Shoe DNA Links Man To Carjacking Of Elderly Woman

LINCOLN (CBS13) — Investigators tracked down a criminal with his own shoe through DNA.

The suspect in a January carjacking on Lincoln Boulevard got away. That is until Danville Police spotted that vehicle a month after the carjacking in Contra Costa County.

They arrested the man, but still had to wait for DNA evidence.

The community had witnessed the violent attack that was caught on surveillance video just outside the CVS Pharmacy.

An elderly woman was thrown to the ground, and the thief took off in her car.

"What was most egregious is that the woman was older and I think she was in a disabled spot and he just pulled her out of the car," said Bernardine Lewis who lives nearby.

But it was what he left behind that tied him directly to the crime.

"Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for him, he left shoe as he was jumping into the car," said Chief Doug Lee of Lincoln PD.

DNA collected from that shoe was a direct match.

"I don't know if he was having an 'oh shoot' moment the whole time he was driving away," he said.

Police arrested 32-year-old Shaun Sterner after being caught with the woman's car.

"He actually did some modifications to the vehicle," Lee said the rims were painted, windows tinted, and the paper dealership plate changed out with another dealer.

But investigators still needed more to charge him for the Lincoln attack.

"It took this DNA evidence to say 'Yes we have probable cause to believe he's the one who did the carjacking as well,'" the chief said.

It's a relief for this retirement community.

"It really concerned me particularly because it happened during the day in broad daylight in the morning," Lewis said.

"It's just amazing how brazen some people are now," Joan Rouse of Lincoln added.

So while it's no glass slipper, the shoe was a perfect fit to catch this would be Cinder-Felon.

"It's very rewarding to be able to make an arrest in a case like this and take someone like that off the street," the chief said.

Sterner was ultimately charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, with the additional charge of carjacking and elder abuse.