Ivy League Crime
Mamadou Obotimbe Diabikile was unsuccessful in his alleged attempt to rob a bank in Bamako, Mali, in March; he may have been hindered by the 33 pounds of talismans he was wearing to make himself invisible. And Edna Chizema went on trial in March in Harare, Zimbabwe, for theft by deception. Magrate Mapfumo testified that she gave Chizema the equivalent of $5,000; in return Chizema said she would fly five invisible mermaids (thought by the Shona people to be goddesses of revenge) from London to Harare to help recover Mapfumo’s stolen car.
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William Woodard, 39, suspected by police of more than 50 burglaries in the area of Trenton, New Jersey, was arrested in March. A prosecutor told reporters that feces, presumably the burglar’s, had been found at several of the crime scenes and would be tested for a DNA match against the stool sample inadvertently provided by Woodard during his arrest.
Tony Young of Flint, Michigan, made the news in January when he foiled the theft of his beloved 2003 Ford Mustang. When Young, 35, saw his car pull up to a stop sign he confronted the driver, who peeled out, but Young leaped onto the trunk and clung to the rear spoiler as the thief drove around at speeds up to 80 miles per hour trying to shake him off. Hanging onto the spoiler with one hand, Young called 911 on his cell phone and provided updates on his location for 20 minutes until police intercepted the car; the driver ultimately fled on foot and was captured. (About two weeks later Young–whose real name turned out to be Anthony Barry–was himself arrested after allegedly breaking into a house.)
