DNA decides 2001 case

FLEMINGTON | The main clue investigators found at a 2001 burglary in Hunterdon County was a few droplets of blood near a broken basement window.

It was not much to go on when authorities had no suspects whose DNA could be compared with the sample taken from the blood.

The case ran cold. Years passed with no arrest, and the residents, whose home in West Amwell Township was burglarized, likely assumed the culprit would never be caught.

But on Friday, one of the burglary victims finally got a chance to confront the burglar after a statewide DNA databank spit out a match on the blood DNA with a man serving time in state prison for a burglary conviction in Mercer County.

DNA samples are routinely collected from convicted felons and placed in the New Jersey State Police databank, authorities said.

Paul D. Sootkoos, 37, formerly of Red Bank, N.J., drew a five-year state prison sentence Friday after pleading guilty during an earlier court appearance to third-degree burglary and fourth-degree theft.

"We are very hurt that you broke into our home," said West Amwell Township resident Andrew Black during a victim impact statement before sentencing.

"You violated our home," he said. "My wife is not the same. You took my kids' money out of their piggy banks."

Sootkoos, a college graduate, also spoke before sentencing and turned to face Black and apologize.

"I was raised to know better," Sootkoos said. "My heroin addiction doesn't excuse the things that I did."

Sootkoos said there is nothing he can do to change the victims' feeling about the break-in.

"I can't change the things that I've done and I'm trying desperately to atone for the things that I've done," he said.

The Sept. 25, 2001, burglary is now a closed case.

Sootkoos received a five-year prison sentence on the burglary and a concurrent 18-month sentence on the theft. The sentences will run concurrent to the prison term he is already serving, but could result in more prison time if his current sentence ends before the five-year sentence handed down Friday.

Sootkoos served time from February 1997 until October 2001 on a number of burglary convictions for incidents in Mercer, Monmouth and Morris counties, according to the state Department of Corrections Web site. He was sent back to prison in March 2005, where he has remained since.