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DNA Reportedly Connects Burglary Suspect to A Jeweler’s Homicide January 12, 2024 (0 comments)

Wheat Ridge, CO--A man arrested on suspicion of burglary at a local jewelry store a month after the owner was shot and killed, could be connected to the homicide, according to a report by 9News in Denver, quoting a police sources.

Peter Arguello, owner of the Peter Damian Fine Jewelry and Antiques shop was fatally shot during a robbery on Nov. 29. Surveillance video shows a man tried to use flex cuffs on Arguello, but Arguello resisted, and the man shot him, according to the police, the news station reports. The shooter and another person reportedly fled the scene by the back door of the store and fled in a red pickup truck, according to witnesses, 9News reports. A stolen red Chevrolet Silverado connected to the suspects was found burned and heavily damaged two days later.

[A memorial for a jeweler killed in a theft. Source: News9 Denver]

No one has been charged in the shooting. However, three flex cuffs were found on the floor in front of a safe. The Jefferson County Regional Crime Lab ran a DNA test on the flex cuffs and, on Dec. 8, matched a DNA profile belonging to Charles Robinson Shay, 40, according to the news report.

A month after the shooting, about 5 a.m. on Dec. 26, someone broke into the rear door of the jewelry and antique store, setting off burglar alarms, and the person left without taking anything. Investigators found that a stolen vehicle connected to Shay was parked nearby at that time, according to police.

After Shay was arrested, he told investigators he had broken into the jewelry store on Dec. 26. He reportedly said he had heard about the homicide at the business and viewed it as a crime of opportunity, the police reportedly said.

When a detective told Shay that his DNA had been found on the flex cuffs recovered after the fatal shooting, Shay decided to stop talking, according to the police.

Shay has been previously convicted for drug possession, motor vehicle theft, vehicular eluding, identity theft and theft, police reportedly say. He’s also currently wanted on a warrant out of California for a stolen vehicle, according to new station quoting police reports.

Shay is being held in the Jefferson County jail on suspicion of aggravated motor vehicle theft and second-degree burglary, 9News said quoting police sources.

Read the complete story of the arrest and the original story by 9News.