Cops: Blood trail led to murder suspect

Police have made an arrest in the beating death Sunday of a Georgetown, Del. man. after investigators followed a trail of blood from the crime scene to an apartment in which the suspect was allegedly hiding.

Teveya Brittingham, 24, of Lewes, is charged with first-degree murder.

Officers with the Georgetown Police Department responded shortly after 3 a.m. to the Dunbarton Apartments for a report of a body in one of the building's vestibules.

There, they found 43-year-old Cornelius Henry, who was pronounced dead on the scene. An autopsy conducted Monday revealed the cause of death to be homicide by blunt force trauma to the head and neck, according to investigators.

Delaware State Police, who took over the investigation, said a blood trail leading from the crime scene ended at a nearby apartment. Inside, they found Brittingham, who investigators said "had a significant amount of blood on the lower portion of his pants and sneakers."

Brittingham was taken into custody Sunday and jailed for a probation violation at the Sussex Correctional Institution.

Those charges were upgraded Tuesday to murder after detectives conducted interviews and reviewed crime scene evidence they say implicated Brittingham.

Brittingham was arraigned via video phone Tuesday evening and is being held without bail at the Sussex Correctional Institution.

Police said the investigation into the crime remains ongoing.