A 37-year-old unlawful immigrant was charged Wednesday within the slaying of a Bronx teenager final 12 months – after detectives used DNA from a sweatshirt they snatched out of a laundromat dryer to assist crack the case, in accordance with regulation enforcement sources.
Kenhy Sarrias Buelvas was arrested six months after he allegedly opened fireplace on 16-year-old Kemari Sanders whereas the younger sufferer was driving on a moped with a pal within the Bronx round 4 a.m. on Aug. 23, in accordance with police and sources.
The pair reached Bryant Road and have been turning round to search for a telephone certainly one of them misplaced when bullets began flying, placing Sanders within the neck, sources mentioned.
It’s believed Buelvas, an alleged drug seller, pulled the set off as a result of he noticed the 2 driving round and thought they needed to rob him, in accordance with sources.
“This guy was a drug dealer – and probably thought they were riding around looking to rob him, so what does he do? He kills a kid who’s just looking for his cellphone,” a supply informed The Put up.
The teenager died from his accidents greater than a month afterward Oct. 4, morphing the capturing right into a murder case that required a combo of gritty old-school and high-tech police work.
Within the early phases of their probe, investigators tracked down a wide selection of video surveillance that led them to a laundromat the place the gunman allegedly threw a sweatshirt right into a dryer after which fled, sources mentioned.
Detectives retrieved that piece of clothes, which was examined for any DNA.
Within the meantime, the NYPD unfold a needed flyer that led to a tip from a caller who mentioned the individual on the flyer resembled a Colombian who sells weed from a van within the space, in accordance with sources.
Police lastly reached a breakthrough earlier this month when DNA from the clothes pinged a match to DNA collected by Customs and Border Safety in Laredo, Texas courting again to December 23, 2023, sources mentioned.
Buelvas had tried to cross into the nation illegally and was captured earlier than he was launched into the states, sources mentioned.
An image taken of the border crosser from that day was additionally despatched again to New York by the feds, which appeared to point out the identical man on the needed flyer.
To additional bolster their case, authorities then discovered a transit summons that was issued to the alleged shooter in June 2024 within the Bronx, main them to comb over body-worn footage from that day that matched up with the identical individual within the needed flyer and on the border crossing, sources mentioned.
Buelvas was lastly picked up by the NYPD Warrants Squad and charged with homicide, manslaughter and unlawful gun possession.
He’s believed to have been working at a Manhattan automotive dealership main as much as his arrest, sources mentioned.
The NYPD’s Area Consciousness System, which is a community the place officers can discover up-to-date data to assist investigations, was a giant assist in fixing the case.
“You look at all the steps that got us from DNA to a transit summons that put this guy in cuffs – without the Domain Awareness System that never would have been possible,” a supply defined.
Extra reporting by Amanda Woods and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
