Hapless thief caught after footprints in the snow led straight to his front door

Mother Nature proved to be lead detective in a crime in Athens, Tennessee, during heavy snowfall on Wednesday. The Athens Police Department responded to a burglary call. Someone had broken into a shed behind Jason Owens' house. A chainsaw, jack, jack stands, extension ladder and step ladder had all been stolen. And, the front doors were damaged along with the handles holding the lock. However, the suspect had left a trail of footprints that led straight to his front door.



Patrol Officer Chris Moses said in his report that he "observed footprints in the freshly laid snow where someone climbed over a chain link fence from the rear yard and made their way to the outbuilding and then back to the residence..." The officer followed the footsteps left in the snow to the front door of the suspect's house. Moses spoke with 19-year-old Brandon Rickheim. The officer asked for additional officers because he knew Rickheim was the suspect in several other burglaries.

The officer noticed the teenager was wearing grey tennis shoes at the time. Officer Moses walked to the rear of the duplex and examined the shoe print and the design left behind. He left Rickheim with other officers. When he returned, Rickheim had changed his shoes. When questioned about it, Moses wrote in his report that Rickheim was upset. According to the incident report, Rickheim gave the officer his tennis shoes and walked outside with him and another officer. They compared the shoe to the print, it was identical.


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Benjamin Elkins lives in the other half of the duplex. He's known Rickheim for a couple of years. He also knows about his past and wasn't completely surprised by this arrest. He had to laugh about the footprints leading right to him. Elkins said, "That right there is just stupid. If he is a master thief or whatever you want to call it, he should've known better than that. Footprints leading right to his door." Rickheim remains in the McMinn County jail charged with burglary. Police had arrested him on unrelated charges on Saturday and he had been released on Tuesday, the day before the footprint break-in.