The Trenchcoat Bank Robbers, William Kirkpatrick and Ray Bowman, were believed to have robbed around 28 banks within 15 years.
On February 10th, 1997, they pulled off the largest bank robbery in US history: stealing $4,461,681 and hauling the cash out in bags that weighed 161 kilograms at a Washington bank.
Hear more about the Trenchcoat Bank Robbers on the Crime Insiders podcast:
Former detective Jeffery Lanza said the pair planned their heists very carefully, they targeted banks only once the vaults were open, kept their crimes away from police stations and never left a fingerprint behind.
“They knew what they were doing,” Lanza said, “They planned it out, and they were really good at it. They told everybody, don’t do anything and no one’s going to get hurt.”
Lanza said the way they got caught was a simple mistake.
“They decided to retire, right? They’re not going to rob any more banks. They’re getting old. They decided they had enough money.”
William Kirkpatrick decided to move to Minnesota for his retirement, but driving down from Las Vegas, police pulled him over for speeding.
Kirkpatrick refused a police officer who asked to look in the boot of his car, but when a sniffer dog alerted police to the possibility of drugs.
Lanza explained that sometimes drug-sniffing dogs detect drug residue on large amounts of cash.
“Opens the trunk. He finds hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, guns, trench coats that they used in the robberies,” Lanza said.
Once Kirkpatrick was linked to the robberies, he never gave information about his co-conspirator, Ray Bowman.
Hear how Bowman was caught on the full episode of Crime Insiders. In groundbreaking interviews, explore the world of policing and forensics through stories from the world’s most experienced and decorated experts.