New London man, subject of 2014 manhunt, charged in Westbrook
[naviga:img class="img-responsive" alt="William Villano" src="/Assets/news2015/0824DayVillano.jpg"/]
William Villano.
More than two years after an intensive manhunt led to the lockdown of an Old Saybrook neighborhood, police said they’ve found and charged the man they were searching for.
William Villano, 30, of 205 Williams St., New London, was arrested Friday at Troop F in Westbrook on multiple warrants that charge him with attempt to commit third-degree larceny, attempt to commit first-degree criminal trover, second-degree larceny, third-degree criminal mischief, third-degree larceny and two counts of third-degree burglary.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, it was DNA evidence that connected Villano with the events of June 25, 2014.
At about 7:46 p.m. on June 25, Old Saybrook police were called to a Mill Rock Road East home, where a resident reported having seen a white man leaving his or her home with a television in tow.
According to the resident, the blond-haired man, wearing dark pants and a light T-shirt, got into a black, older model, four-door sedan.
About six minutes later, police were called to the scene of a Schoolhouse Road crash involving a stolen black Toyota Camry.
Witnesses said the car’s driver, a white man with short blond hair, dark pants and a white T-shirt, fled the scene on foot. They also said the man’s elbow was bleeding, according to the affidavit.
Later that night, around 8:25 p.m., a Dibble Road resident reported having seen a white man with a white shirt wrapped around his bleeding arm standing on the resident’s back deck.
Police that night urged residents to shelter in place as they searched for the suspect, whom they described as dangerous. Working with K-9 units, officers searched into the early morning hours but did not find the suspect.
At 12:45 p.m. on June 26, 2014, police responded to Monoflo Septic Tank Co. on Spencer Plains Road in Westbrook, where a man reported that someone had tampered with his Ford F-250 pickup truck’s ignition.
Upon examining the pickup, Trooper First Class Thomas Inglis found that the plastic housing surrounding the ignition had been pried open. Inglis also found a broken black-handled screwdriver and a blood-stained white tank top inside the vehicle, according to the affidavit.
Inglis saw tools lying in front of the truck as well, which the pickup truck owner said came from a toolbox stored on the left side of the truck.
According to the affidavit, Inglis photographed the scene, collected evidence and brushed the toolbox for fingerprints. He successfully lifted two partial prints.
On Sept. 30, 2014, members of the state Department of Public Safety Forensic Science Laboratory said DNA from the tank top had matched that of Villano, a convicted felon who was listed in the state DNA database.
Police learned Villano had since been incarcerated at the Saratoga County Jail in New York. They applied for and received permission to travel there and swab his cheek for DNA, which they did on June 29, 2015.
A state DNA unit confirmed on July 29, 2015, that the DNA pulled from Villano’s cheek also matched the DNA pulled from the bloody tank top.
On Aug. 19, police traveled to New York’s Beacon Correctional Facility, where Villano was being held. Police did not specify what charges Villano faced in New York.
With permission from the Saratoga County district attorney and New York State Police, they returned Villano to Connecticut and served him with multiple arrest warrants.
Records show Villano has an extensive criminal history in Connecticut with convictions for crimes that include possession of narcotics, larcenies and burglaries.
Villano is next due in Middletown Superior Court on Sept. 9.
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