Cover Story: Catch Me If You Camp

Von Tobel, longtime pilot and manager of the Eastsound Airport, is only slightly less skeptical. You could fly a plane without having had any formal instruction, she says, "but I wouldn't try it."

As the news spread, Harris-Moore became less an elusive teenage criminal than a folk hero, as observers began lauding his willingness to defy authority and his brazenness. Or his popularity could be due to the cinematic qualities of his story—classic Internet fodder that can take on a life of its own.

Courtesy of Island County Sheriff's Office

Police found this photo of Harris-Moore on a digital camera in a car he’d stolen, which convinced them he’d returned to Camano.

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• Colton Harris-Moore
• Camano Island
• Shirley Morgan
• Prisons
• Criminal Sentencing and Punishment

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A Facebook fan page dedicated to Harris-Moore boasts the rallying cry "Fly, Colton. Fly." Cable news outlets took notice; Kohler appeared on FOX News with Shepard Smith, who predictably wagged his finger at her failures as a parent.

Since felonious lifestyles often make best-selling narratives, a book is also in the works. What's more, film producers began to contact area media outlets, including SW, hoping to obtain Harris-Moore's contact information, casting him as a backwoods Abagnale, his story writ large across the screen.

"If you were as famous as he is now," says Puttmann, "would you turn yourself in?"

By continuing to elude the authorities, Harris-Moore is answering his aunt's question without saying a word.

vcoleman@seattleweekly.com