UPDATE: DNA Helps VCSO Solve 2017 Carjacking -- 19 Months Later

Date Added: February 28, 2019 2:31 pm

Laura Williams: Office of
Media Relations & Public Affairs

UPDATE: (Original news release appears below)

DNA Helps VCSO Detectives Solve Carjacking – 19 Months Later

Using DNA evidence left behind on a steering wheel, Volusia County sheriff’s detectives have solved a 2017 carjacking in which a good Samaritan’s car was stolen as she stopped to help at the scene of a crash on Interstate 4.

Early on a Saturday morning, July 8, 2017, the victim saw a car crash near the 128-mile marker on I-4. She pulled over to assist the crash victims, including a young woman who was seriously injured. When the good Samaritan driver stopped, one young male dragged her out of her 2012 dark blue Ford Mustang convertible. Two other young males loaded the unconscious, injured female into the driver’s vehicle and fled, leaving the driver at the crash scene.

It turned out that the crashed vehicle had been reported stolen from Orange County.

Soon our detectives learned the injured female was dumped in her mother’s yard and the good Samaritan’s stolen car was recovered nearby.

During the investigation, detectives relied on DNA evidence left behind in the good Samaritan’s vehicle to help them solve the case. DNA helped them identify Corey Pittman, 21, (DOB 6/7/1997), brother of the injured female, as the carjacker.

Finally, after working on this case for more than a year and a half, this week our detectives secured an arrest warrant and found Pittman already in custody in the Polk County Jail on unrelated charges. Pittman, of Orange County, faces a carjacking charge from the 2017 case.

     

**ORIGINAL NEWS RELEASE FROM JULY 2017 APPEARS BELOW:

July 8, 2017
Andrew Gant, Public Affairs

AUTHORITIES SEEKING BLUE MUSTANG CONVERTIBLE STOLEN IN I-4 CARJACKING; MAY BE CARRYING INJURED FEMALE

Law enforcement officers in Central Florida are looking for a dark blue Ford Mustang convertible that was stolen this morning during a carjacking along I-4 near Daytona Beach, with the suspects loading an apparently injured female into the car before taking off headed west.

The incident was called in from the 128 mile marker of westbound I-4 at 5:40 a.m. The victim, a 34-year-old woman, had driven up on the scene of a crash and stopped to assist those involved. When she did, three young men jumped out of a car that was involved in the crash and stole hers.

Those three suspects also loaded an unresponsive female into the victim’s car before driving away westbound.

The Mustang is a 2012 convertible with Florida tag V83-4QC. It has a black vinyl top, a spoiler and no window tint.

The suspects were described as three black males in their teens or early 20s. One was heavy-set wearing a striped shirt and jeans. Two others were described as thin. The unresponsive female was also believed to be in her teens or early 20s, with short dreadlocks, a red hooded sweatshirt, brown jeans and black shoes. She was bleeding from the head.

The car they left behind at the scene had also been reported stolen.

The suspects are wanted by the Sheriff’s Office on carjacking charges; the Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the initial crash.

Anyone who spots the vehicle or suspects involved is asked to call 911 without approaching the suspects.