The Barefoot Bandit

The True Story of Colton Harris-Moore

Early Years on Camano Island

Colton Harris-Moore was born at the Skagit Valley Hospital on March 22, 1991, to parents Pamela Kohler and Gordon Moore. His father reportedly struggled with drug and alcohol abuse and abandoned the family when Colton was still a toddler, leaving Pamela with sole custody. She raised Colton on Camano Island, though they struggled financially, living out a meager existence in a ramshackle single-wide trailer. Pamela also struggled with alcoholism, resulting in an unstable and often abusive environment. As a result, Colton began exhibiting behavioral issues at an early age.

By the age of seven, Moore was already running away from home on a regular basis where would often spend days at a time out in the nearby forests. As a matter of survival, he started breaking into nearby vacation homes where he would steal food and various camping supplies. His first conviction for stolen property came at the age of twelve, and within a year he had begun serving time at local juvenile detention centers due to even more convictions.

Moore attended Stanwood Middle School but was eventually transferred to Lincoln Hill Alternative School (also located in Stanwood) due to ongoing disciplinary issues. His school experience at Lincoln Hill went much the same, and by the 9th grade he slowly stopped going to school and eventually dropped out. During this period, Child Protective Services paid several visits to the family residence due to suspected neglect or abuse, and Colton was placed in temporary foster care.

No longer tethered to the public school system, Colton continued to run afoul of the law, and on July 14, 2006, a warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to attend a mandatory court date. Upon learning that he was now wanted by the police, Moore officially went on the lam. He set up hidden campsites deep in the Camano Island woods and continued his practice of burglarizing homes for food and supplies. Some of the homes he broke into had computers, which he began accessing in order to teach himself the art of identity theft. He would order credit cards in the homeowner’s name, which he would then use to purchase food and high-tech survival gear such as night vision goggles that helped him stay ahead of the police.

Colton was eventually captured and arrested on February 9, 2007. He had been on the run for over six months and was now facing 23 criminal charges, most of which were due to residential burglaries. He made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to three of the crimes, leading to a 3-year sentence at Green Hill School – a high-security juvenile detention facility in Chehalis, WA.

Catch Me If You Can

Somewhat surprisingly, Colton proved to be a model student-inmate at Green Hill School. Due to good behavior, he was eventually transferred to the Griffin Home Residential Treatment Center on February 14, 2008. Located in Renton, WA, Griffin was a minimum-security halfway home used to transition troubled youths back into society, and many speculated that Colton’s exemplary behavior was merely a ruse in order to relocate himself to a place with better escape opportunities. Two months later, on April 29, Moore proved such theories correct when he slipped through an unlocked window at Griffin Home and once again went on the lam. A felony warrant was soon issued for his arrest.

After breaking out of Griffin Home, Colton managed to steal a car and returned to Camano Island, where he resumed his habit of breaking-and-entering in order to steal food and supplies. This time, local authorities were better prepared and mounted an aggressive campaign for his capture. The local press had also taken notice, and news stories soon began appearing about this mysterious teenage outlaw.

On July 18, 2008, the coverage of Colton’s ongoing saga received a significant media bump when sheriff’s deputies on Camano Island gave chase to a black Mercedes that had been seen driving erratically. As the police cars closed in, the driver of the Mercedes suddenly jumped out and ran off into the woods. When police searched the Mercedes they found an assortment of stolen credit cards, cell phones and a digital camera that the mysterious driver had used to take some self-portraits of himself. Moore was quickly identified as being the person in the photos, including an image he took of himself in which he is seen lying on his back in the middle of a forest and looking straight up at the camera. The now iconic image was widely disseminated online, resulting in a growing fanbase that obsessively began following the details of this ongoing crime saga. By this time, the 17-year-old fugitive had also earned himself a catchy nickname resulting from his habit of committing many of his crimes while barefoot and sometimes leaving footprints behind. Among his growing legion of fans, he was now becoming known as the “Barefoot Bandit.”

Due to all the legal heat, Colton decided to escape from Camano Island and used a stolen boat to relocate himself over to Orcas Island. Soon after his arrival, in August 2008, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office suddenly began receiving an increasing number of burglary reports, causing widespread alarm throughout the small island community. Things eventually reached such a critical level that on October 2, 2008, the Orcas Island Chamber of Commerce held a special meeting to address the sudden “plague” of sophisticated break-ins. Local police ramped up their efforts to catch the person responsible who, by now, was strongly suspected as being Colton Harris-Moore.

