DNA leads Cape Coral Police to burglar

Published:
MGN Online

travisshultzmug

CAPE CORAL, Fla.- A burglary from last summer was just recently solved.

On August 8, 2014, Cape Coral Police responded to a burglary in the 4400 block of SW 8th Place.

Police met with victims who stated that between 6 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., someone broke a window on the home and entered their residence. Items were disturbed in the home, but they weren’t able to see that anything had been taken.

One of the victims stated she was arriving home at around 7:50 p.m. from shopping. As she neared her home, she saw her ex-boyfriend, Travis Schultz riding in the area on his moped. The victim honked her horn and waved at Schultz, who then followed her to her house.

The victim stated she was only stopping at her house briefly, but she invited Schultz inside. She spoke with Schultz briefly while she changed shoes, and then they both exited the house. During this time, Schultz was only in the living room. The victim remembered that when Schultz pulled up on his moped, he took off his helmet, and was wearing a blue bandana underneath. The victim added that he took the bandana off while they were talking.

The victim said that Schultz had been in the area to deliver narcotics, which he was known to do on his moped. The victim also said they have not been together for approximately nine months, and he had not been in her apartment since their split. Schultz told the victim he was heading home and seemed to follow her out of the neighborhood on his moped, however, she lost sight of him as she drove north on Skyline Boulevard. This stood out as odd to her as she never saw him pass by northbound on Skyline Boulevard. The victim also said that Schultz knew she had kept cash in the jewelry boxes that were disturbed.  The victim provided a sworn written statement and wished to press charges.

Authorities found a large amount of glass on the laundry room floor which seemed to indicate that entry was made via the laundry room window via the rear lanai. A large grill was positioned on the rear lanai, just below the laundry room window, and several latent prints were found on the top of the grill.

Police found a blue bandana, wrapped around one of the victim’s ashtrays, lying on top of a milk crate. It appeared that the suspect used the ashtray to smash the window and wrapped the bandana around the ashtray. The victim said the bandana matched the one Schultz had removed from his head when he arrived earlier in the evening.

In the victim’s bedroom, Officer Gray found several droplets of blood on the floor at the foot of the bed. A bloody finger print was found on the lid of a black jewelry box that the victim thought had been moved.

Cape Coral Police Department Forensic Technician C. Potts responded to the scene and took digital photographs, collected blood samples, and lifted latent prints. Potts also collected the black jewelry box, the piece of paper, and the bandana for further forensic processing.

Based on the investigation in its entirety, a DNA sample was needed from Travis Schultz to compare to the blood sample collected from the burglary.

On November 20, 2014 officials applied for, and were granted, a search warrant to collect the DNA from Travis Schultz.

On November 21, 2014, police met with Schultz at the Lee County Core Facility where he was currently housed on unrelated charges. The DNA was obtained and later sent to FDLE pending results.

On January 6, 2015, a report was received from FDLE which detailed the that the DNA profile obtained from the bedroom floor (blood) matched the DNA profile from Schultz. The probability of it being anyone else was 1 in 740 quadrillion.

Tuesday, Schultz was located at a restaurant on Santa Barbara Boulevard by detectives and placed under arrest for the charges of burglary and criminal mischief.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.