73-Year-Old Grandmother Forced to Rob Bank With Bomb Strapped to Body

Police are on the hunt for a man who forced Betty Davis, a 73-year-old grandmother, to rob an Arkansas bank with an explosive device attached to her ankle.

According to Davis, the gunman warned her when he sent her out:

“All I’ve got to do is push this button [to detonate the bomb] if you don’t do it right.”

But, rather than take any money, Davis instead informed staff at the Arvest Bank in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that she had an explosive device strapped around her ankle and allowed them to evacuate the building.

Local authorities and officials with the Bentonville Bomb Squad arrived shortly after and removed the device from Davis’ leg.

It was then that Davis told the cops her story, a gunman had broken into her home the previous evening and was holding her husband hostage while she carried out his orders.

When police got to Mrs. Davis’s home in Washington County, they found her husband Dean, tied up, but the suspect had escaped with the family’s pickup truck, a 2011 Silver Ford F-150.

The pickup truck was found abandoned a few miles away from the house.

Washington County sheriff’s Lieutenant Emily Augustine said the couple are not being treated as suspects, have been cooperative in the investigation and did not show any signs of deception in telling police their story.

“The evidence we have supports the witness statements so far,” Augustine said, and added, “[Betty’s] a really brave woman.”

Although 73-year-old Betty Davis and her husband Dean are described by relatives as being in good spirits, their family has lingering concerns that the intruder might return.

“I don’t feel like they’re safe because he could come back and everything,” the couple’s grandson, Billy Davis, told local reporters. “And you don’t know what he’s going to do.”

Here is a clip from ABC News on the Arkansas bank robbery incident:

Source & Image: ABC News