McDowell County -- May 20, 2026: The McDowell County Sheriff’s Office News Release: Recently solved two burglary cases dating back to 2020 and 2023 thanks to advancements in DNA technology, the use of the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), and the diligent investigative work of Detectives Billie Brown and Derrick McGinnis. As a result, Shannon Nicole Mills, 33, of Marion, was charged with the following offenses:
• felony Second Degree Burglary
• felony Larceny After Breaking and Entering
• felony Breaking and Entering
• felony Larceny After Breaking and Entering
Mills was arrested on May 15, 2026 and received a secured bond of $20,000.
The charges stem from the break-in of a residence on Mack Noblitt Road in 2020 and the break-in of a storage unit in Marion in 2023.
In many cases, identifying a suspect through DNA evidence can take years, as individuals must first be entered into the DNA index system before a match can be made. In these cases, evidence collected from both incidents was later analyzed and matched through CODIS, allowing detectives to identify the suspect and move the investigations forward.
The Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory’s Western Regional Lab for their assistance in this investigation.