Elwood's Back (trail thief)

[Butter]

On July 13th I had an encounter with Elwood, a trail thief from last year, 2 miles north of the Mason-Dixon line near Deer Lick Shelters. I am the ridgerunner for the area this summer and I was on the trail last summer when Elwood stole from several hikers.

While not dangerous, Elwood has a long history of stealing gear and services from both day hikers, thru hikers, and towns. This year we do have reports of items going missing immediately after Elwood's appearance in an area.

Elwood can be identified as a male in his 40's to 50's. His most distinguishing feature is his rotted/tartered front teeth which are very noticable. He changes his name often; this year he has gone by "Constant Motion," "Zeke," and "Skid Marks." His real name is Steven Bundy. Additionally, he is in the habit of telling stories regarding the PCT. This year's deviation which I heard regarded Elwood coming to the AT after 1500 miles into the PCT near Mt. Shasta (he had to bail out because of heavy storms). Also, Elwood makes up stories regarding the deaths of his wife and son. All of these stories are made and told in an effort to soften hikers in the area up so they don't suspect him when he steals from their packs. Generally, Elwood will wait around camp in the mornings and evenings until hikers go to the privy or are not watching their possesions.

As of July 24th, 2004 I believe Elwood is in Centrail/Northern Pennsylvania. Please watch your possesions and respond to this thread with continued sightings so ridgerunners can track his progress and watch him.

All the best,
Ridgerunner Butta'
Southern PA

[Jack Tarlin]

Good post. I suggest you notify the following folks about this if you haven't already:

*The ATC office in Harper's Ferry, the Park Service A.T. office, and also the Outfitter there, in case he's heading South.

*The ATC regional office in Boiling Springs and the folks at the Doyle Hotel and the hostel in Delaware Water Gap in case he's moving North.

Putting your post in shelter registers in the area couldn't hurt either. When he realizes that people are on to him, maybe he'll move on.

[2XL]

Does this guy tend to stay down south of NY or could he turn up anywhere?

I think I will print Butter's post and put it in a couple NY shelter registers to give SOBO's a warning.

[Uncle Wayne]

My wife and I met this guy last November in the parking area near Springer. As our shuttle was leaving and we started toward the first white blaze on Springer, he called out that he had just finished his thru hike. That caught our attention so we walked over to him and congratulated him on his accomplishment. He had decided to hike the Benton McKay trail and then onto Florida, his "home" last year, but was in no hurry to leave since Springer Mtn. was his wife's favorite mountain. He gave us a very convincing story about his wife dying and her last wish was for him to complete a thru hike. He scattered her ashes from Katahdin and etc, etc. We talked awhile and after finding out we were headed to Springer and then back to Neels Gap, he offered to watch our packs so we wouldn't have to carry them while we went to Springer and then backtracked to the parking area.
Eventhough I was completely fooled by his story I declined his offer and we headed toward Springer. When we returned he was gone. We met Bluegrasshopper at Stover Creek Shelter a little later as he was finishing his thru hike. He warned us of a thief on the trail and that he was in this area. When he described him we knew it was our "friend" from the parking area. Butter description of him is exactly as we remember him also.
We heard later that he had joined up with a group on the Benton McKay trail.

[Youngblood]

Uncle Wayne,

I remember your story from last year. He probably moves around AND he is probably not the only character like that on the AT.

I remember hiking on the AT in north Georgia the September before my thru-hike. This girl approached me (and my girlfriend) at a parking lot and asked for help, as she was doing a southbound hike from somewhere in Virginia, was camping at Whitley Gap Shelter and had run out of food & money. Some things didn't seem right about her story, but I gave her a couple of candy bars and went off on my weekend backpacking trip. Funny thing... I saw this same girl on my thru-hike six months later only a half a mile away from that same road crossing (Hogpen Gap the first time, Testenee Gap the second time) hitting up some thru-hikers for stuff (in this case she got some food and shared what looked like a 'funny cigeratte'). I pointed out what I knew about her to other thru-hikers in front of her and just went on my way. Either she was a 'strange local', didn't hike very fast, was homeless and survived in the woods during the woods through out the winter months or something. However, she was not likely what she said... and I wouldn't want to leave my pack with her to watch.

Be careful out there and remember that con artists are usually good at what they do... or they have to find something else.

Youngblood

[pvtmorriscsa]

Why doesn't someone knock the ***** out of this thief. All I got to say is that if I discover someone rummaging through my possesions, they are not going to like the consequences of their actions.
Unless they are the furry ursoid sort of thief then I imagine they can pretty much take what they like.

[smokymtnsteve]

Why doesn't someone knock the ***** out of this thief. All I got to say is that if I discover someone rummaging through my possesions, they are not going to like the consequences of their actions.
Unless they are the furry ursoid sort of thief then I imagine they can pretty much take what they like.

not that i would rummage through you possesions, but if you tried to knock the ***** out of me YOU may not enjoy the consequences of your action.

[Butter]

Holla,

Once again about Elwood.

The ATC already knows about him as do a good majority of the services in the area he is in (PA). I work for the ATC as a ridgerunner and we are on to him. As far as I know, all of the ridgerunners north to MASS are aware of his reappearance this year. This post was just meant as a heads up to the hiking community.

Even though the ATC is aware of Elwood, very often there is too little that we can actually do. When Elwood steals from an individual we often times need a police report filled out. Too often in the long distance hiking community these crimes go unreported to both the ATC and the local law enforcement officials. The problem is that in Elwood's case we often times have many things turning up missing right as Elwood is moving on to another state. Because of this, we have trouble linking incidents to him and prosecuting.

