By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

A DNA trail and a criminal history including murder led to the arrest of a man wanted for two July burglaries in Brandon Township.

Oakland County Sheriff’s Office deputies and the Fugitive Apprehension Team located Randall Lee Holcomb, 43, on Nov. 21 at a residence in Taylor and took him into custody on a felony warrant for the burglaries.

According to OCSO reports, the two burglaries happened just over a week apart and both involved safes.

On July 9, deputies responded to Cornerstone Baptist Church, 3060 Seymour Lake Road, after a church trustee arrived to cut the grass and found numerous locked doors had been pried open and someone had used a power drill to enter a safe and take an undetermined amount of cash. Other damage included a smashed window on the upper level of the west side of the building that leads into the church area.

Just eight days earlier, on July 1, Brandon deputies responded to Cook’s Farm Dairy, 2950 E. Seymour Lake Road, after an employee there reported he arrived for work in the morning and found a smashed glass door as well as a pried open door and foot locker, from which a safe containing $500 cash was stolen.

Blood left behind at the church crime scene led to the arrest of Holcomb on Nov. 21. During a subsequent interview on his involvement, he admitted to both break-ins, saying he made a “bad decision” after gambling away his entire paycheck at the casino.

He declined to provide a written statement, saying he was too depressed to write and does not want to go back to jail.

Holcomb spent 22 years in prison after he was convicted in 1989 of second degree murder. He also has a previous conviction for burglary and was released from parole in 2011.

He is currently in Oakland County Jail with his next 52-2 Court appearance scheduled for Dec. 5.