Chicken Bones Lead to Burglary Suspect

[January 07, 2008]  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A trail of chicken bones left at a burglary scene more than a year ago has led investigators to a Kansas prison inmate with a long rap sheet and a hefty appetite.

Authorities on Friday charged John Wyatt Weaver, 43, of Kansas City, with two counts of burglary and one count of stealing a firearm. No bond was set because Weaver is already serving time at Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas for an unrelated crime.

Police tracked down the suspect through DNA left on six chicken bones strewn throughout a Gladstone apartment where several firearms were stolen in November 2006.

"The facts of this are more amusing than anything I can say," said prosecutor Daniel White.

Weaver is accused of entering two Gladstone homes on Nov. 23, 2006, court records show. At one of the crime scenes, the homeowner reported several shotguns, rifles and handguns missing.

Investigators at the scene found chewed-up chicken scattered around the residence -- leftovers authorities believe were stolen from a refrigerator at the earlier burglary.

The Kansas City crime lab examined the bones for DNA evidence, which was entered into a national database. White said the DNA on the bones matched that of Weaver, a convicted felon whose DNA had been entered into the national database.

Weaver has 16 felony convictions for second-degree burglary, stealing, tampering, receiving stolen property, automobile theft and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to Lansing Feb. 16 for burglary and fleeing police, with an earliest possible release date of Feb. 25, 2009, online prison records show.

[Associated Press]

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