmed Jenkins' DNA was on the cigarette and Jenkins matches the physical description of the suspect, police said.

During an interview with police, Jenkins could not explain how a cigarette with his DNA was found at the home, police said.

Jenkins was in Johnson County Jail Friday on a $5,000 cash-only bond. Second-degree burglary is a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.