DNA Leads To Arrest Seven Months After Delray Beach Incident.
DELRAY BEACH, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A Boynton Beach man is facing multiple felony charges after investigators say DNA evidence tied him to a stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee that was rammed into a Delray Beach police officer’s cruiser during a chase back in January. Travis William Tomasello, 46, was arrested and just appeared in court, nearly seven months after the case began.
BocaNewsNow.com has learned that the case dates back to December 31, 2025, when Delray Beach police say a woman reported her white Jeep Grand Cherokee was stolen from a guest parking spot on SE 7th Avenue. Just after midnight on New Year’s Day, an officer spotted the Jeep and tried to pull it over near Lowson Boulevard. Police say the driver threw the SUV into reverse, striking the officer’s marked cruiser, then fled, clipping a water pipe, a tree and a curb before spinning out and abandoning the vehicle. The driver got away that night.
But… crime scene investigators processed the abandoned Jeep and found two debit cards and a cellphone bearing Tomasello’s name, along with vape pens, bottles and other items inside. DNA swabbed from the steering wheel, gear shift, a vape and a Gatorade bottle was sent to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office crime lab. Results returned in June found it was likely that it was Tomasello’s DNA.
Investigators separately connected Tomasello to a reported burglary the same night in Boynton Beach, where a homeowner said a stranger wearing his clothes let himself out of the house and left behind a wallet containing identification. A Palm Beach Gardens detective who later interviewed Tomasello, already in custody on unrelated charges, said he invoked his right to remain silent. A judge signed off on a DNA search warrant in January, and results tying him to the stolen Jeep came back roughly five months later, leading to the arrest warrant.
Tomasello is charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, grand theft of a motor vehicle, and fleeing and eluding. A judge set bond at $25,000 on each of the four counts — he remains held on Saturday.
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