He was seventeen years old. He had never taken a single flying lesson. He didn't even have a driver's license. And yet, for two years, this teenager stole cars, boats, and at least five airplanes — teaching himself to fly from stolen laptops and library books — while the FBI, Homeland Security, and police in two countries hunted him and failed, again and again.
This is the true story of Colton Harris-Moore, better known as "The Barefoot Bandit." From a run-down trailer on Camano Island, Washington, to a high-speed boat chase in the dark waters of the Bahamas, his two-year crime spree left investigators baffled and the internet fascinated.
By the time this story ends, he'll have crash-landed a plane on a tropical island, led police on a high-speed boat chase in the dark, and become one of the strangest folk heroes America has ever produced.
No one was killed during his run. Some saw a dangerous, reckless criminal. Others saw a teenager, failed early by every system meant to protect him, who found the one thing he was good at and refused to stop.
Both can be true at the same time. That's what makes this story worth telling.
If this is the kind of story you want more of — real people, real chases, real consequences, told straight — hit subscribe, turn on notifications, and tell me in the comments: folk hero, or just a very lucky criminal? I read everything. See you in the next one.
