A teenager who became a folk hero in America after eluding police for two years by stealing fast cars, powerboats and planes has finally been captured in the Bahamas.
Colton Harris-Moore, 19, was dubbed the ‘Barefoot Bandit’ because he went shoeless during his crime spree and left chalk footprints as a calling card.
The teen’s legend grew with supporters wearing ‘Run, Colton Run’ t-shirts and following his daring exploits on Facebook.
He was branded a modern-day Billy The Kid after leaving cash and a note at a veterinary clinic saying he had stolen some ‘extra cash’ and wanted it to be used to help animals.
Although he has never formally learned to fly, he is suspected of stealing at least five planes, including one he piloted for more than 1,000 miles from Indiana to the Bahamas islands off Florida’s coast.
He is said to be a self-taught pilot through playing flight-simulator games and reading instruction manuals.
But his capers reportedly came to an end today when he was caught trying to steal a boat at Harbour Island, a small tourist destination in the sunshine islands.
He allegedly crash-landed a plane on nearby Great Abaco Island a fortnight ago and has been blamed for a string of seven break-ins in the area.
The wily 6ft 5ins tall teen is a skilled outdoorsman who honed his abilities growing up in the woods of Puget Sound, about 30 miles north of Seattle, Washington.
The night before his arrest, he broke into an island bar, dismantled a security light and sat watching television.
Harris-Moore's mother, Pam Kohler, said her son had a troubled childhood.
His first conviction, for possession of stolen property, came at age 12. Within a few months of turning 13, he had three more offences on his record.
He has since been linked to dozens of burglaries, including several airplane thefts.
During the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, a plane that may have been stolen by Harris-Moore skirted a flight zone set up for the event.
It never entered restricted airspace during its erratic journey, helping the pilot evade authorities.
‘He’s gone from being a regional nuisance to a national nuisance to an international criminal,’ Seattle FBI agent Steven Dean said last week. But Mrs Kohler has publicly defended her son, saying the allegations against him are exaggerated.
She hoped he would flee to a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the United States.
Tonight, she had no comment on the arrest.
Harris-Moore was sentenced to nearly four years in juvenile detention after being caught in an unoccupied home in 2007, but he did well enough there that he was transferred to a group home.
There he sneaked out of a window more than two years ago and has been on the run ever since.
For the past five days soldiers and police armed with shotguns on the Caribbean island had been hunting him. They had put up a $10,000 (£6,600) reward for information leading to his arrest.
Harris-Moore had won admiration in his home state of Washington for his ability to evade police, and Bahamians had appeared to also be full of respect for him.
The few people who have crossed paths with Harris-Moore in the last few days said he did not seem nervous.
Bartender Colby Curry said the fugitive entered his sports bar on Tuesday evening, drank a beer and left after five minutes. He said Harris-Moore was wearing a cap over a shaved head, and no shoes.
'He was really calm,' said Curry, who only realised it was the fugitive after police called the bar to report that Harris-Moore had been spotted in the area. 'He seemed like just a regular guy.'
To his admirers, part of Harris-Moore's appeal is that he's not known for violence.
But the FBI's wanted poster had warned that he might possess stolen firearms and should be considered dangerous.
The latest saga began when Harris-Moore allegedly stole the single-engine Cessna from an airport in Bloomington, Indiana, and flew it more than 1,000 miles to the low-lying island chain off the Florida coast.
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