DNA from “pineapple” hat helps convict man of second-degree murder

A man was sentenced to life in prison for the second-degree murder of woman in 2016.

Benjamin Allen, 23, was was sentenced after a three-day trial.

According to the state attorney’s office, Allen was in a relationship with the 23-year-old victim and had threatened to kill her so she was hiding from him and staying at a friend’s house in Fort Myers.

Allen shot and killed the victim outside of the house, and he fled on foot.

MORE: Arrest made in killing of Fort Myers mother

Investigators connected Allen to the murder when a “unique hat with pineapples on it” was found near the body.

An officer testified that this was the same hat Allen was wearing two days prior.

DNA from the hat also later came back to match Allen, the state attorney’s office said.

Witnesses testified at trial that after the shooting, Allen tried to borrow bleach from someone he knew and while asking for the bleach had blood on his shirt.

Three days after the murder Allen was apprehended by U.S. Marshalls in Miami.