On November 12, 2008, Colton decided to escape the police dragnet that was now actively set up for him on Orcas Island and stole a Cessna 182 – a single-engine airplane – from a local hangar. Despite having no previous aviation experience, Moore was able to successfully take off from the island and fly 300 miles to the east, where he eventually crash-landed the aircraft on the Yakima Indian Reservation, escaping before authorities could arrive. It is believed that he taught himself to fly from reading aircraft manuals, watching instructional DVDs as well as the countless hours he spent playing Microsoft Flight Simulator- a favorite of his since he was a young child. When police searched the plane, a telltale sign of footprints were discovered inside the cockpit, confirming Colton as being the likely suspect.

As it turned out, the stolen Cessna belonged to Bob Rivers who, at the time, was a popular radio host on Seattle radio station, KZOK-FM. Rivers learned of the theft immediately after signing off from his morning radio show. A year later, when Colton was still on the run, Rivers commented about the incident, telling radio listeners, "I don't buy this folk-hero stuff…I was furious that something like this could happen. I really want him caught."

Following the plane heist, Colton stole a series of cars and stayed on the move, traveling between such places as Reno, Sacramento and eastern Washington. While on the run, Moore had a total of 10 charges filed against him by Island County prosecutors, including identity theft and “flight to avoid prosecution.”

Colton returned to Camano Island in May 2009 and decided to resume his cat-and-mouse games with the Island County Sheriff’s Department. In the early morning hours of June 19, 2009, Moore broke into a patrol car that was parked in front of a deputy’s house and stole a variety of police equipment, including a cell phone, an official-issue police rifle and a supply of ammunition. In response, the sheriff’s department ramped up their efforts to capture the teen outlaw, though by this time, Colton – who was now 18-years old – had become quite calculated, careful and meticulous in his activities, and always managed to stay several steps ahead of law enforcement.

Throughout the summer of 2009, and well into the fall, Colton continued his pattern of island hopping throughout Puget Sound. On September 11, 2009, he stole his second plane – a Cirrus SR22 – from the San Juan Island public airport and flew it to Orcas Island, landing it on the island’s public airport runway. From there, he stole a boat and sailed over to a Washington state pene-exclave, located in Canadian territory, known as Point Roberts. A path of burglaries then stretched across British Columbia, eventually coming to stop in Bonners Ferry, located in northern Idaho.

On September 29, 2009, Colton broke into a Bonners Ferry airplane hangar and made off with a Cessna 182, his third stolen plane, which he managed to fly 260 miles to the west. Camano Island had been his intended landing site, but the plane ran out of fuel, forcing a crash-landing near Granite Falls, WA. During their investigation of the airplane hangar, Idaho police discovered a telltale set of footprints. Colton’s mother, Pam, when asked about the plane theft, told reporters, "I'm proud of him. I was going to send him to flight school, but I guess I don't have to."

On October 2, 2009, a new felony warrant for “forced entry burglary” was issued for Moore’s arrest, followed two months later by a federal arrest warrant, resulting from the theft of the Bonners Ferry airplane. By this time, Moore had become the prime suspect for approximately 100 thefts throughout Washington, Idaho, and Canada, most of which involved an assortment of stolen automobiles, light aircraft, and speedboats.

Undeterred by the increasing number of charges piling up against him, Colton brazenly commandeered yet another Cirrus SR22 from the Anacortes Airport on February 10, 2010, which he later landed on Orcas Island. The following day, he burglarized a local store, Homegrown Grocery, stealing over $1,000 in cash. Embracing his nickname, he used chalk to draw a trail of cartoonish-looking feet that snaked up and down the aisles of the store. The self-drawn footprints ended with a simple, taunting message: “C-Ya.”

At this point, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had also become involved with Moore’s capture, and several agents were deployed to Orcas Island. Coast Guard cutters actively patrolled the offshore waters, on the lookout for any suspicious watercraft, and a Black Hawk helicopter was even flown in to help out with the manhunt efforts. Somehow, Colton was able to escape off the island and make it over to nearby San Juan Island, where he then piloted a stolen boat back to his home terrain on Camano Island. Soon after, the FBI placed a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the 19-year-old fugitive.

On May 31, 2010, a handwritten note and $100 in cash was found at a veterinary clinic in Raymond, WA. The note simply read, "Drove by, had some extra cash. Please use this money for the care of animals — Colton Harris-Moore (AKA: The Barefoot Bandit)"

Captured In The Bahamas

In June 2010, Colton had decided to flee the heavy police presence in Washington state and made his way across the country in a series of stolen vehicles, making it as far east as Illinois. On July 4, 2010, a Cessna was reported stolen from an airport in Bloomington, Indiana. As was immediately suspected, Colton was responsible for the plane’s theft with his intended destination being Cuba due to its lack of extradition treaties with the U.S. government. Colton used his piloting experience to make it as far as the Bahamas, though he was forced to crash land the plane near Great Abaco Island. After the jagged landing, Colton found his way to a nearby fishing village where he managed to survive for several days by stealing food from nearby stores and restaurants.

