Fingerprints lead to charges in 2012 Evanston home burglary

A Chicago man has been charged with burglarizing a home in north suburban Evanston in 2012.

Paul Richard Downs, 20, of the 1600 block of North Kedzie, was charged with one felony count of residential burglary, according to a statement from Evanston police.

A female came home on Aug. 30, 2012, and discovered a male upstairs in her home in the 1500 block of Seward Street in Evanston, police said.

The man ran away and she called police. An evidence technician recovered fingerprints from the home, which were sent to the Illinois State Police Crime Laboratory for analysis, police said.

In late February, results came back from the laboratory that matched the fingerprints to Downs, police said. He was arrested and charged.

Police said that since the burglary happened, the department has begun getting evidence processed at the Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Laboratory, which “has remarkably decreased the processing time for evidence.”