Henry Turberfield, '26
Most sixteen-year-olds are thinking about what their future is going to be like; not Colton Harris Moore. Stealing chicken nuggets, frozen pizzas, cars and planes- Colton wouldn’t abide by typical life. Living on Camano Island, a community off the coast of Seattle and near the border of Canada, Colton broke into multiple vacation homes on the island. In fact, he started breaking into homes as early as the age of 12. After his father left due to alcoholism and his mother having her own problems, Colton would spend multiple days at a time in the woods where he stashed his stolen chicken nuggets and frozen pizzas. Reports of a 6 '5 sixteen-year-old breaking into homes spread fast over the neighborhood. Soon, there were online pages reporting the actions of Colton, and he became a wanted criminal. Colton was arrested previously at the age of 15 for the same thing. This didn’t stop Colton though; he proceeded to break into more houses. More warrants for his arrest piled up and an island-wide police hunt began.
After Colton had been through a house, he’d leave the lights on and leave footprints everywhere. This ultimately is what led to his name of “The Barefoot Bandit.” Eventually, the police tracked Colton back to his stash in the forest where they found clothes, food, technology, and other stolen goods under a tent hung up on a tree. The police also found a camera where they found numerous photos of Colton (photo seen to the right). Colton watched the police raid his stash just 20 feet away laying down on a hill. Watching, he knew he had to get off the island. He broke into multiple cars and invited police to chase him, even jumping out of a car to escape the police. He broke into planes, specifically ones that he had flown in video games. He’d disregard the fuel gauge and take flight with no real destination just away from the island. When he was done, he’d crash them. This cycle repeated: stealing cars leading, the police on, narrowly escaping, stealing a plane, and crashing it. Months after his first warrant, he was the FBI’s most wanted teen in the nation. In total, he stole 11 boats, 14 cars, 3 guns, and 5 planes. Although Colton was considered “extremely dangerous”, he didn’t harm a soul on his nationwide chase.
What separated Colton from a typical criminal was his superhuman ability and luck to escape from the police. Colton’s closest call occurred in a family home located in North Dakota. There, he broke in just to wash his clothes. As his clothes dried, Colton wanted to take a nice warm shower after being on the run for about a year. As he was in the shower, the family that owned the home arrived back from vacation. After the family saw naked Colton rushing to get his clothes out of the dryer, the husband of the family chased Colton around the house until Colton ended up locked in the basement. With nowhere to go and the cops coming, Colton thought his spree was over. As the police searched the home, there was no sign of Colton, but noises from the family’s car were heard driving off. Colton had stolen the car after escaping through a narrow basement window.
On July 4, 2010, Colton stole a plane from an airport in Bloomington, Indiana. He wanted to fly to Cuba due to the lack of extradition treaties with the U.S. But Colton, again, having not checked the fuel gauge, crashed on the Great Abaco Island. Local authorities were alerted of Colton’s arrival, due to the airport’s air traffic control contacting the owner of the plane moments after it had been stolen. His plane was found, and a warrant for his arrest was issued all over the island. He survived for several days on the island by hiding. One day, he jumped in a boat and asked nearby party-goers to call the cops to chase him, because he was “bored.” He was chased and shot before Colton washed up in a sand bed and was caught. On July 12, 2012, Colton was sentenced six and a half years before he was released on probation in 2016. Colton was offered a job at his defense attorney’s firm doing low level responsibilities and raised over $129,000 for any harm he caused his victims. Colton has pledged to be a model citizen and is living an honest life today in Seattle.
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