Dumb crime, the Abbeville Louisiana edition

Too many criminals make mistakes. If they didn't, I wouldn't have a job writing proposals for automated fingerprint identification systems.

D. P. Lyle links to a CNN story about a skeleton in a bank chimney. The skeleton turned out to belong to someone who had been missing for 27 years - Joseph W. Schexnider was due to appear in court in January 1984 regarding possession of a stolen vehicle, and when he didn't appear, people assumed that he had fled to avoid prosecution.

So why do I call this dumb crime? Because, according to CNN:

Even if Schexnider had planned a burglary, the chimney would not have gotten him into the bank. Hardy said the fireplace that the chimney vented had no large opening at the bottom from which he could have emerged.

There's no point in pursuing an objective if you can't realize a desirable outcome.