You will find parts of MIB CE5 and Carmen Sandiego in this geocache, with apologies to each.
Do not go to the above coordinates.
Nothing is known about the thief except that he is bold and weird. He always leaves one or two things behind when a theft occurs. One is a puzzle and the other has something to do with the solution location.
The thief has operated outside of Colorado until recently and you have been assigned to track him down and recover the cache that he has hidden.
His last heist was a purse snatching and although the scene was crowded, there were no witnesses.
Lets look at the possible thieves.
Tom, Frank and Billy
Clanton and McLaury Brothers
There were three Clanton brothers. Ike, Billy and Phineas. Billy Clanton was just as much of a thief as his brothers but seemd to have more sense, for the most part. Ike was the most boisterous and most devoted to the high life in Tombstone. He had acquired fast horses and loved to race. Marshall Wyatt Earp owned a mount that he consider as fast as any other horse but it had been stolen. When Wyatt found it months later, Billy Clanton was in the saddle. The situation was written off as a misunderstanding. Wyatt had reason to be charitable. Billy was involved in stealing of some mules from a nearby Army post, which were kept at McLaury's ranch. Wyatt and Morgan Earp and a detachment of soldiers found the mules as the brands were being altered. Wyatt was promised that the mules would be returned only to find out later that the mules had been stolen by some rustler friends, thus removing the evidence and hope of prosecution. Billy was to be in Tombstone on the October 26, 1881 with no other purpose than to pick up his brother, Ike. When he arrived in town he was told by a friend that Ike had been arrested and was now out on bail. Billy found Ike and told him get his horse and go home. Ike said that he would in awhile. Billy was with Frank McLaury and they were armed as they walked to Ike's wagon by the corral. One reason that the Clantons were free to do pretty much as they pleased, John Behan, the sheriff of Cochise County was friendly to the rowdy cowboys who had helped get him into office. On October 25, 1881, tension was running high between the Clanton and the Earp brothers. Tom McLaury and Ike Clanton arrived in town in a wagon and left it and the team at a corral owned by Sherriff Behan. Ike partied until past midnight and about 1 AM walked into the Alhambra Saloon to get something to eat. A little later Doc Holliday walked in and hostilities started between Ike and Doc. Hostilities escalated until about 11:30am on the 26th when Wyatt said the he would disarm the Clantons and headed for the corral picking up his brothers and Doc along the way. They met the Clantons and McLaurys at the corral and they faced each other about six feet apart. In the silence, two clicks were heard as Billy and Frank cocked their holstered six-shooters.
Ike Clanton wannabe: He is nowhere near as boisterous as his namesake. He has blue eyes, blonde hair, a mustache but otherwise clean shaven and of medium build in both height and width. He is a thief and proud of it.
Billy Clanton wannabe: He is a mousey character. He has green eyes but dark hair, a mustache and beard, medium height and skinny as a rail. His specialty was night burglaries.
Doc Holliday
John "Doc" Holliday was a friend of Wyatt Earp from the Dodge city days. He was an ardent gambler and sometimes dentist and actually had an office. In July of 1878, two cowboys decide to shoot up the town as they were leaving it. Charles Bassett was town marshal, Wyatt Earp was assistant marshal, Bat Masterson's younger brother was a policeman on the city force and Bat was sheriff of the surrounding county. doc and Bat were in the Lady Gay that evening playing Spanish monte when the bullets started flying and everyone dropped to the floor, which was standard procedure. Eddie Foy was performing at the time. He came to tombstone not long after the Earps having been delayed in Prescott by a run of luck at faro. Doc was arrested by Sheriff Behan on suspicion of killing a stage driver during an attempted holdup some miles outside of town. The cases were dismissed for lack of evidence. Doc was not a man to forgive or forget. Doc Holliday was looked upon with respect and awe for in one single combat he dispatched no less than eight desperadoes. Alcoholic and tubercular at 28, he was a walking cadaver, with a flash temper and a cold-blooded readiness to kill. This was to be satisfied on October 26, 1881. In the early morning hours of that day, Doc walked into the Alhambra Saloon and was inflamed by the sight of Ike Clanton, an old enemy. Doc tried to provoke a show-down right then and there but Ike was unarmed. At Wyatt's suggestion, Morgan separated the two and drug Doc into the street. Tensions escalated during that day until the Earps headed for the O.K. Corral to disarm the Clantons and McLaurys. Doc was following the Earps wearing a long gray coat and carrying a cane. Wyatt told him that this was not his fight and Doc was offended. Wyatt was the best friend that doc had. Virgil deputized Doc and swapped a cane for a shotgun, telling Doc to hide it under his coat. The four men resumed their march toward the corral.
