Coffee lid DNA sinks hit-and-run driver
Solving crime doesn’t get much more Canadian than this, eh?
When a man driving a stolen Honda Accord ran a red light, causing a crash in a Halifax intersection on Feb. 23, 2021, he took off on foot in a red and black plaid lumberjack jacket. Halifax Regional Police tracked down the thief by testing the DNA he left behind on a Tim Hortons cup lid.
The hit and run happened at about 11 a.m. at the intersection of Quinpool Road and Robie Street.
When police got there, the Honda Accord was in the westbound lane of Quinpool, facing in the wrong direction.
“The passenger side of the vehicle was heavily damaged, and the airbags went off,” Det.-const. Kristen Bradley said in information filed in Halifax provincial court to get a warrant in the case.
Witnesses told police the Honda, which was coming from Bell Road, had gone through a red light before it got hit by a Toyota Rav4 that had just started heading south on Robie when the driver’s light turned green.
'SHE WAS A LITTLE SHAKEN UP'
The Rav4’s driver had a sore neck and planned to get his injuries checked out at hospital. He “advised that his daughter was also in the front seat … and that she was a little shaken up,” Bradley said.
The Honda’s driver ran away, heading down an alley beside Domino’s Pizza.
Police used a sniffer dog to try and track him. But the hound lost the man’s scent near a taxi stand on Pepperell Street.
Police put out an alert for taxi drivers to be on the lookout for the hit-and-run driver, and investigators started canvassing the area for video surveillance.
The Honda’s owner had reported it stolen overnight.
“The incident was reported to have no solvability factors and was concluded,” Bradley said of the vehicle theft.
'SEVERAL UNCAPPED, USED AND LOADED SYRINGES THROUGHOUT'
A search of the Honda turned up “several uncapped, used and loaded syringes throughout,” said the detective.
“There were several items relevant to drug use in the vehicle, and items indicating long-term use of the vehicle such as clothing, garbage, and drinking vessels.”
Police seized an unloaded .22-calibre rifle in the trunk and 21 bullets for the gun in a case near the Honda’s front seat. They also found a “skeleton Covid type face mask” in the stolen Accord.
Police contacted the woman who owned the Honda. “She indicated that the only item belonging to her would be a pair of eyeglasses (not located), and she stated that when stolen, the vehicle was very clean and tidy,” Bradley said.
The RCMP had flagged the Honda as having been used in a break and enter and theft of bank cards.
Among the detritus, police found Zig Zag rolling papers near the steering wheel, metal smoking pipes, a red bag of cash, a small plastic bag of marijuana, cigarette butts and the plastic lid from a Tim Hortons cup.
“Forensic officers processed the interior of the stolen Honda Accord, and swabbed a Tim Hortons cup lid located inside the vehicle. Samples of the swab were sent for DNA analysis and a male DNA profile was developed and entered into the DNA databank,” Bradley said.
“The DNA profile was matched to a known offender on the National DNA Databank belonging to Neal Conroy, born July 23, 1978.”
Det.-const. Randy Wood remembered that about five hours after the crash, he’d walked past a constable taking a prisoner out of his cruiser who was later identified as Conroy, 43.
FLIP-FLOPS IN FEBRUARY
“He had taken note of Mr. Conroy wearing white flip-flops on his feet which he thought odd for the extremely cold February day,” Bradley said. “He also recalled that he had noticed Conroy wearing camouflaged pants and had tattoos on the top of his hands.”
Wood let investigators know that Conroy’s clothing was similar to what the suspect was wearing in a break-in Mounties were investigating.
Wood sent a request to the lab for analysis of a swab from the rifle, and the swab from the Timmy’s lid found in the Honda.
“On Tuesday February 8, 2022, I queried Neal Conroy (on a police database) and I learned that he had been arrested on January 31, 2022, for break and enter,” Bradley said.
He’s been in custody ever since.
Conroy was in Burnside jail when Bradley wanted to get a sample of his blood to compare with the DNA found on the coffee lid from the stolen Honda.
“I called the (jail) cells Crown (attorney) to let them know of the crime scene to crime scene hit, confirming Neal Conroy’s DNA at the scene of a stolen motor vehicle, pertaining to failing to stop at an accident. Bradley said. “I informed them I would be writing up a DNA warrant in relation to this file. I was advised by the Crown they were opposing Neal Conroy’s release.”
Conroy was facing “numerous” outstanding charges and had “been wanted by police since March 2021,” said the detective.
BLOOD SAMPLE SOUGHT
Bradley wanted a warrant to get a blood sample from Conroy to compare to the DNA on the Tim Hortons coffee lid that had been left in the stolen Honda.
Police got the sample from Conroy this past February by pricking his skin’s surface with a sterile lancet.
A judge sentenced Conroy late last month to 78 months in federal prison on 30 charges. Those included several break and enters, as well failing to stop at the scene of the Feb. 23, 2021, crash on Quinpool, possession of stolen goods worth more than $5,000 (the Honda), and several weapons charges stemming from that day.
The judge also banned Conroy from owning firearms for life.
He has been sentenced on 84 charges in Nova Scotia since 1998.