DNA, Flock cameras lead to Southfield cold case carjacking arrest after 2 years
Cold case carjacking cracked by Southfield police, ending 2-year investigation
Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren talks about a cold case carjacking investigation that has resulted in charges.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - A carjacking suspect has been charged after a nearly two-year investigation, Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren announced Friday.
The backstory:
A 30-year-old Louisville man is charged with seven felony counts after allegedly carjacking a then-19-year-old victim of her Ford Focus outside Chick-fil-A in Southfield in September, 2024.
The suspect is not being named yet, pending a formal arraignment in Michigan after he is extradited.
Barren said a combination of DNA evidence, cellular data, witness interviews and Flock license plate reader cameras were used in the investigation, which involved multiple agencies.
"Imagine a handgun being placed at your chest at six o'clock in the morning as you're trying to go to work, your phone is taken, your vehicle is taken," Barren said. "The trauma that put on our victim and other victims of crime. We will use all available technology to bring justice for these families and get these perpetrators, these predators off the street."
Timeline:
September 6, 2024: The 19-year-old was carjacked at gun point in the parking lot of Chick-fil-A at 28588 Telegraph Road at 6:30 a.m. of her 2013 Focus and phone by the suspect when she was about to go to work.
The victim had shared her phone location with a friend who reported the phone appeared stationary in the area of McNichols and the Southfield Freeway.
At 7 a.m. Sept. 6, 2024: Detectives get Flock notification from the license plate reader at Southfield and I-75 in Lincoln Park.
Investigation leads to Ohio
At left, the stolen Ford Focus, right, the recovered pistol.
Dig deeper:
- At 10:41 a.m.: Detectives got another Flock notification of the car in Columbus, Ohio and at 11:15 a.m., another hit leads to a police pursuit in Columbus that ended in the suspect crashing in the Focus. He fled and escaped, but left the gun behind.
- November 8, 2025: Investigators learned the suspect was being held in the Lebanon Correctional Institution on unrelated robbery and other charges.
- March 30, 2026: Oakland County investigators interviewed the suspect who denied ever being in Michigan.
- May 6, 2026: Detectives traveled to the Columbus Police Department to collect evidence for DNA swabs.
- May 8, 2026: Forensic laboratory results identified the suspect's dna on the gun and part of the airbag from the Focus crash.
"This, together with other investigative evidence developed during the case, provided significant additional support connecting the suspect to the carjacking stolen vehicle, and the firearm," Barren said.
The suspect's sentence on assault is set to run until 2030, when he would potentially then be moved to Michigan to serve his time for the carjacking, if convicted.
The Source: Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren and his department provided the information for this report.