DNA Test Leads To Charges In 2017 SUV Theft, Fairfield Police Say

FAIRFIELD, CT — A Waterbury man is accused in a more than two-year-old Fairfield vehicle theft case as a result of a recent DNA test match, according to police.

Rashan Hall, 20, of Whitewood Road, is charged with burglary and larceny in connection with the 2017 theft, Fairfield police said.

The incident was reported Aug. 22, 2017, when a Hickory Lane resident told law enforcement an unfamiliar 2007 black GMC Yukon was parked at the end of the road, according to a police report. Law enforcement found the SUV in drive with keys in the ignition and a dead battery, the report said. The vehicle's owner, who lived several miles away on the 400 block of Old Hickory Road, said the Yukon was parked in his driveway the previous night, with the keys inside, according to the report. Nothing was missing from the vehicle, the report said.

More than two years later, in November 2019, police were notified by the state forensic lab that a DNA sample from the Yukon's steering wheel was matched through an offender database with that of Hall, an inmate at Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire, according to the report. Hall was a stranger to the SUV's owner, the report said, but has a criminal history in Waterbury, including charges of assault, burglary, larceny and breach of peace. A second sample of Hall's DNA, which was taken in response to the state lab's notification, confirmed the DNA on the steering wheel belonged to him, according to the report.

Hall was arrested Jan. 31, the report said, and his bond was set at $10,000.