Las Cruces robber, who ‘face-planted’ into door and left DNA behind, gets arrested

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — A suspected robber who “face-planted” into a Pizza Hut door in Las Cruces before fleeing has been arrested thanks to the DNA evidence he left behind, police said Thursday.

Markell Deshaun Barnes, 19, was taken into custody last week in Albuquerque after a forensic laboratory matched his DNA.

According to police, officers had swabbed the door for possible DNA evidence from the June 2019 robbery of a Pizza Hut in Las Cruces. Investigators took the DNA after reviewing surveillance images and seeing the 19-year-old face-planting into a locked door.

Barnes is suspected in another Las Cruces robbery that same day at a gas station.

He has been charged with one third-degree felony count of attempted armed robbery and one fourth-degree felony count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Barnes has since been transferred to the Doña Ana County Detention Center where he is being held without bond.