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DNA from Forgotten Hat Ties Man to River North Pistol Whipping: Prosecutors

By Erin Meyer | August 29, 2014 5:17pm
 Bryon Booth, 29, was out of jail on a pending gun case when prosecutors say he pistol whipped two people in a robbery outside their River North home, authorities said.
Bryon Booth, 29, was out of jail on a pending gun case when prosecutors say he pistol whipped two people in a robbery outside their River North home, authorities said.
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Chicago Police Department

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — After he allegedly pistol whipped a couple outside their River North home in July, Byron Booth lost his hat. Authorities tracked down Booth, 29, using DNA taken from the hat, prosecutors said Friday.

The beating left a man with 14 stitches to the head, and his female companion suffered a concussion.

Armed with a gun, Booth and an unknown female accomplice ambushed the couple in the 200 block of West Huron Street as they were getting out of a car in the early morning hours of July 14, authorities said. 

Booth struggled with the man, hitting him in the head, while his female cohort tried to wrestle the woman's purse out of her hands, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said. 

Then Booth turned on the woman striking her multiple times in the head and kicking her when she fell to the ground, Scaduto said. 

Booth, who was out of jail on bond in a pending gun case, got away. 

But he left his hat behind, prosecutors said. When scientists at the Illinois Crime Lab tested the hat, they found DNA matching Booth's. 

A Cook County judge ordered his held on $450,000 bail Friday during a brief court hearing. 

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