Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast
The Barefoot Bandit - The Story of Colton Harris Moore
Wed, 05 Feb 2025
This is the story of Colton Harris Moore aka The Barefoot Bandit
Chapter 1: Who is Colton Harris Moore?
So this teenage kid, he commits so many crimes that he's about to run from police for years, steal a plane, and escape to another country. Now his name's Colton, and he's only 12, and his life sucks. He lives in a small trailer in the woods on a little island off the coast of Washington. And his mom is an addict, and so he mostly has to take care of himself.
Chapter 2: What led Colton to commit crimes?
So he spends most his days in the woods, alone, reading about airplanes, because one day he wants to be a pilot. Now eventually, he starts breaking into neighboring houses, stealing things, mostly food. But over time, he starts stealing other things, a laptop and credit cards. And interestingly, he often doesn't wear shoes for some reason. Like he does most of this barefoot.
And so this barefoot kid is always in and out of trouble. And one day he doesn't show up for a mandatory court date and bam, the police start looking for him. And Colton learns they're looking for him and so he hides out in the woods for like six months. He finds vacation homes and he breaks into those and he sleeps there. Or he'll steal food and camping supplies and he'll sleep out in the forest.
Chapter 3: How did Colton avoid capture by the police?
But then eventually, boom, police catch him and they convict him and he's sentenced to three years in juvenile detention. And of course, Colton hates being locked up. He can't ever be a pilot while he's in detention. So a little over a year later, he sneaks out an unlocked window and he escapes.
Chapter 4: What happened during Colton's juvenile detention?
So now he's on the run again and he goes back to the area where he used to live and he starts sleeping in the woods and breaking into vacation homes again. So he's constantly on the move and stealing things like food and supplies and cars. And this goes on for months before finally police close in on him.
Chapter 5: How did Colton continue his criminal activities?
One day he's driving a Mercedes he had stolen and they spot him because he's driving like an asshole and they go to pull him over in a parking lot and he jumps out of the car while it's still moving and he takes off and runs into the woods. And so police search the car and they find a backpack he had stolen and a digital camera he had stolen and on that camera they find this selfie he took.
Then Colton steals a boat and he drives it from his island to a different island. And on the new island, he breaks into all kinds of homes and businesses again, and he steals a bunch more . So this guy's been in and out of trouble for years at this point. He's like 16 or 17 years old at this time. And if you're like Ray, how could a teenager cause this much chaos?
Like, wouldn't he want friends or like a girlfriend? What exactly is Colton getting out of all of this? Well, let me just say that this kid never had a chance at a normal life. Starting from when he was a little kid, his upbringing messed him up. And I'm not trying to invoke sympathy for him. I'm just saying that the home life he grew up in, the environment he grew up in, was an absolute disaster.
Chapter 6: What was Colton's upbringing like?
When he was a toddler, his dad was a drug addict. So he was raised mostly by his mom, who was apparently a raging alcoholic and was extremely neglectful to him. His neighbors later said they called Child Protective Services more than once because they believed that he was being abused or neglected. Child Protective Services actually showed up to his place 12 different times.
Chapter 7: How did Colton's story gain media attention?
One of those times, they actually even removed him from the home for a period of time. So yeah, all of this set his life up for an eventual disaster. That's why he was living in the woods and running around barefoot for so long as a kid. I mean, what else was he supposed to do? Anyway, so Colton is still out there and he's still on the run from police.
Chapter 8: How did Colton attempt to fulfill his dream of becoming a pilot?
And by now, his story is starting to catch on in the media. I mean, this teenage burglar who police can't seem to catch and he's starting to get a little reputation. But Colton, he isn't too worried about that. He's way too preoccupied with his lifelong dream of becoming a pilot. And during this time, he decides he's going to make that happen.
So he goes and he breaks into a small airplane hangar and he steals a single propeller plane and he manages to get it running and he actually gets it in the air. Now, He has no formal flight training, only reading piloting manuals and watching instructional videos on his computer that he had stolen.
But he somehow managed to get this plane flying, and he keeps it in the air for three and a half hours before he finally crashes it on a Native American reservation in mainland Washington. About a year later, he steals another plane. But this one, he only flies it about 10 miles before he lands it correctly this time. No crashes.
Two weeks later, he breaks into another hangar and steals a third plane in Idaho. And he flies it 250 miles back to Washington. And this one, he crash lands in a field. Meanwhile, the legend of Colton and his crimes are growing. I mean, he's 17 now. And he's been on the run from police for like years. And he's stealing boats and planes and they just can't seem to catch him.
So he's starting to get fans online. And because he often doesn't wear shoes, they call him the Barefoot Bandit. Someone even starts a Facebook fan page for him. And that fan page gets over 100,000 followers. While one company starts making t-shirts with Colton's face on them. People are even writing songs about him and putting them on YouTube. Really? I have no shoes. I mean, dude is blowing up.
And of course, all this sudden attention, it starts to put a lot of heat on him. And by now the FBI is involved in this manhunt looking for him. But Colton, he's like, whatever. He's still out there robbing houses and stealing cars. And so another year passes and he decides, okay, There's too much heat on me. It's time to steal another plane and get the hell out of the country.
But first, he has to find the right plane. So he jacks a boat and he drives it to mainland Oregon. And from there, he goes to a small airport and he doesn't find the plane he wants. So then he just steals a car. And from there, he goes to two more airports and he still doesn't find the right plane. Then he tries an airport in South Dakota and nope, still doesn't find the right plane.
Then he just keeps on stealing car after car, hopping from state to state, breaking into airport after airport, looking for the right one that has the plane he wants. And after driving over 2,000 miles through nine different states and almost a dozen stolen cars... Colton hits up a small airport in Indiana, and he finally finds the plane he's looking for, the Cessna 400.
And bam, he's straight up Jackson. And he takes off, and he's in the air, and he flies 11 hours, over 1,200 miles, from Indiana to Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas. And once he's there, he kind of crash lands in shallow waters near the shore. That crash landing triggers the plane's emergency locator beacon. Which is how the FBI ultimately learns that Colton is now in the Bahamas.
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