The Ice Pick Bandit has been caught in the act on video, clearly showing his face and method of attack as he uses a handheld tool to puncture tractor-trailer tires at a truck stop in Henderson County, Tennessee.
Videos posted by authorities seem to suggest that he is a truck driver himself.
The attack comes just weeks after other, similar vandalism occurred at a Hooks, Texas, truck stop. Previously, this type of vandalism only seemed to happen to trucks parked on off-ramps, but now it seems the bandit has shifted his tactics.
Compare an image of the bandit in Tennessee, left, against the earlier images released by Florida Highway Patrol.
The image on the left was released by the Henderson County, Tennessee, Sheriff's Department on Sept. 12, 2024, while the two images on the right were released by Florida Highway Patrol following a string of attacks in June 2023.
The Henderson County Sheriff's Office said the suspect racked up "approximately $31,000.00 in damages connected to seven vandalism incidents that occurred at the 101 Travel Plaza located on 104 North at Exit 101 of Interstate 40" in a series of attacks carried out "shortly before midnight" on Sept. 11.
Two road-facing dashcam videos posted by the Sheriff's Office show a red truck pull up and the truck's lights being turned off in one video, then the bandit can be seen attacking the tires on a trailer hauling an oversize load in the second video, followed by the bandit running toward the red truck after piercing the final tire and then driving off.
In the first frame, from a nearby truck's dashcam video posted by the Henderson County Sheriff's Office, a red truck pulling a box trailer rolls up and turns off its lights. In the next frame, from the second video, the bandit can be seen attacking the tires on the driver's side of the oversize truck's trailer. Finally, the bandit darts off toward the red truck, followed by the truck quickly being driven away.Henderson County Sheriff's Office
Just a few weeks earlier in Hooks, Texas, authorities estimated about $60,000 worth of damage to trucks parked at the Sunshine Travel Plaza off I-30. Franklin County, Texas police said that on Monday, Sept. 16, the bandit struck again multiple times.
Henderson County Sheriff's Department Capt. Tracey Grisham told Overdrive he'd heard of similar attacks in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, but not about the bandit's prolific work in Georgia and Florida. Overdrive alerted Grisham to the investigations ongoing in those states and provided a partial timeline of all the bandit's attacks.
The bandit's known areas of attack now span thousands of square miles and four major interstates.
Grisham said federal investigators won't take the lead on a case until a monetary threshold is surpassed, but acknowledged the bandit may soon cross that line, given that there's been more than a dozen known attacks with each one costing at least $9,000 in repairs.
Thankfully, this time the bandit didn't go after airbags or brake lines, as he has done before.
"If you recognize the person in the photo, please contact the Henderson County Sheriff's Office at (731) 968-3421," the office wrote.
For now, the new images seem to confirm that the attacks may come from one highly determined and motivated individual, not a group of "knucklehead kids." Furthermore, it seems to validate the "ice pick" hypothesis, as the bandit is able to put multiple holes in the tires quickly with a small implement. Crucially, the small prick from the bandit's tool doesn't release all air in the tire quickly, which might alert a sleeping driver.
Henderson County posted three videos from the same night that show the same method of attack.
See the full post with on-scene vids shared by Henderson County at this link.
[Related: Ice Pick Bandit: Case timeline and friendly warning]
