"Hermit Thief" Myth a Reality
WHITFIELD: A 63-year-old man sitting in his SUV was set on fire in Long Beach, California. A man threw flammable liquid into his car making it burst into flames, as you see there. The driver is in the hospital in critical condition. The 39-year-old suspect was arrested and is being booked on attempted murder charges. Neighbors described him as a transient who was known to act strangely. All right. For decades people living in a small Maine town wondered if a person was creeping out of the woods to steal their things. One urban legend of sorts until they decided to calm the north pond hermit and found out that the myth just indeed may be reality. Pamela Brown headed to -- headed north, rather, to get the story.</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, it was talked about for years as a myth, that one person, a man, known as the North Pond hermit, could be responsible for hundred of unsolved burglary cases. Could that myth be true?</s>BROWN (voice-over): This surveillance video showing a burglar stealing food from the Pine Tree Camp Kitchen near Rome, Maine, helped authorities nab 47-year-old Christopher Knight, a man known locally as an elusive figure. He was a mystery for more than two decades until now.</s>SGT. TERRY HUGHES, GAME WARDEN: Soon as he stepped outside the door I just turned, game warden, on the ground, on the ground, show me your hands. And he immediately just dropped right to the ground.</s>BROWN (on camera): This is what he had in his backpack?</s>HARVEY CHESLEY, CAMPSITE MANAGER: He did. He had a lot of random stuff. He had marshmallows. He had veggie burgers. He had Canadian bacon. Ground beef. Stuffed shells. Quite a wide variety of stuff.</s>BROWN: The Canadian bacon and veggie patties doesn't really go hand in hand.</s>CHESLEY: Doesn't seem to go together, does it?</s>BROWN (voice-over): After Knight was caught red handed, Pine Tree manager Harvey Chesley confronted the man.</s>CHESLEY: Irritated, frustrated, angry, all of those things were racing through my head. But then I found out that he went to the same high school that I did. Had a year book, brought it here, and showed him the picture. He started to open up a little bit.</s>BRUCE HILLMAN, KNIGHT'S FORMER TEACHER: I don't think he ever missed a day of class.</s>BROWN: Bruce Hillman was Knight's wilderness survival teacher in high school and says he vividly remembers him as a student.</s>HILLMAN: We've learned about hunting and fishing techniques, and frapping and outdoor survival skills.</s>BROWN (on camera): And do you remember him being pretty good at it?</s>HILLMAN: Very good. Yes. Yes, he was very good at it.</s>BROWN (voice-over): Still, he never thought Knight would take those skills so far. (</s>On camera): Could you imagine him being a hermit for 27 years?</s>HILLMAN: Absolutely not.</s>BROWN: Why?</s>HILLMAN: He was a sociable kid. You know? He seemed to get along with everybody.</s>BROWN (voice-over): A recluse, Knight says he lived alone in the woods for more than 27 years. (</s>On camera): We trek through the Maine woods near where Knight lived for more than 20 years, going over snow banks, over creeks. Navigating around trees. Knight told authorities that he would travel through these woods 90 minutes each way in order to steal goods from the Pine Tree Camp. (</s>Voice-over): Authorities say he told them he's only talked to one other person in all that time.</s>DIANE PERKINS-VANCE, MAINE STATE TROOPER: He claims he hasn't had contact with another human being since the mid 1990s when he encountered somebody on a trail and they just exchanged a common greeting and that was about it.</s>BROWN: Officials say he lived at this camouflaged campsite in the woods, even in the dead of Maine's brutal winters.</s>PERKINS-VANCE: It's just amazing to me that he can make it through Maine winters like that, living in a nylon tent.</s>BROWN: Police say Knight targeted vacant camp sites, stealing to survive.</s>PERKINS-VANCE: I would say well over 1,000 burglaries. Everything I stole the was to survive. Food, clothing, shelter, that type of thing.</s>BROWN: After his arrest, a trooper showed Knight a picture of himself, something he hadn't seen in more than 20 years.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's seen his reflection in the water a few times and that was all he said.</s>BROWN: Authorities say Knight told them he'd spend his days reading books and listening to Rush Limbaugh on his battery powered radio. When asked why he spent all this time alone in the woods he didn't have an explanation and said he often asked himself that same question. Knight rejected our request for an interview -- Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Pam. Hey, a book that is older than the United States is going up for auction. Wait until you hear how much money someone may pay for it.