FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- A murder victim helped detectives investigating his death by biting off a suspect's thumb.

Investigators matched Douglas O'Neil Hannam's prints to the thumb found at Bowen's Auto Body after a botched armed robbery that resulted in the slaying last month, police said.Police think Hannam, 26, fled to New York City.

On May 12, Hannam and two others who already have been arrested allegedly tried to rob shop owner Spurgeon Bowen, but Bowen fought back and bit off Hannam's thumb. One of the men in custody is accused of firing the fatal shots.

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Hannam received medical treatment for the severed thumb at a hospital where he told doctors he cut it off with a saw.

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