Migrant busted in fatal shooting of NYC teenager thanks to DNA sample from US border

A 37-year-old illegal immigrant was charged Wednesday in the slaying of a Bronx teenager last year – after detectives used DNA from a sweatshirt they snatched out of a laundromat dryer to help crack the case, according to law enforcement sources.

Kenhy Sarrias Buelvas was arrested six months after he allegedly opened fire on 16-year-old Kemari Sanders while the young victim was riding on a moped with a pal in the Bronx around 4 a.m. on Aug. 23, according to police and sources.

The pair reached Bryant Street and were turning around to look for a phone one of them lost when bullets started flying, striking Sanders in the neck, sources said.  

It’s believed Buelvas, an alleged drug dealer, pulled the trigger because he saw the two riding around and thought they wanted to rob him, according to sources.

“This guy was a drug dealer – and probably thought they were riding around looking to rob him, so what does he do? He kills a kid who’s just looking for his cellphone,” a source told The Post.

The teen died from his injuries more than a month later on Oct. 4, morphing the shooting into a homicide case that required a combo of gritty old-school and high-tech police work.

In the early stages of their probe, investigators tracked down a wide array of video surveillance that led them to a laundromat where the gunman allegedly threw a sweatshirt into a dryer and then fled, sources said.

Detectives retrieved that piece of clothing, which was tested for any DNA.

In the meantime, the NYPD spread a wanted flyer that led to a tip from a caller who said the person on the flyer resembled a Colombian who sells weed from a van in the area, according to sources.

Police finally reached a breakthrough earlier this month when DNA from the clothing pinged a match to DNA collected by Customs and Border Protection in Laredo, Texas dating back to December 23, 2023, sources said.

Buelvas had attempted to cross into the country illegally and was captured before he was released into the states, sources said.

A picture taken of the border crosser from that day was also sent back to New York by the feds, which appeared to show the same man on the wanted flyer.

To further bolster their case, authorities then found a transit summons that was issued to the alleged shooter in June 2024 in the Bronx, leading them to comb over body-worn footage from that day that matched up with the same person in the wanted flyer and at the border crossing, sources said.

Buelvas was finally picked up by the NYPD Warrants Squad and charged with murder, manslaughter and illegal gun possession.

He’s believed to have been working at a Manhattan car dealership leading up to his arrest, sources said.

The NYPD’s Domain Awareness System, which is a network where officers can find up-to-date information to aid investigations, was a big help in solving the case. 

“You look at all the steps that got us from DNA to a transit summons that put this guy in cuffs – without the Domain Awareness System that never would have been possible,” a source explained. 

Additional reporting by Amanda Woods and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon