On August 18, 2008, Bell’s Country Store in Hobgood was robbed at gunpoint by two masked men who made off with several hundred dollars in cash, Detective Jonathan Merritt of the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office said.
The suspects fled the scene and discarded the items used as masks in a field behind the store.
The evidence was collected and sent to the State Bureau of Investigation lab in Raleigh where DNA profiles were obtained from the items.
“Through great cooperation from the community by way of tips called in to the Crimestoppers Hotline two suspects were developed,” Merritt said in a press release. After an extensive investigation, enough evidence was developed against the two suspects for District Court Judge W. Turner Stephenson III to issue a court order requiring the suspects to provide investigators with a saliva sample to be used for DNA comparison to profiles obtained from the masks collected from the scene.
After comparing the profiles, it was concluded that both suspect’s DNA were on pieces of the masks found.
Trendell Lamont Harris, 19, of Hobgood was arrested on one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon. He was held at the Halifax County Jail on $15,000 bond with an April 14 court date.
Sherrod Ladontae Whitaker, 20, of Scotland Neck, has not been apprehended but warrants are outstanding on him for the same charges.
“It’s just like CSI on television,” Merritt said. “DNA is powerful in court, unfortunately due to the DNA backlog we just can’t analyze it in an hour like they do on TV.”
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Whitaker is asked to call Crimestoppers at 252-583-4444 or the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office at 252-583-8201.
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