Expert: Hoffman's Gotten Lucky & He Probably Had A Plan
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The search continued Thursday for Ty Hoffman, a man accused of murder.
He's eluded police for 3 weeks now.
Hoffman is charged in the killing of his ex-boyfriend and former business partner, Kelly Phillips. He's also accused of robbing a bank on Sunday.
After several searches at an Anoka County airport and a lead at Mystic Lake casino, Hoffman is still on the run. It's left people wondering: How does he keep slipping away?
Even law enforcement experts in the field are baffled.
For weeks it wasn't clear where he was until investigators say a photo showed him robbing a bank in Blaine, just 10 miles and three weeks removed from the original murder scene.
"I find it unusual that he would stay in the area, knowing he's got that much heat on him," said Jim Hessel, who used to run the SWAT team for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Hessel isn't working the case, but he knows a thing or two about searches.
"I think they're doing a great job, they just need that break," he said.
He calls the Hoffman case bizarre.
"The criminals I would be familiar with would have been in three different states by now or, you know, across the Canadian border," he said.
What's not uncommon is Hoffman's appearance.
Despite the different looks he has in photos, geography could work to his advantage.
"It's pretty easy to blend into everything isn't it?" Hessel said. "A 40-something-year-old white man in Minnesota."
Ramsey Deputies say Hoffman has left no signs of communication: no credit cards, no traceable calls.
"He's either very lucky, or he had this well thought out," Hessel said. "I'm of the belief that it's both, that he's lucky but he had this planned ahead of time."
One thing Hassel and Ramsey County officers are emphatic about is that they do not think Hoffman has been alone. They think someone is hiding him.
They are heavily relying on tips right now. They won't say how many they've gotten but say they got two tips they were 99 percent sure were real sightings, but the witnesses waited too long to call and again, he slipped through their fingers.
WCCO spoke with two private investigators who also found the case unusual.