Colton Harris Moore—born on March 22, 1991 in the seemingly quiet town of Mount Vernon, Washington—never had an easy life.
His parents divorced when he was very young and his stepfather died when he was seven. His father was not around much to provide Colton with a much-needed authority figure and he left the scene completely when Colton was twelve.
Colton’s mother wasn’t much better. She drank and often neglected her son, leaving him alone for days at a time. When she was around, Colton often acted out by breaking things, getting into fights at school, and running away from home. But despite his obvious problems, he displayed a brightness that most kids his age didn’t have. Colton learned how to take care of himself on a daily basis and had a deep interest in different subjects. He was able to live on his own—even in the wilderness—for extended periods of time and had a mechanical aptitude that was unmatched for a teenager.
By the late 2000s, Colton had decided to go out into the wilds of Washington and become the Barefoot Bandit.
Colton began breaking into hunting and vacation cabins in Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia for food and supplies. He never really committed the crimes to make any money and rarely went after big-ticket items such as electronics. But, he would occasionally steal a car or truck to take him to his next score.
And then he started stealing airplanes.
Moore taught himself how to fly by reading books and researching on the Internet. For the most part, he was able to take off and fly without difficulty, but landing was another story. He tended to land his stolen planes like an albatross, which is how he caused the most damage. By late 2009, the authorities were on to Moore, who treated their search for him as a cat-and-mouse game. He sometimes left selfies on his victims’ computers and once left bare footprints in chalk at one of his crime scenes, which is how he became known as the Barefoot Bandit.
With the heat on in the Pacific Northwest, Moore left the area in the summer of 2010, stealing cars all the way to Indiana. In Bloomington, Indiana, Moore then stole a Cessna 400 single-engine plane and decided to take some much needed R&R in the Bahamas.
After spending a couple of weeks in the Bahamas where his bare feet didn’t stick out so much, Moore was arrested on July 11, 2010. Once he was returned to the United States, the Barefoot Bandit was charged with a litany of crimes in both federal court and Washington state court. He was eventually sentenced to seven-plus years in the Washington state prison system and six and a half in the federal system, but the sentences ran concurrently and he was released in July of 2016.
Since his release from prison, the Barefoot Bandit has kept a low profile, working as an office assistant for his lawyer.
Moore has said in interviews that his goal is to take proper flight training so that he can get his pilot’s license. There is little doubt that Colton Moore will become a pilot if he sets his mind to it, and it is also likely that we haven’t heard the last from him.