After police collected DNA evidence from an SUV stolen in Darien and left in Hamden, they linked that evidence to a 19-year-old Hamden man and charged him with stealing it, Darien police said.
Police gave this account of the case, including accusations not proven in court:
Arrest photo from Darien P.D.
Khalil Council, 19, of Hobson Avenue in Hamden, charged with larceny of a motor vehicle, first offense.
Almost a year ago, on May 27, 2024, a 2021 Audi Q5 was reported stolen from outside a house on Hickory Lane. It had been left unlocked with the keys inside.
The vehicle was found in Hamden on June 5, and Darien, Hamden and New Haven police worked together on the investigation. Police didn’t say how they linked the DNA in the vehicle with the DNA of Khalil Council of Hobson Avenue in Hamden.
After getting a search warrant for Council’s DNA, on Jan. 27, 2025 police compared it with DNA taken from the car and determined the two samples matched.
Council was arrested on a warrant on May 14, when he turned himself in at Darien Police Headquarters. He couldn’t pay the court-set bond of $100,000.
He was unable to post bond, so he was taken to state Superior Court in Stamford the next day. His bond was reduced to $50,000, and he was released. He is next scheduled to appear in court on July 21.
Council was charged with larceny of a motor vehicle, first offense — a Class E felony. That class of felonies, the least severe class, has a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $3,500 fine.
He has five other criminal court cases, according to the Connecticut Judicial Branch website. All are in state Superior Court in New Haven, two of them criminal cases and the other three, motor vehicle cases. Each of those cases is sealed, and the next court date for them is Oct. 21. (A sealed case with a court date far into the future sometimes can be dismissed on that date.)