Strange things about Bonnie Wilder segment

[wiseguy182]

I just rewatched the Bonnie Wilder segment and noticed several things that were rather odd that I hadn't noticed before.

-On the day of Bonnie's heist, Stack says that she went up to each cashier in each department with an "unusual request", in that they empty the contents of their till into a bag. And then, like 5 seconds later, Stack says "Nobody thought this was unusual." Those seem to be contradictory statements. Was it unusual or not unusual? My guess is that it would be unusual since that was apparently not the norm. And how would she keep track of what monies came from which till?

-Another thing that was odd was that in the employee break room in the Atlanta store, it was mentioned that Bonnie stated she had a husband and son living in Florida. Did this not strike any of the employees as weird? Why would she be working in another state than where her family lived?

-Did none of the employees think it weird that on the day of Bonnie's heist (after she went back for her "purse"), that she got into a taxi? As in, something that could be used to help take her far away from there?

-It's not explicitly stated, but the segment depicts the vault and tills being completely empty. Did she take the loose and rolled change too? And she made off with what, I think it was 20k total? Her purse must have been bursting at the seams.

Taking all of that into account, this must have been a collection of the dumbest employees for none of them to be able to catch on to her before she bolted right out of there. I wasn't surprised when Vicki Bosma said that store only managed to be in existence for a few years.

Also, and this may just be a re-enactment goof, but the segment depicts Bonnie as having a name tag. Usually, those are reserved for the employees that come into contact with customers (such as the cashiers, etc) and usually wouldn't be something the accounting staff would wear.

Another thing that was really odd: Bonnie apparently had various aliases, and under normal circumstances, Stack would usually rattle them off. Not only did that not happen here, but they apparently created a fictitious name in Bonnie Wilder as it was suggested that wasn't one of her aliases.

And finally, I know it's been talked about how Lisa Penz couldn't get over Bonnie's size and mentioned that at every opportunity. Did Lisa never look in a mirror? She's no prize either. Not sure what's going on with her eyes, but they freak me out.

[Charlie99909]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

I just rewatched the Bonnie Wilder segment and noticed several things that were rather odd that I hadn't noticed before.

-On the day of Bonnie's heist, Stack says that she went up to each cashier in each department with an "unusual request", in that they empty the contents of their till into a bag. And then, like 5 seconds later, Stack says "Nobody thought this was unusual." Those seem to be contradictory statements. Was it unusual or not unusual? My guess is that it would be unusual since that was apparently not the norm. And how would she keep track of what monies came from which till?

-Another thing that was odd was that in the employee break room in the Atlanta store, it was mentioned that Bonnie stated she had a husband and son living in Florida. Did this not strike any of the employees as weird? Why would she be working in another state than where her family lived?

-Did none of the employees think it weird that on the day of Bonnie's heist (after she went back for her "purse"), that she got into a taxi? As in, something that could be used to help take her far away from there?

-It's not explicitly stated, but the segment depicts the vault and tills being completely empty. Did she take the loose and rolled change too? And she made off with what, I think it was 20k total? Her purse must have been bursting at the seams.

Taking all of that into account, this must have been a collection of the dumbest employees for none of them to be able to catch on to her before she bolted right out of there. I wasn't surprised when Vicki Bosma said that store only managed to be in existence for a few years.

Also, and this may just be a re-enactment goof, but the segment depicts Bonnie as having a name tag. Usually, those are reserved for the employees that come into contact with customers (such as the cashiers, etc) and usually wouldn't be something the accounting staff would wear.

Another thing that was really odd: Bonnie apparently had various aliases, and under normal circumstances, Stack would usually rattle them off. Not only did that not happen here, but they apparently created a fictitious name in Bonnie Wilder as it was suggested that wasn't one of her aliases.

And finally, I know it's been talked about how Lisa Penz couldn't get over Bonnie's size and mentioned that at every opportunity. Did Lisa never look in a mirror? She's no prize either. Not sure what's going on with her eyes, but they freak me out.