Doc Holliday wannabe: He has the same temper as his namesake. He has dark brown eyes and graying hair, a mustache and no beard. He is short and quite rotund. He is not a good thief and has a long rap sheet.
Earp Brothers
When the Earp brothers first set sight on Tombstone in December of 1879, it was ten months old. Just a collection of tents and shanties on a high plateau between the Dragoon and Whetstone mountains. Wyatt,31, and James,38, came from Dodge City by way of Prescott, Arizona to pick up Virgil who had been prospecting there. Eight years earlier Wyatt and a friend had been charged with stealing horses near Fort Gipson, Oklahoma. They were indicted by a grand jury but Wyatt got out of town before the case came to trial. He then worked as a policeman in Wichita, Kansas where he failed to turn in the fines collected. He then moved to Dodge City where he became Marshal and a good friend of Doc Holliday. He moonlighted there as a faro and monte dealer at the Long Branch where he got a percentage of the house earnings. James had been wounded in the civil war and had a game arm and a passive nature and entered the business end of saloon keeping. Virgil and Wyatt were of a different nature, Wyatt in particular was imperturbable and fearless. He bought into the gambling concession at the fanciest and most profitable establishment in town, the Oriental Saloon and he also ran a nightly faro game at a saloon across the street at the Eagle Brewery. Virgil became Marshall when a cattle rustler came into town for a night of carousing and casually shot and killed the current one. Wyatt became the deputy sheriff when Virgil became marshal. Morgan, 28, joined his brothers in tombstone in 1880. He was hot-headed and had been a laborer and occasional policeman. Wyatt introduced him to the local Wells Fargo agent and he started riding shotgun on the 11-hour stagecoach run to Tucson. Two sets of brothers, the Clantons and McLaurys, who were friends since the early 1870s, were raising cattle along the San Pedro River west of Tombstone before the town existed. Until Tombstone came into existence they sold their beef, along with what the rustled, to the U.S government. They did not get along with the Earps. One reason that the Clantons and McLaurys were able to continue their dubious livestock dealings was, John Behan, the sheriff of newly formed Cochise County. He did not get along with the Earps. Wyatt coveted the sheriff's job and planned to run against him in the election. He also coveted a pretty young actress from the cast of Pinafore who had been living with John until Wyatt completely captured her affections. John and Wyatt did not get along. Things pretty much came to a head on October 26, 1881 when the Earps and Doc Holliday went to the O.K. Corral to disarm the Clantons and McLaurys.
Wyatt Earp wannabe: This guy is plain nasty. He has dark brown eyes and hair, a mustache and short beard, Tall and quite thin. He is a bumbling thief but has never been caught.
Virgil Earp wannabe: You don't want to get in this guys way. He has blonde hair, blue eyes and a mustache. He is tall and solidly built. He is a skilled thief, caught once but charges were dropped.
Morgan Earp wannabe: He has an easy going attitude about life. He has blonde hair, green eyes, clean shaven, average height and heavy set. He is middle aged and has just started his life of crime.
Okay, gumshoe, here is your first of three cases. The thief has just robbed one of the oldest banks in Parker and gotten away with an undisclosed amount of money. After the thief ran out the door the teller turned over the demand note and saw the image shown below.
