DNA from leftover burrito leads to explosive arrest

Wisconsin authorities have apprehended a Boston man after a partially-eaten burrito blew open the explosive case.

Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, was arrested for allegedly firebombing the offices of an anti-abortion group in Madison, Wisconsin, last May.

DNA from the leftover burrito connected him to the crime.

Roychowdhury was arrested at Boston's airport on Tuesday before boarding a one-way fight to Guatemala City, the US Attorney's Office in Madison says.

The offices of Wisconsin Family Action were firebombed with Molotov cocktails last year on Mother's Day. The group is a conservative non-profit that opposes same-sex marriage and abortion.

On the outside of the building large black words had been spray-painted in cursive: "If abortions aren't safe then you aren't either."

Although DNA was recovered from the scene, authorities spent nearly a year searching for the person they say committed the crime. They had very few leads - until earlier this month.

That's when local law enforcement officers, who had identified Roychowdhury as a potential suspect, say they followed him to a parking lot where he tossed a fast-food bag.

"Law enforcement retrieved the bag from the trash. The contents of the bag included a quarter portion of a partially eaten burrito wrapped in waxed paper," court documents state.

Officials sent the burrito and the contents of the bag to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) lab for testing.

"The results from the ATF laboratory indicate the DNA collected from the contents of the brown paper bag is a match to the DNA of "Male 1" that was recovered from evidence at the arson," court documents say.

Roychowdhury has been charged with one count of "attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive," according to the US Attorney's Office in Madison.

"Mr. Roychowdhury used an incendiary device in violation of federal law in connection with his efforts to terrorize and intimidate a private organization," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division in a statement.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. Brendan O. Kelley, a federal public defender who is listed as Roychowdhury's attorney in court documents, did not immediately return requests for comment.