KCBA - Monterey, Salinas, Santa Cruz - News Weather-DNA Evidence Found In Car Break-in; Salinas Police Refuse Lab Work
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SALINAS, Calif. - We are in a down economy, and the effects are everywhere. A viewer asked Central Coast News about whether or not it's affecting local criminal investigations. Folks imagine your car was broken into. Your personal possessions are stolen, but DNA evidence was left behind. Police tell you there's nothing they can do to help, but write up a report. This happened to one Salinas woman at her apartment near the Northridge Mall and she asks us why police won't use the evidence to track down the thief.
"I’m completely devastated, violated. I couldn't even talk to the police officer because I was just in such shock," says Krystal Brockelmeyer.
Krystal Brockelmeyer told me it was just any other normal day for her on Sunday. She got ready for work and hopped into her silver PT Cruiser and that's when she noticed everything was gone.
"My stereo was missing, the knob from my heater, air conditioner and defroster were missing and everything just looked like it had just been torn apart," Brockelmeyer explains
In addition to her stereo system, her two ipods, camera and school supplies were stolen, but that wasn't all she found.
"I realized there was blood all over the back seat of the car and in the trunk and when we started looking around even more, there was blood on one of the handles for the car," says Brockelmeyer.
She called Salinas Police and an officer shortly arrived to take down a report. Brockelmeyer showed the officer the blood and finger prints left behind.
"He said there was nothing they could do about it and he tried to take fingerprints, but it's most likely they were my finger prints. There was just blood everywhere; they could've gotten the evidence from all that blood that was taken," says Brockelmeyer.
According to Brockelmeyer, the reason why the officer didn’t take the sample is because the officer said it costs too much and they only take samples for murder investigations.
"I was just like it's there, it's there and they're not doing anything about it? It just makes you feel like even the police aren't even helping you," says Brockelmeyer as she fights back tears.
I asked Salinas Police why they couldn't collect the evidence for lab work and how much it costs.
They have no comment at this time, they are going to analyze the report and look into the situation.
"I know this happens everyday, but if we could just get this person off the street, maybe it won't happen again," says Brockelmeyer.
Since Salinas Police didn’t know how much lab work costs, we spoke with Assistant District Attorney Berkley Brannon with the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office and he says it's unknown how much DNA lab work costs. Brannon also says they wouldn't do an analysis on a crime like this because they have limited resources and they only test DNA in violent felonies.
