Posted on 02/23/2012 8:55:21 AM PST by JerseyanExile
He's eluded authorities for more than five years, a mountain man who roams the wilderness of southern Utah, breaking into remote cabins in winter, living in luxury off hot food, alcohol and coffee before stealing provisions and vanishing into the woods.
Investigators have clawed for clues, scouring cabins for fingerprints that match no one and chasing reports of brief encounters only to come up short, always a step behind the mysterious recluse.
They've found abandoned camps, dozens of guns, high-end outdoor gear stolen from the homes and trash strewn around the forest floor.
But the man authorities say is armed and dangerous and responsible for more than two dozen burglaries has continued to outrun the law across a swath of mountains not far from Zion National Park. He's roamed across 1,000 square miles of rugged wilderness where snow can pile 10 feet deep in winter.
And while there have been no violent confrontations, detectives say he's a time bomb. Lately he has been leaving the cabins in disarray and riddled with bullets after defacing religious icons, and a recent note left behind in one cabin warned, "Get off my mountain." "You wouldn't want to come across that guy," said Iron County Det. Jody Edwards, who has been working the case since 2007.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
How about this theory: he’s a whacked-out a**hole.
He must have just gotten back from the Occupy Wall Street protests...
You knew that someone would post it ....
cue helos with FLIR ..
Yes, probably a lost boy. But this is so “last week”....
It’s probably DB Cooper.
Yeh, I remember reading about all the cabins Davey robbed....
Ping to news of our homeland.
He doesn’t exist. It’s all made up. We would have found him by now, or found his body, or some of his stuff. All we have are these big fake footprints and messed up cabins.
Can’t be real. Just people trying to collect on fake insurance claims. That’s got to be it.
Look up the ‘Cookie bandit’ in New Mexico a year or two ago. He had the same lifestyle,, breaking into cabins, stealing, living like a mountain man. People didn’t take him seriously,, just thought he was a nusiance. He was finally caught in the act, killed a deputy and was then killed by the other deputy.
It turned out that he was living this lifestyle because he was on the run from a few thrill killings in northern California. A first class low life.
If so, then he’s a rich whacked-out a**hole.
The solution is for cabin owners to store in some poisoned food.
The Animal Planet channel has an extensive series looking for him. Goes by “squatch”.
You think he should be killed?
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=19317397&title=police-identify-mountain-man-burglar
CEDAR CITY — After years of searching and dead leads, police believe they have positively identified a reclusive burglar responsible for dozens of burglaries among the luxury cabins in the mountains near Cedar City.
The Kane and Iron County sheriff’s offices say the man is Troy James Knapp, 44.
“This positive identification of this suspect is the result of good old fashioned investigative work along with tips provided by the public,” the agencies said in a statement. “We have followed up on hundreds of leads before finally identifying this suspect.”
An arrest warrant has been issued for Knapp, and he has been charged with two counts of burglary, a count of aggravated burglary and one count of possession of a firearm by a restricted person.
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