Fighting crime "one DNA match at a time," Osage County Sheriff Mike Bonham said his department recently solved a three-year-old home burglary case thanks to advanced DNA technology.
Authorities identified Joel A. Wood, 27, as the main suspect in a home burglary off County Road 203 in August 2014.
The homeowner came home to find all the rooms rummaged through and evidence of forced entry, according to court documents.
While deputies were on the scene, they found a soda can that was not the homeowner's.
Even though it took a while before authorities identified Wood, there is a reason for the delay, Bonham said.
"Not everyone's DNA is in the DNA system. So we may get evidence at a crime scene and think we have DNA on it; however, that suspect's DNA might not be in the system," he said. "It might be a year later before his or her DNA gets in the system and we make a match."
Bonham added real-life investigations often differ from depictions in TV crime dramas.
"I think some people watch CSI TV shows and they think, 'You can just put somebody in and - boom - you get an identification," he said.
"The wheels of justice go a little slowly, so just because we might not solve a crime that day, or somebody might not be in custody that week, it doesn't mean that we have forgotten about the case."
Wood is currently held at the Tipton Correctional Center.