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Food

How a Hot Dog Bun Helped Police Solve a Burglary

One of the officers dug deep into his inner Sherlock Holmes and took the case a step further. He noticed that on the video, one of the suspects was eating a hot dog—“a well-known hot dog,” according to a press release issued by the department.
Photo via Flickr user mrtopher

The Ferndale, California police department is nothing if not resourceful. When, last week, a call came in that the Udder Clean Laundromat on Main Street had been the scene of a crime a few days earlier, police officers rushed right over to take a look at the laundromat's surveillance video.

Upon reviewing the video, the keen-eyed officers realized that they recognized one of the suspects as well as the getaway car. But that, evidently, was not enough to solve the crime.

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One of the officers dug deep into his inner Sherlock Holmes and took the case a step further. He noticed that on the video, one of the suspects was eating a hot dog—"a well-known hot dog," according to a press release issued by the department. In fact, the telling detail was the "color of [the] hot dog bun, which is the only one sold at one store in Ferndale, one block away from the crime scene."

Officers went to the hot-dog purveying store, where they knew the suspect had bought the frankfurter in question, and got its surveillance tape, thereby gathering additional evidence. After comparing the evidence derived from the hot dog store's tape to that gathered at the Laundromat, the crime was solved.

Forget the Thin Blue Line. The Thin Yellow Line is so totally where it's at. Sorry, ketchup.

Immediately thereafter, the officers drove to the suspects' residence, where they found the getaway vehicle parked outside. As they were examining the car, 18-year-old Kyle Burns and 19-year-old Michael Hassett, both Ferndale residents, attempted to flee the residence. But they were no match for the intrepid Ferndale officers, who promptly caught the suspects. The two were booked for commercial burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, and possession of stolen property. All thanks to a hot dog bun.

It was time now for us to put on our own Holmesian hat and try to track down the hot dog with the distinctive bun that solves crimes. We found some locals discussing the situation on a comments section at lostcoastoutpost.com, and they seemed to be pretty sure that the hot dog in question must come from a place called The Red Front Store, also located on Main Street in Ferndale. One commenter says the place will now be "world famous." And, as a commenter dubbed Xtreme points out, "Those hot dogs are not only GOOD… They help catch thieves… ;)."

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But what is it about these buns that is so distinctive? On Yelp, one person explains: "A mainstay of my childhood, they sold the most fantastic hot dogs. The best hot dogs, in my humble opinion. The bun recipe is Danish, and simply makes the dogs divine. They even still sell them, which is why I gained two pounds over my holiday :D."

Sounds pretty good to us.

But that's not all that's going on in Ferndale. Back in the comment section at Lost Coast Outpost, one person called the thieves "dumb and dumber." Then, oddly enough, someone claiming to be the accused thief himself, Kyle Burns, joined the comment stream and had this to say: "You need to fuck off you don't know me or my friend. If you have a problem with me come talk to me in person rather than hide behind a fake name. Don't be so quick to judge -Kyle Burns."

Hot dog Kyle comment 1

Several other locals then jumped in, basically accusing Kyle of being a crook. But Maya Benz was keeping it real: "Hay Kyle its Maya your cousin you should really call,your family let them know what's going on."

Hot dog Kyle comment 2

Things are heating up in Ferndale. But the hot dogs? Very distinctive, indeed. And Kyle: call your fucking mother!