On February 6, 2025, Brooklyn Center Police Officers were on routine patrol near a Quality Inn Hotel, located at [ADDRESS REDACTED] North, Brooklyn Center, in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Officers observed an unoccupied silver Hyundai Sonata without license plates parked near the front of the hotel. Officers ran the VIN number on the vehicle’s windshield and learned that it had recently been stolen from Shakopee, Minnesota. Officers would subsequently learn that at the time the vehicle was stolen, it had just been detailed and was devoid of any personal property.
The vehicle was stolen without keys. Looking through the vehicle’s windows from the outside, officers observed a shirt draped over the steering column where the ignition would be. Officers knew from training and experience that steering columns in stolen vehicles are often hidden. Officers opened the door of the Hyundai, which was unlocked, and removed the shirt from the steering column, which revealed that the ignition was punched. A variety of personal items were scattered throughout the vehicle.
Officers obtained security footage from Quality Inn of the parking lot, showing the vehicle arrive on February 5, 2025. A male, subsequently identified as JUDE THOMAS MARY ONEILL, hereafter Defendant, was observed getting out of the driver’s side of the vehicle and taking several items from the vehicle with him. Thereafter, a white Honda Accord without license plates picked up the Defendant and left. Shakopee investigators recovered personal items from the vehicle and entered them into evidence. One of these items, an empty Soy almond milk bottle, was recovered from the vehicle.
The bottle was submitted to the BCA for DNA testing. In a report dated March 25, 2025, the BCA reported it developed an unknown DNA profile from swabs taken from the bottle. This unknown profile was uploaded into CODIS (Convicted Offender Database) and the Defendant’s DNA profile was identified as being a match to the unknown profile developed from the bottle. Officers then obtained a search warrant to collect a buccal swab from Defendant for confirmatory DNA testing. Officers collected the sample from Defendant pursuant to the warrant and submitted it to the BCA for testing.
In a report dated May 27, 2025, the BCA compared Defendant’s known DNA profile to the unknown profile developed from the bottle and reported that defendant’s known DNA profile was identified as a possible contributor to the DNA mixture on the bottle. Photo stills from the Quality Inn surveillance video also match Defendant’s booking photos. At present Defendant is in custody at Anoka County. As such, the State requests that this complaint issue as a warrant.
