Fingerprint Ties 19-Year-Old Man To BMW Theft: Cops

PALOS HEIGHTS, IL -- A fingerprint returned from the Illinois State Crime Lab linked a Dolton man to a car theft that occurred last February, prosecutors said. Chaz Murray, 19, appeared before Cook County Judge John Mahoney on a felony charge of possession of a stolen vehicle. Murray has a similar case pending in Markham from October 2018, according to court records.

Sometime during the overnight hours of Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, a woman told police that someone stole her 2010 BMW from the 6700 block of Navajo Driver in Palos Heights. The car had apparently been left unlocked with a key fob inside.

Palos Heights police said the stolen BMW was found a few days later in the 7900 block of St. Lawrence Avenue in Chicago. Evidence technicians were able to lift a fingerprint off the rearview mirror.

On April 5, lab analysis on the fingerprint lifted from the BMW linked Murray to the car theft, prosecutors said. Murray was taken into custody while at the Markham Courthouse for another matter.

Murray is being held without bond on the pending case. The judge set bail at $50,000 for the Palos Heights vehicle theft and electronic monitoring through the Cook County Sheriff’s office should Murray bail out. Murray is due back in court June 20 in Bridgeview.