Eyewitness Account Makes Bigfoot the Main Suspect in Bank Robbery

MARTINS FERRY - As the dust settles after this morning's robbery of the PNC Bank in Martins Ferry, new evidence begins to surface every minute. Police say that a witness (whose identity remains anonymous) gave her description to investigators, and the sketch (left) reveals Bigfoot to be the new main suspect. Police responded to the scene at about ten o'clock this morning, but by that time Bigfoot was long gone. It was reported that Bigfoot got away with over 15 million dollars, just under the total annual income of the city's population combined.

The police brought in artist Brittany Sherman, a 1st grader at Anna Marie Ayers Elementary School, to draw up the sketch from the witnesses' descriptions. Sherman made the breakthrough sketch (right) that lead to the arrest of Michael Pendleton (below the sketch on right) last fall. This is one of the reasons lead police investigator Jerry Kozlowski says he's confident that the department will come through and catch their suspect.

"We've got a whole team together analyzing the surveillance footage," he said. "We'll be working on this as long as it takes."

He then, exclusively for Ohio Valley News, laid out the entire timeline of the robbery and all the clues discovered at the scene.

"Here we see Bigfoot walk into the bank at around 8:15 in the morning," Kozlowski stated as he showed us camera footage. "He does a really good job of not blowing his cover here."

Bigfoot stood at the back of the line, where he waited for nearly half an hour to make his way to the teller.

"Most people lose their temper when the lines are moving as slow as they were today," said Jessica Roper, the teller who greeted Bigfoot. "But not him, he just stood there looking as friendly as ever."

When he made it to the front of the line, however, Bigfoot showed his unfriendly side.

"As we skip ahead in the footage," Kozlowski said as he fast forwarded the surveillance tape. "We see Bigfoot pull out a military issued M4A1 assault rifle and move everyone to the back of the bank."

As the footage rolled on, Bigfoot tied up the witnesses and made his move for the money. His destination, however, was not the vault where the cash was kept.

"Here we see him heading into the management offices," Kozlowski continued. "The locks on these doors require a number password or keycard entry, but he brought along a PDA and cracked into the door."

Bigfoot's PDA, an HP iPAQ (such as the one on the right), was recovered on the scene. Unfortunately for investigators, all data was cleared and the device was useless.

"When he gained access to the offices, well it was easy picking at that point," said Kozlowski.

It was at that time when Bigfoot sat down, hacked into the bank's database and transferred 15 million dollars to an offshore bank account.

"We're obviously dealing with a professional," Kozlowski said. "Our first move is going to be to move in on his last known location."

The last prominent sighting of Bigfoot came in 1967, with the release of the infamous Patterson-Gimli film (still image on left).

"That video was shot in northern California," stated Kozlowski. "So some of the investigators and I will be heading out there tomorrow morning to nab him."

The investigators must wait for the court to issue a search warrant for the forest where Bigfoot lives. Tomorrow morning, the team will set out to make the cross country journey, and they will be well prepared.

"I packed them each a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches," said Ruth Kozlowski, Detective Kozlowski's 87 year old mother. "There's also plenty of snacks in there for them to share, and some games for them to play if they get bored."