On July 11, 2010, Moore was captured just before dawn at Harbour island, Bahamas. Thanks to a series of tips from local residents, the Bahamian police managed to close in on the famous fugitive after he ran a stolen boat onto a sandbar and had become stuck just a short distance from shore. Not taking any chances, the police shot out the engine of Colton’s boat and ordered him to put his hands in the air. Moore responded by putting a gun to his head and threatening to pull the trigger, but was eventually talked out of it and soon surrendered to authorities where he was immediately placed under arrest.

Two days later, he was extradited from Nassau, Bahamas, to Miami, Florida, where was held until July 21, at which point he was then transferred to the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, WA. Colton would be held at the detention center for the next two years as he faced numerous charges at county, state and federal levels. After being sentenced to seven years of state prison time by the Washington State Court, and an additional six years by the Island County Court, he was finally seen at the Federal District Court in Seattle for all the federal charges he had accrued from his international crime spree. On January 27, 2012, a U.S. District judge advised Moore that “it was time for a new life flight plan,” and issued a six-year sentence. Colton spoke before the court and said that he was genuinely remorseful for his crimes and that when he got out of prison, he planned to work towards becoming an aeronautical engineer. His county, state and federal prison time was consolidated together, and Colton was soon transferred to the Stafford Creek Corrections Center, in Aberdeen, WA, to begin serving his combined six-year sentence. Soon after reporting to prison, Moore sold the rights to his life story to 20th Century Fox for $1.4 million, all of which went towards restitution per the terms of his sentencing.

In 2016, Colton’s mother, Pam, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Given her terminal prognosis, Colton set up a GoFundMe page in which he solicited donations towards having his mother’s body cryogenically frozen, with the hope that her body could be later revived and successfully cured of her cancer when technology later allowed for such things. “Cryonic preservation is the only solution to save Pam,” he wrote on his since-deleted GoFundMe page, where he sought $230,000 for the procedure. His mother eventually succumbed to cancer and died on May 17, 2016. At the time of her death, Colton had only managed to raise $2,170 and was therefore unable to pay to have her body cryogenically preserved. Since he hadn’t met his full goal, all money was refunded back to the donors.

Post-Prison Life

On September 2, 2016, a 25-year-old Colton Harris-Moore was released from prison on probation and went to live at a halfway house near Seattle. He took a part-time clerical job with John Henry Browne - the high-profile Seattle attorney who had represented him in court.

In December of that year, he started another GoFundMe page in an attempt to raise more than $125,000 for flight school training. As he wrote on his page, “Now I am 25 years old, free, and ready to do it (fly) LEGALLY! I love airplanes, but I will never steal one or break the law again. I broke the law big league when I was younger, but now it’s time to focus on my career and life in the free world.” However, despite the $1.4 million he had received from 20th Century Fox (which had been used towards restitution), he still owed his victims a total of $129,000. As a result, he was ordered to halt any such fundraising efforts until that balance had been fully paid. His GoFundMe page had managed to raise $1,600, all of which went towards the court-ordered restitution. On his Twitter account, which has since been deleted, Colton tweeted that, “I Feel like my dream has been crushed. What a terrible feeling.”

As of the date of this writing, his last public appearance occurred in May 2019, when he was interviewed on KTTH 770-AM radio, by Seattle conservative personality, Jason Rantz. During the interview, Colton reflected back on his life, recalling how his lifelong interest in airplanes had resulted in his first memorable flight, back in 2008, when he piloted a stolen Cessna: “It’s this uncontrollable obsession, that’s really what it is…It’s something that you have dreamt about and waited for your entire life. And out of all the possibilities of that moment, no matter what scenario or situation you could find yourself in, that one moment, you were exactly where you were supposed to be, and I wonder if I’ll ever feel that again. It’s one of those moments that I think you only get once or twice in your entire life.”

Looking ahead to his future, Colton struck a somewhat pessimistic tone, “I think it’s gonna be difficult to have a normal life. I really do. In fact, I don’t think I’m ever going to have a normal life.” Since that interview, Moore completed his probation and has remained fairly reclusive, erasing all traces of himself on any previously held social media pages. His current whereabouts are unknown.

(last known photo of Colton, circa 2018)