Cops Crack McDonald's Cold Case

Wyckoff Police say DNA evidence helped them solve the case of a knifepoint robbery after more than 3 years of hunting down the suspect. 

On November 26, 2008 a employee carrying $800 in cash left the fast food restaurant to make a bank deposit just after midnight when he was approached by two males, one of whom held a knife to his neck and stole the cash. 

There was a struggle between the men and the McDonald's employee sustained a small cut to his hand before his attackers fled the scene on foot. 

later found a bloody glove on a nearby street. A blood sample was sent for DNA testing. Police matched the sample to Samuel McArthur, 46. 

A DNA link was insufficient to charge the suspect with a crime, cops said, but Detective Sgt. Joseph Soto spent the next several years trying to locate McArthur, whose last known address was in Paterson. 

Efforts to locate him were initially unsuccessful, yet the search continued. Soto came closer to solving the crime when he recently discovered that McArthur was locked up in East Jersey State Prison in Rahway on a drug conviction. 

Soto, along with Detective Sgt. Michael Musto, traveled to the prison and interviewed McArthur. 

Police say McArthur told detectives that he had been recruited by an unknown individual to commit the McDonald's robbery and was later paid $280 from the cash they'd stolen. McArthur said he'd cut his hand while opening the knife that was used, which accounted for the bloody glove, police said. 

Soto charged McArthur with first degree robbery, using a weapon in the commission of a crime, and unlawful possession of a weapon. Bail was set at $150,000 by Judge Russel B. Teschon and a warrant was sent to the prison as a further detainer on McArthur.

Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox praised Soto for his "tenacity in bringing this potentially violent crime to a conclusion."

"He had a piece of the puzzle and he wasn’t going to be satisfied until he found who he was looking for," Fox said.