Good police work broke case, then DNA linked pair to spree

The end of their vast spree came shortly after the burglars entered Mieke Thorson's Park Hill home in January of last year.

Thorson, an executive recruiter, had just returned home at 4:30 p.m. January 24, 2006.

She spent some time in her driveway putting a car seat back in her car before going into her house, and feels lucky she did.

As she entered her home, she heard someone talking and thought it was "some kids or someone trying to ring my doorbell. I didn't think much of it."

She went inside, and was struck cold.

"Our kitchen had become a staging area where they were boxing and packaging our CDs and DVDs and everything else," she said.

They had heard her coming and fled, leaving "a trail of stuff they dropped along the way."

She never saw the pair, only heard them shouting to get out.

Police arrived minutes after her call for help. She started counting up her losses.

She and her husband, a schoolteacher, had "probably 300 to 400 CDs. They took the Peter Gabriel and the Bruce Springsteen CDs. They didn't take the whole thing. They were very picky burglars," she said.

They were also hungry, she said. They helped themselves to some food in her fridge.

"I figured they had to be high," Thorson said.

The bad guys did get away with some valuables - including a $15,000 ring and an inscribed watch that students had given to her husband, Scott.

Thorson said she told police that she was sure the two had come on foot because they hadn't tried to steal anything heavy, such as TVs.

She says a cop went to some nearby motels on East Colfax, looking for guest registrations. He searched for wanted parties, taking a stab in the dark.

It worked.

In one room were two men wanted in Ohio - John "Sweetie Pie" Priester, 39, and Michael Davis, 47.

Thorson said she heard about how it went down when she went to the District 2 police station that evening.

"The cops walked in and found them on the bed going through most of our stuff," she said. "And one of the guys was wearing the jewelry."

According to police records, Priester is a cross-dresser.

The $15,000 ring wasn't there, she said. But a pawn shop receipt was. They had already pawned it for $300.

By 10:30 p.m., police had recovered most of the stolen items, including the ring and watch.

Soon, police started tying the two to other burglaries in the area, and a new experimental program by the district attorney and Denver police provided critical DNA evidence.

In one case, Davis was identified as a suspect after a homeowner caught him in his home and hit him in the head, leaving behind blood. In another, police were investigating a burglary in the 200 block of Grant Street in December, 2005, when they noted that someone - not the owners - had taken a bite out of a piece of "gold coin candy."

In May, 2006, the lab matched the candy DNA to Davis.

The hungry burglars were soon pleading guilty to various cases. Davis was sent away for 21 years and Priester for 12.

"It was the most incredible thing," Thorson said. "It was just good police work."

On the night they got their property back, Thorson insisted on buying lottery tickets, "because I figured there was no other way we would even win."

Alas, the gods of luck had done enough, and the tickets weren't winners. Still, Thorson said: "It was the most amazing eight hours of my life."