Forensics

Will Toe Prints Doom the 'Barefoot Bandit'?

Evidence may lie on a supermarket floor.

Officials finally nabbed Colton Harris-Moore—the 19-year-old “Barefoot Bandit” who went on a two-year international crime spree—in the Bahamas on Sunday. Now, with the investigation officially under way, the question arises: How will enough direct evidence be collected to fully prosecute him? The answer may lie in toe prints Harris-Moore allegedly left on the floor of a Washington state grocery store, according to Slate. The difficulty, however, is that no one knows if toe-print matches are as accurate as fingerprints—and even then, fingerprinting is a hotly debated subject. Slate’s conclusion: Fingerprints are much more useful to police, because officials keep large record databases of them—occasionally, however, toe prints save the day.