First Witness: It was tough to see the color of his eyes because of the sunglasses but I think that they might be light or perhaps dark.
Second Witness: I am sure that his eyes were light in color, I think, and he had a mustache.
Third Witness: I got a good look at him and he had a beard and was pretty heavy set. Not sure about the mustache though.
Guard: As he went through the door he dropped a piece of paper with the pattern on it and as he got in the get-away car he dropped a pillow and false beard.
02/03/2019 By prerules I came back a couple of more times as the snow melted and still had no luck. The only thing I found was a pencil. After talking with the CO we decided it was OK for me to replace the container, so that is what I did this time. Nicely done. Signed log.
Thanks Jim Reeb for giving me a reason to get outside. It’s always worth it when you are enjoying nature. There is nothing better than acting like a kid again, digging through weeds and climbing trees, all to sign my name on a piece of paper.
Found with Cachly for IOS.
prerules | Parker, CO Geocache find #550.
01/29/2019 By prerules With a TON of help from the CO, I was able to solve the puzzle. On my run today, I ran by here but I was unable to locate the thief. I think there is too much snow at GZ right now. No luck today. I’ll be back.
Thanks Jim Reeb for giving me a reason to get outside.
06/01/2018 By fearthefish Solving this puzzle turned out to be a team effort with herndonrd. I was not planning on solving this one but couldn't resist helping Bob when he needed a nudge. He showed me where he was stuck and I was able to see what he was missing. I pointed out to him as to how he should proceed and he was a happy cacher.
I chose today to look for this one because I signed an insane challenge in California that requires me to find a puzzle cache on every calendar day of the year (save February 29th) in order to meet the logging requirements. I had no trouble finding this one and I am glad to get one day closer to completing the challenge, though I still have roughly seventy days to go. Thanks for the fun puzzle, hide, and for getting me outside on such a gorgeous day.
05/24/2018 By animjason This series was difficult, and fun! Some puzzles were tough while others were much easier. Great combo!
Decided to grab some caches via bicycle today, and this was one of them. Brought a spare baggie and log, but it had already been replaced.
Thanks Jim Reeb & Audrey! Logged To Catch a Thief 1 from a ninth galaxy using c:geo!
~ Geocache Find #9677 ~
04/26/2018 By herndonrd Finally solve with lot of help from CO for cases 1 & 2 and FeartheFish for case 3. Log is very wet. I will check with CO and replace the next time I'm near GZ. I will give it a favorite because I'm finally through with it! TFTC!
05/16/2017 By jasperdakota Wonderful series of puzzles! Have managed to catch 3 thieves so far. Still chasing the others. Cache is in great shape. Had to dig around a little bit to uncover it. SL.
08/14/2015 By k9jayhawk Awesome puzzle. The yellowjackets were right there guarding the cache and based on some of the logs, they have resided here for quite a while. I'm happy to have another old cache found...TFTC
09/06/2013 By yousteppedonit Wooo-hooo! LusClues and I solved the original TCAT (with a couple of nudges and verifications from the CO) and made the find today. The puzzles were reasonably rough. The notorious 'Yellow Jacket' gang was in the area but in reduced numbers and we were able to stare them down with the help of "Yellow Dog" Cooper, without any bloodshed. SL TFTC!
09/06/2013 By lusclues Out with Yousteppedonit and Cooperdog to look for this one after finally solving the puzzle. We both worked on parts of it and had to get some information and clarification from Mr. Reeb. Thank goodness he is so helpful. These are interesting puzzles. Hopefully, we will continue to be successful on the others. TFTC!
03/26/2013 By Miles ToGeo It's been a long time getting thought this case. So, I was glad to be in the area and make the find. I was afraid with the snow my search for the final would not happen. I guess I got lucky because I signed the log.
To Catch a Thief 1
| Difficulty: 
| Terrain: 
Doc Holliday
10 
1 
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