Cat burglar's lives run out.(Exercising The Right)

In 1997, David Washington was convicted for a series of aggravated burglaries in Memphis, Tennessee, and sentenced to 20 years in state prison. Washington was, however, released last February. He soon returned to his life of crime.

On March 11th of this year, Memphis experienced the first of what would become a three-month spree of residential break-ins. The elusive cat burglar would usually enter through a window and then take money, credit cards, purses, and even cars while his victims were sleeping. If confronted by a homeowner, he would flee through the same window through which he had entered. The July 13th Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that while he apparently did not carry a gun, and never attacked his victims, "he scared the daylights out of several."

Police suspected from the start that Washington was the culprit, but it was not until mid-April that one of his victims was able to identify him from a photo spread. The first of what would become a litany of warrants for his arrest was issued a few days later.

"By early June," the Commercial Appeal recalled, "Washington's picture was everywhere: on television, on fliers, in the newspapers. Detectives were combing South Memphis, where Washington had lived briefly with his mother after getting out of prison, and watching his haunts." The area was saturated with police dogs, undercover officers, and aviation surveillance, but to no avail. Even as police searched for him, "Washington kept slipping into homes, sometimes four or five a night. Nothing seemed to faze him."

The Commercial Appeal recounted the experiences of some of the victims. Jerome Morrison recalled: "He came creeping down the hall, and I saw a head stick around the bedroom door. I yelled that I was calling 911.... He scared the hell out of me."

In April, the cat burglar ...