Tinley Park Burglar Identified Through Fingerprints: Cops

TINELY PARK, IL -- A man accused of burglarizing two homes in Tinley Park was identified by his fingerprints left at both crime scenes, prosecutors said. Byron Kennix, 27, of Chicago, appeared before Cook County Judge Peter Felice on two counts of burglary.

According to the charges, a homeowner came home April 27, only to find the basement window shattered and a screwdriver laying on the ground. A ladder that had been taken from the garage was propped up against the side of the house. The security camera from a nearby Kirby Dist. 140 school captured a man, later identified as Kennix, climbing a ladder taken from the garage, the prosecutor said. Kennix allegedly tried to pry open a second story window with a screwdriver. When his efforts were unsuccessful, the prosecutor said he climbed down the ladder and tried to enter the home by breaking a basement window. Tinley Park police were able to pull prints from the window.

A week or so later, on May 3, another homeowner came home to find that someone had slashed the screen to a rear window. The homeowner reported $5,000 worth of jewelry missing from the house, including three necklaces and two rings. Fingerprints pulled from the screen and window from the other home matched Kennix’s, the prosecutor said. Kennix was arrested July 26.

On June 5, a witness, Kennix’s girlfriend, called Tinley Park police when she found items from both burglaries among her boyfriend’s belongings, the prosecutor said. Kennix reportedly was convicted in 2011 on two counts of home invasion in Michigan. He has a string of arrests in Chicago, according to Chicago Police Department records.

Kennix’s attorney told the judge that his client attended Carver Military Academy in Chicago for a period of time. Bail on the first burglary was set at $10,000, and $50,000 for the second burglary. Kennix is due back in court Aug. 14 in Bridgeview.