Soda can pops two-year-old cold case in Fort Pierce
By ADAM L. NEAL
TC Palm (Florida)
December 21, 2006
FORT PIERCE — A can of soda left at a burglary scene more than two years ago recently linked a career criminal to a case that went cold from the lack of witnesses and leads, officials reported Wednesday.
And coincidentally, detectives found suspect Michael Bacon incarcerated on unrelated burglary charges from Martin County.
Bacon, 30, whose last known address was in the 2800 block of Avenue S in Fort Pierce, was served Tuesday with an additional felony burglary charge after his DNA matched evidence extracted from the soda can.
He showed no sign of shock or surprise and didn't speak with the Fort Pierce Police detectives when they notified him of the charge, according to Sgt. Dennis McWilliams.
"He probably thought he was getting away with this crime all these years," he said.
An insurance agency in the 800 block of Virginia Avenue was broken into in August 2004 and ransacked, according to police reports. Glass on the front door was broken and files were scattered throughout the building, but the only thing missing was a desk radio.
The burglar didn't find any money.
Without any witnesses, fingerprints or surveillance video, Detective Charles Donnon said he didn't have much to investigate.
"A lot of these types of small burglaries go unsolved because there just isn't enough evidence," said Donnon, the lead investigator in the case.
The only possible evidence found was a diet 7-Up can left on a desk. Because of Officer Ami Sealand's efforts to preserve the can, Donnon said he was able to send it to the Indian River Regional Crime Laboratory to extract DNA.
The case was put on the crime lab's log, but was low priority to other cases such as homicides and sexual assaults, according to Daniel C. Nippes, director of the crime lab.
"It's not that these (burglary) crimes are not important because they are, we just have to prioritize cases with the seriousness of the crimes," he said. "When four people were slain on Florida's Turnpike, we focused our efforts on that."
DNA recently was extracted from the can, and the crime lab used a criminal database to match it with Bacon's sample.
Donnon said detectives now are searching other unsolved area burglaries with the same mode of operation to see if Bacon's DNA matches anything else.
"This one would have never been solved because we didn't have anything to go on," he said. "This DNA evidence links him to the scene, so he can't say he wasn't there."
Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show Bacon has been arrested more than two dozen times since 1995. His charges range from burglaries, larcenies and thefts to batteries, assaults and drug possession.