WESTPORT–Drops of blood left at the scene of a Westport home burglary more than two years ago led to the arrest of a 30-year-old Queens, N.Y., man in connection with the theft of more than $50,000 in jewelry, designer handbags and other items.

Diego Hernandez-Corba was located last week at the Lakeview Shock Correctional Facility in New York’s Chautauqua County, where he was being held, Westport Police said. Westport detectives transported him back to the Westport Police Department, where he was charged in connection with the burglary. 

The theft had been reported just after midnight, Jan. 8, 2023, when homeowners told police that they’d found the property missing and a first-story window broken when they returned from an afternoon and evening out of town. Several rooms in the home had been searched, police said.

Police found drops of blood near the window and on other items that the thief or thieves had presumably handled. Westport detectives issued “multiple search warrants” and collaborated “with several other out-of-state law enforcement agencies investigating similar crimes perpetrated within their jurisdictions,” the police department said. “Additionally, a presumptive CODIS DNA database match was found from blood samples preserved from the crime scene and later processed by the state’s forensic lab.  All the above yielded a suspect in these incidents, Diego Hernandez-Corba.”

An arrest warrant was issued, and, last week, Westport detectives took Hernandez-Corba into custody at the prison in New York. Back in Westport, he was charged with the following:

• third-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary 
• second-degree criminal mischief and conspiracy to commit criminal mischief 
• first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny.

Unable to post bond set at $30,000, Hernandez-Corba was transported to Stamford Superior Court and arraigned on the charges last Friday morning. He is being held pending his next court appearance on Sept. 17, 2025.