The Feather Thief

Johnson continues to document the aftermath of the Tring heist. One month after the heist, Mark Adams realizes that many of the bird skins are missing while giving a tour to a visiting researcher. The Tring staff frantically looked to see if any other items had been stolen. Over the next few weeks, the curators opened 1,500 cabinets. They determined that 299 bird skins from 16 different species were missing. It became clear that the thief had only targeted exotic birds with colorful feathers. The museum asked the police to reopen the case of the broken window.

Adele Hopkin became the detective in charge of the case. She was immediately concerned about the length of time that had elapsed between the crime and the museum staff realizing items had been stolen. The police could not use CCTV surveillance footage since it was only held for a short period of time. That window had passed.

Initially, both Adele and the museum curators were puzzled by the case. They did not understand who would want the bird skins. For this reason, Adele initially thought it was an inside job. After interviews with staff who were distraught about the theft, however, Adele ruled out this possibility.