COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS -- A 34-year-old man suspected of holding three people at gunpoint during a burglary is behind bars, and police said DNA evidence taken from a beer can helped put him there.
Timothy Chadd Ellis now faces several charges, including aggravated kidnapping, burglary and robbery - all stemming from a December burglary on Salt Lake County's east bench.
Prosecutors said Ellis was in the process of a burglarizing a home in late December when the owners' children came to check on the property. Ellis allegedly held the three siblings at gunpoint for about an hour before he left in a Honda.
Detectives found a Bud Light can allegedly left behind by Ellis and took it to a private crime lab, where investigators said they found a match with Ellis' DNA.
Police from several agencies are now looking at Ellis as a potential suspect in a series of similar unsolved crimes.
In some instances, the suspects would spend a whole day or more ransacking a residence for things like furniture, couches, beds, linens and electronics.
Ellis was booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on Monday on a $250,000 warrant.