Morale of the story:
Watch your stuff around Elwood. Report any incidents and his location if you see him. And always, whenever something turns up missing or some other notable incident occurs, regardless of whom is involved, report it to the ATC and/or the local law enforcement officials. Very often we at the ATC want to get these individuals off the trail as much as the hikers want to see them go.

-Ridgerunner Butta'
Southern PA

[smokymtnsteve]

Has "elwood" ever been convicted of stealing??? or is he just a suspect at this point?

[Butter]

He was arrested at the Blackburn Center last year in West Virginia for stealing services from Bear's Den hostel and stealing various items from hikers.

Elwood's prime interest in the trail is stealing from others. While friendly and mostly harmless, he is a thief.

Hope this is helpful,
Ridgerunner Butta'

[smokymtnsteve]

He was arrested at the Blackburn Center last year in West Virginia for stealing services from Bear's Den hostel and stealing various items from hikers.

Elwood's prime interest in the trail is stealing from others. While friendly and mostly harmless, he is a thief.

Hope this is helpful,
Ridgerunner Butta'

Was he found guilty on these charges?

[MOWGLI]

Was he found guilty on these charges?

SMS, I don't know the answer to your question, but I did speak to the Caretaker at the Bears Den Hostel in December '03 who told me about this character. He talked about the guy lying about his wife being killed, and then skipping out on a bill. This guy is evidently "8 miles of bad road".

[bearbait2k4]

Was he found guilty on these charges?

I believe he was found guilty of some of the charges, including the stolen gear found on him.

I ran into Elwood last year as he was coming into Hot Springs in early May. He told us a story about how one of the rangers in town had found him as soon as he came off the trail and gave him the news that his son had been killed while fighting in Iraq. We found the story to be doubtful, and just gave condolences and sent him on his way.

Later that afternoon, we heard that he had been telling people a similar story in order to get people to feel sorry for him and buy him food and drinks, as he bragged to one of my hiking buddies about what all he was getting from other people.

At this point, we decided to go to the Ranger's office, or whatever it is, in Hot Springs to try to validate his story. We repeated the story that he originally told us, and the ranger told us that #1, they have not heard of any such story, and #2, they don't solicit information to and from hikers about such personal information. They got a description of him and thanked us for the heads up.

Unfortunately, 2 days later, he was out partying and raising hell at Trail Days, which seems pretty odd for someone who just lost their son.

This is a very legitimate heads up for the hiking community out there this year. The guy is a scammer, not to be trusted.

[Bonehead]

Must be a real bonehead to go back on the AT again this year.

[Hikerhead]

Somebody needs to post of pic of this lowlife. We could make Wanted Posters and post them on the trail.

Or maybe we could be lucky enough for him to run into and steal from some Hoods in the Woods. That might solve the problem.

[Streamweaver]

I saw a photo or a post by somebody called Skid marks within the last week,but I cant for the life of me remember where I saw it. Maybe on the gallery here or Trail journals . Prolly more than one on the trail I suppose though. Streamweaver

[steve hiker]

Someone calling himself "Elwood Blues" posts a bunch of vicious spam on TrailForums periodically, about a well known and loved hostel owner. The real Elwood Blues is a musician with a checkered past that fits the activities of the trail "Elwood." Here's a short excerpt from a biographical sketch, and a link to the website.

"Elwood Blues was born on December 6th, 1953. While Elwood was at the orphanage, he met Jake Papageorge. Jake had a bad influence on Elwood, who was originally a quiet, shy student. After spending more time with Jake he began to cause fights, disrespect authority, commit crimes and pay little attention to his schooling.


"In 1970 Elwood Blues stole a car and he was put on probation for 7 months. In June 1971 Elwood Blues finished high school, and toured with Jake in the Blues Brothers. Both he and Jake committed many crimes along the way, and their police records became very large. In 1977 Jake robbed a gas station to pay for a room service bill, and was sentenced to 5 years prison.

"In 1980 Jake was released from prison after 3 years for good behaviour, and he and Elwood decided to reform the Blues Brother to raise money to save their orphanage from being closed down. They used part of the money to save their orphanage from being closed, but were arrested shortly afterwards, along with the rest of the band. Elwood remained in prison until 1998, when he was released.

"After meeting with Maury Sline, the Blues Brothers performed at Queen Moussette's Battle of the Bands. After losing the competition to the 'Louisiana Gater Boys', led by Malvern Gasperon, Elwood took Buster and fled from the police, and from Sister Mary. ...

http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/...?musician_id=1

[Mountain Dew]

Butter.....Nice to see you online after hiking with/around you last year. It was Elwood that stole many items from the group I was hiking with last year..."The Mairnttt... Boys". Everything Butter has said is true and if you run into Elwood NEVER leave your things alone with him. I wonder if he is still hiking in jeans. I'd personaly love to run into him again if you know what I mean.

[jollies]

I hiked last year with the victims of Elwood: Greenman and Sniper. I talked to them about him and got much the same story as Butter reports. I agree that you need to watch out for this guy. Not a quality hiker in the least.

P.S. Butta', how long are you doing the ridgerunning over there? Sorry I haven't gotten the chance to get to your section yet!

Jollies

[Mountain Dew]

Elwood's typical habits... AKA Steven Bundy.

---Tells military story's...claims to be EX-army
---Says his son and wife are dead. His son supposedly died in "several" wars.
---Has rotted out teeth
---approx. 5"10 185 lbs about 40-45 years old
---wears a round brim "aussie" looking hat
---hikes in jeans
---talks about hiking thousands of miles already this year. In '03 it was Mexico and this years it seems to be the PCT
---goes by skid marks at times
---slow to leave camp in the AM
---doesn't cover more than 10-12 miles a day, but will hitch or yellow blaze to stay with a certain group.

...maybe I should try to find a picture of him since I know I have one to post on here....