A 73-year-old man accused of breaking into one Bethesda home and attempting to force his way into another is now sitting in a Fairfax County, Virginia detention facility awaiting extradition to Montgomery County, where he faces first-degree burglary and attempted first-degree burglary charges. Police say Michael Spillino was behind two separate incidents in Bethesda less than two weeks apart, and that stolen property from one of those break-ins turned up in his vehicle after his arrest.
A Mother Upstairs With Her Child Hears Kicking at the Door
According to The MoCo Show, officers responded at approximately 8:27 a.m. on Oct. 19 to the 6000 block of Broxburn Drive for a reported attempted burglary. The homeowner told police she had been upstairs with her young child when she heard a loud noise and spotted a man kicking at her rear door. Police said the suspect had tried to force the door open using an object taken from the sunroom before fleeing when he realized he had been seen, per that outlet's report. The homeowner managed to photograph the man and his vehicle, according to Patch, which reported the attempted burglary occurred in the 6000 block of Broxburn Drive.
A Week Later, a Burglary a Mile Away
A week later, at roughly 8:35 a.m. on Oct. 26, officers responded to the 8000 block of Burdette Road — more than a mile from the earlier incident — for a burglary in progress, Patch reported. A homeowner there said she heard noises and saw a man looking into her bedroom before he left after she confronted him, according to the same account. Surveillance footage reportedly showed the suspect arriving in a white Chevrolet Equinox, peering through several windows, and then entering through an unlocked rear door before leaving with stolen property.
Detectives determined that the same suspect and vehicle were tied to both Bethesda incidents, according to police, and investigators shared images of the suspect with surrounding law enforcement agencies in the search for a match.
License Plate Technology Leads to an Arrest in Fairfax County
The trail led across the Potomac. Police say Spillino was also linked to a residential burglary that took place on Oct. 27 in Fairfax County, the day after the Burdette Road break-in. The Fairfax County Police Department said officers responded to the 8900 block of Karen Drive in Mantua at 9:40 a.m. that day after a homeowner watched a man break into the residence on a home security camera and gave officers a description of both the suspect and his vehicle. Real Time Crime Center detectives then used automated license plate reader technology to locate the suspect vehicle on Richmond Highway in Fair Haven, leading Fairfax County detectives to Spillino.
After his arrest, a search of his vehicle recovered property stolen during the Bethesda burglary as well as evidence tied to the Fairfax County case, according to police. Patch similarly reported that the search returned stolen items connected to both the Oct. 26 and Oct. 27 burglaries.
Residence Listed Differently, Bond and Custody Status Unclear
Accounts of where Spillino lives diverge. The MoCo Show's report, citing Montgomery County police, described him as a 73-year-old man from Newport, Oregon — a detail Patch also reported. The Fairfax County Police Department, however, identified him as being from Alexandria. The dossier of available reporting does not reconcile the discrepancy.
There is also an unresolved question about his custody status. Fairfax County police said Spillino was released on a $2,000 bond following his arrest there, while Patch's Nov. 5 report said he was being held in a Fairfax County detention facility awaiting extradition to Montgomery County to face the Bethesda charges. How those two accounts fit together has not been explained in available reporting.
Montgomery County police said detectives linked Spillino to both the residential burglary and the attempted burglary in Bethesda, and he now faces first-degree burglary and attempted first-degree burglary charges in those cases. Under Maryland law, first-degree burglary generally involves breaking and entering a dwelling with intent to commit theft or a crime of violence, according to the Maryland General Assembly's statute text. The allegations against Spillino remain just that — allegations — and no response from him or an attorney representing him has been made public.
