COVINGTON, La. – Police were preparing to arrest a 22-year-old man for smashing glass and burglarizing a cigar shop last October when his identical twin confessed to the crime, according to Covington Police.
Captain Jack West said the burglary, at Jewel’s Cigar and Briar on North New Hampshire Street, left the place with shattered glass on the floor, some pieces which had blood stains on them.
Police said they had the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office process the DNA and that a match was found in the database for 22-year-old Kerry Buras. West said a request in March for Buras’ DNA showed a match for blood at the scene.
He said an arrest warrant was obtained for Kerry Buras when Buras’ lawyer called to say that Kerry had an identical twin named Kory and that he had confessed to the crime.
The lawyer said Kory Buras had taken alcohol along with his prescription medication and that was the reason he smashed the window.
West said detectives found witnesses who said they had remembered cigars, presumably from the burglary, inside Kory Buras’ vehicle.
Armed with that information, an arrest warrant was obtained for Kory. On Friday, June 24, 2011 Kory Buras was placed under arrest at the police department on one count of simple burglary.
Coroner’s Office Investigators told Detectives this was the first time in St. Tammany Parish where identical twins DNA was involved in case.
