The Rocky Mountain Music burglar remains on the lam, but if surveillance video capturing him in action is much help, he will not remain free for long.

Debbie Hersman, who owns Rocky Mountain Music with her husband, Jerry, thought something was weird about the man wearing the white straw cowboy hat in her business on March 29. The guy seemed pretty interested in the drums in the right, rear corner of the well-stocked business.

Debbie Hersman spoke with the man briefly, but another customer entered. Surveillance video shows that was when the man placed a plastic magazine holder in front of one of the building’s motion detectors during his 17-minute canvassing the day before the crime.

“Not a lot of people know it, but Plexiglas can compromise a motion detector,” David Arndt, owner of Dave’s Security Services, said. “This guy knew what he was doing.”

Despite his apparent experience, he assumed he had a lot more time. A review of multiple cameras’ recordings show the man entered Rocky Mountain Music at 5:05 a.m. through a hole he blasted with a sledgehammer in the neighboring Sears store. It is unknown when the man used a crowbar to break into Sears through a side door, but the hole in Rocky Mountain Music first cracked at 3:28 a.m. Shortly after the man’s entrance, Sears’ employees started showing up for annual inventory. Sears normally opens at 11 a.m. Sunday.  

Considering the man crawled through the building, Jerry Hersman believes the man knew the location of the business’ other motion detectors. The burglar was careful with his entry, to a point. The burglar’s first attempted point of entry was abandoned for reasons that remain unclear; however, Jerry Hersman believes the man saw a large wagon wheel in front of his first hole and moved to a less-crowded section of the wall. The man eventually broke through, and a white Fender Stratocaster fell on his head as he toppled into the music store.

After putting the guitar back, the man carefully moved nearby boxes and crawled toward a display case full of turquoise and Native American jewelry, breaking the lock and stashing most of the loot in a black Burberry Fragrances bag. He then made his way to the front display case, before noticing the Sears employees, who had called the police, and dropping the loot. The man then made his way back to the hole he burst, scurried through Sears and exited through a back door, where Sears employee Jay Walter stood waiting for police to arrive. The burglar took a swipe at Walter with his crowbar before running north towards the Lincoln County Courthouse.

After reviewing footage, the Hersmans describe the man as middle aged with a dark complexion and a bushy mustache. The man wore black gloves and a black cap during the attempted heist. The man is not believed to have escaped with any stolen items.

As the search continues, the Hersmans have offered a $1,000 cash reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the man or people responsible for the crime.