Feds solve deadly bank robbery case with DNA from licked envelope

Authorities have arrested the suspect in a 2003 fatal bank robbery with help from a tipster and a stealthy DNA sample from an envelope.

Richard Leon Wilbern was arraigned in federal court for his alleged involvement in the robbery 13 years ago that left one dead and one wounded.

Federal agents claim he walked into the Xerox Federal Credit Union on August 13, 2003 disguised as an FBI agent and pretended to conduct a security assessment.

After that, he is believed to have pulled out two guns, killing a man and taking more than $10,000.

Investigators were looking into the tip when Wilbern called the FBI to report a suspected real estate scam.

When agents met with Wilbern, who served time for a 1980 bank robbery, they had him sign paperwork and lick an envelope, from which they obtained a DNA sample.

They matched that sample to one taken from an umbrella left behind at the bank robbery 13 years earlier.

Wilbert has been charged with bank robbery resulting in death and weapons counts. The charge make him eligible for the federal death penalty, though federal executions are rare.