DNA on baseball cap leads to arrest in home invasion

EVERETT, Wash.

Police said DNA on a baseball cap led to the arrest of a man in a home invasion last summer.

Two men and a woman were sleeping in their apartment on Grand Avenue in Everett when one man and the woman awoke to hear someone at the front door yelling police! as the door was kicked in.

Three men entered the apartment. At least one of them had what appeared to be a firearm.

According to probable cause documents, the intruders forced the man and woman into their bedroom and attempted to restrain the male victim with a set of zip ties. When the man resisted, he was pistol-whipped, causing him to fall to the ground with a cut on his head.

Police said the victim then got up and fled the apartment, ran to a neighbors apartment and asked them to call 911.

The three intruders were gone when police arrived. A safe had been stolen from a victims bedroom, the police report said.

Investigators said the intruders left behind evidence that included zip ties and a baseball hat.

The hat was sent off to the Washington State Patrol lab for processing and a DNA profile was created. That profile was checked through the Combined DNA Index System, which identified the DNA on the hat as coming from 48-year-old Steven L. Smith, police documents said.

On Mar. 6, an Everett police detective met with the two victims and showed them a photo montage he created using Smiths most recent booking photo. Both independently identified Smith as one of the men in the home invasion.

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DNA on baseball cap leads to arrest in home invasion