By Chris Cannon
MT. PLEASANT, Tenn. - Police took Michael Burns, 51, into custody Wednesday evening and charged him with the violent sexual assault of a Mt. Pleasant woman last weekend.
The attack took place during the pre-dawn hours of June 23rd.
"He broke into the victim's home. She was awoken by the subject standing over her. He was armed with one or more knives," said Mt. Pleasant Police Chief Tommy Goetz.
Goetz said Burns left the home after the attack, but his detectives used technology to catch up with him.
"He left behind what we were able to collect, good DNA," the chief explained.
DNA samples from the crime scene were taken to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation laboratory in Nashville, and scientists confirmed a match with Burns Wednesday afternoon.
Police were able to link Burns to this case because he had already been convicted of a similar crime.
"He was in the DNA CODIS from an arrest and conviction out of Lewis County on sexual assault," Goetz said.
Burns was led out of the Mt. Pleasant police department Wednesday night and did not answer reporters' questions about his arrest.
Investigators with the Maury County Sheriff's Office are investing a similar sexual assault that happened June 13th in a home seven miles south of Mt. Pleasant.
The TBI is testing DNA from that crime scene, and police are waiting for results to see if Burns can be connected to that attack.
He is being held in the Maury County jail.
email: ccannon@newschannel5.com
Police took Michael Burns, 51, into custody Wednesday evening and charged him with the violent sexual assault of a Mt. Pleasant woman last weekend.
