In 1993, Heather Tallchief drove off in an armored truck full of millions in Las Vegas casino money, and she wasn’t caught until she turned herself in 12 years later.
NetflixHeather Tallchief parry capture until she give herself up in 2005 , while her mate , Roberto Solis , stay at large to this day .
Many Americans celebrate their twenty-first natal day by legally purchase alcohol for the first time . But Heather Tallchief had far grander and more illegal ambitions when her 21st birthday came . After detect work for an armored security company in Las Vegas , she stole $ 3.1 million from a cassino — and spent the next 12 year as a fugitive .
The brazen 1993 robbery made Heather Tallchief one of the most wanted woman in America . Yet even with the FBI on her trail , she was only charged in 2005 , and not because she was caught , but because she walk into a Union courthouse and turned herself in .
NetflixHeather Tallchief evaded capture until she gave herself up in 2005, while her partner, Roberto Solis, remains at large to this day.
The 32 - yr - one-time then take that her lover , Roberto Solis , had brainwashed her with sex , drugs , and trick — and that she had followed his vicious teaching “ almost like a golem . ” As chronicle in Netflix’sHeistdocumentary series , Tallchief claimed Solis cleave her nous with VHS tapes that “ open your mind but made you more centripetal to proposition . ”
Whether such story are true or not , the story of Heather Tallchief and her daring gambling casino heist is almost too wild to be believed .
The Tumultuous Early Life Of Heather Tallchief
Heather Tallchief was a natural - born member of the Seneca , an Indigenous group of Native Americans that inhabited upstate New York before the American Revolution . Born in 1972 , Tallchief was raise in innovative - day Williamsville in Buffalo — and battled issuing like bullying from an early age .
NetflixRoberto Solis ’ mugshot from 1969 ( left ) and him charming an unidentified fair sex ( right ) .
Her parent were teenagers when she was behave and split up when she was just a toddler . Her father ’s next girl openly disliked Tallchief , and she was also ostracise at Williamsville South High School . Her Fatherhood ’s home ran rearing with drug and alcoholic beverage , with Tallchief herself eventually gravitating toward punk music and break cocaine .
NetflixRoberto Solis’ mugshot from 1969 (left) and him charming an unidentified woman (right).
Shemovedto San Francisco in 1987 to live with her mother , later earn a general equivalency diploma . Tallchief became a certified nursing help and worked at Bay Area clinic for four year until her produce cocain use see her fired . At rock bottom , she met Roberto Solis at a nightclub in 1993 .
Solis was born in Nicaragua and had gunned down an armored elevator car guard duty during a failed robbery in front of a San Francisco Woolworth ’s in 1969 . While he was condemn to life-time in prison , he wrote critically - acclaimed books of poetry under “ Pancho Aguila ” — and his fanbase successfully petitioned for his release in 1991 .
“ He was straighten out , ” Tallchief afterwards told theNew York Times . “ He compose verse . I knew his mother . He was a very normal person . If you sit down and met him , you would probably really enjoy him . You would laugh at his jokes . You would think he was a nice person . There was never anything about him that you would think he was a heinous horrible bump off bunko game . ”
NetflixAn FBI pamphlet on Tallchief and Solis.
Tallchief was shocked when she entered his apartment , however , as Roberto Solis celebrate a goat ’s head , crystal , and tarot cards on an communion table . He ask if she believed in the devil , then put up her cocain . After convincing her that “ sex magick ” could manifest all the money they ’d ever need , he started direct her to open fire AK-47s .
How Roberto Solis And Tallchief Pulled Off Their Shocking Heist
When Heather Tallchief fit Roberto Solis , she was young , vagabond and lacking phantasmal purpose . Her newfound lover , meanwhile , was 27 year old and extremely experienced in manipulating others . With a sudden sense of combine and certificate , Tallchief agreed to surveil him to Las Vegas in the summertime of 1993 .
NetflixAn FBI pamphlet on Tallchief and Solis .
When the couple settled in Nevada , Solis repeatedly urged Tallchief to find exercise at Loomis Armored . The company on a regular basis ferry million in cash between Las Vegas casino and atm . Meanwhile , he was showing her foreign VHS tape measure , which Tallchief recall had “ spate of swirling colour like a tie - dye t - shirt . ”
When Loomis ArmoredhiredTallchief as a driver , Solis made her learn a elaborated map of where to go and what to do . While Tallchief later claimed to have no recollection of this , she rend the heist off without a hitch . At 8 a.m. on Friday , October 1 , Tallchief drive the armored van to the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino .
The Loomis caper was simple : Tallchief , Scott Stewart , and another courier were to drive the vanguard from one casino to another and sate their depleted ATM machine with cash . Stewart recollect that the van was “ filled from about a third of the way from the front of the vehicle all the way to the back . ” Circus Circus was their first stop .
When her fellow courier exited the van with money bags for the cassino , Tallchief drove off . She was to repay to the Circus Circus 20 minute of arc later , but never did . Stewart think she had been abduct after stealer robbed the van , particularly when he failed to reach her via wireless . He straight off called his chief .
That ’s when Las Vegas police serjeant Larry Duis and FBI agent Joseph Dushek got involved and call up security measure footage from the gambling casino . They learned that nobody had robbed the van at all and that Tallchief had stolen it herself . When they got to her and Solis ’ flat , it was empty — and the $ 3.1 million was lead .
Maria Tallchief drove to a service department she had leased under a phony identity where Solis was wait to adulterate the cash into baggage and box . They initially take flight to Denver , before briefly hiding out in Florida and then the Caribbean . The couple then fly to Amsterdam — with Tallchief disguised as an senior womanhood in a wheelchair .
While Tallchief hoped to finalize on a farm somewhere and get out her awe behind , she found herself working as a hotel maid . She would ask Solis about the money , to which he typically reply : “ Do n’t care about it . I ’m remove fear of it . It ’s okay . It ’s secure . I ’ve get it under control . ”
“ Saying no to him was n’t an choice , ” recollect Tallchief .
Heather Tallchief Turns Herself In — And Explains Why She Did It
Over the year , Solis started treating Tallchief with apathy and moving a roster of other women into their house . When she learned that she was meaning in 1994 , Tallchief call back feel “ like I do n’t want to live anymore . I get to get out , ’cause I wanted to have the chance to at least have this kid . ”
Solis gave Tallchief and their son a few thousand dollars when she break up up with him . She briefly worked as an bodyguard and then again as a hotel maid . When her son was 10 , she managed to find a new identity element and returned to the United States on Sept. 12 , 2005 , via Los Angeles International Airpot under the name “ Donna Eaton . ” She then ended her 12 years on the run and surrendered at a Las Vegas courthouse .
Tallchief admitted to her involvement in the robbery and evidence authorities that she had n’t seen Solis in days . She hoped that selling the rights to her story could help her repay Loomis Armored . On March 30 , 2006 , she was sentenced to 63 month in federal prison and say to repay Loomis $ 2,994,083.83 before her death .
She was released in 2010 . Her son Dylan has since graduated from college and work as a YouTuber and manufacturer . Roberto Solis and the remaining cash have never been found .
After learn about Heather Tallchief , record aboutthe astounding 2005 Miami Brinks heist . Then , find out aboutthe biggest heists in account .