My first job out of high school was for Kohl's. Most of us were kids in high school or college and no one really questioned anything someone in her similar position would tell us to do. Plus, most of us being under 20, didn't really care about what happened to the store. We all wanted to be doing other things.
The taxi thing isn't an issue, I took a taxi from work once when my car was in a shop over night.

[unsolved88]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

-On the day of Bonnie's heist, Stack says that she went up to each cashier in each department with an "unusual request", in that they empty the contents of their till into a bag. And then, like 5 seconds later, Stack says "Nobody thought this was unusual." Those seem to be contradictory statements. Was it unusual or not unusual? My guess is that it would be unusual since that was apparently not the norm. And how would she keep track of what monies came from which till?

I'm a cashier and I've never heard of any manager telling cashiers to empty their till into a drawstring bag at the end of a shift. Like you said, how would she be able to tell which bag corresponded with each person's till to balance them out? I can't believe none of the cashiers questioned her about it, or better yet, outright refuse to do it and report her to another manager.

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

-Another thing that was odd was that in the employee break room in the Atlanta store, it was mentioned that Bonnie stated she had a husband and son living in Florida. Did this not strike any of the employees as weird? Why would she be working in another state than where her family lived?

This was always weird to me too. Vicky Bosma stated that Bonnie told people that her son in Florida was sick. Perhaps she made up a B.S. story about how they were all planning to move to Georgia, but the son got sick and needed medical care that was only available in Florida, which still doesn't make any sense. Why would she leave a sick child to work at a store in a different (albeit nearby) state? I know the segment said "husband" but could they have really meant "ex-husband"? That would make a lot more sense. Maybe the son wanted to live with the father after the divorce and she moved to Georgia? That sounds far more believable.

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

-Did none of the employees think it weird that on the day of Bonnie's heist (after she went back for her "purse"), that she got into a taxi? As in, something that could be used to help take her far away from there?

I have to wonder if she made up some crap about her car being in the shop or something. I wonder if anyone saw her driving to work that day, because it would be super suspicious to drive a seemingly functional car to work in the morning only to abandon it there and catch a cab home.

-It's not explicitly stated, but the segment depicts the vault and tills being completely empty. Did she take the loose and rolled change too? And she made off with what, I think it was 20k total? Her purse must have been bursting at the seams.[/QUOTE]

The segment shows the purse as being one of those big duffel bag type purses. But still, the purse appears to be REALLY full when they show her and the other employees finally leaving the building. Someone should have noticed it. The fact that Bonnie had successfully overturned the store's bag check policy right before the heist only makes it more odd that they didn't notice her bulging bag.

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

Also, and this may just be a re-enactment goof, but the segment depicts Bonnie as having a name tag. Usually, those are reserved for the employees that come into contact with customers (such as the cashiers, etc) and usually wouldn't be something the accounting staff would wear.

Interestingly, if you look closely at her lunchroom picture, she is in fact wearing a name badge (although it does kind of blend in with the stripes in her dress). I'm wondering if she ever had any other jobs on the sales floor that would have required dealing with customers and the use of an employee name tag.

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

Another thing that was really odd: Bonnie apparently had various aliases, and under normal circumstances, Stack would usually rattle them off. Not only did that not happen here, but they apparently created a fictitious name in Bonnie Wilder as it was suggested that wasn't one of her aliases.

I never understood the fictitious name of "Bonnie Wilder" being used. If they didn't know who she was, how would using the real alias (kind of oxymoronic to say it that way) hinder anything? It's not like a murder case where they have to deliberately hold back certain info to weed out false confessions. Now I'm curious to know the alias she used in the crime, as well as some of her other alias besides Lisa Penz (assuming she did use Lisa's identity at some point).

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

And finally, I know it's been talked about how Lisa Penz couldn't get over Bonnie's size and mentioned that at every opportunity. Did Lisa never look in a mirror? She's no prize either. Not sure what's going on with her eyes, but they freak me out.

She does appear to have a lazy or blind eye. Lisa does appear to have kept harping on Bonnie's weight more than the actual theft.

I think Vicky Bosma said in her posts that it wasn't just Bonnie's weight that made her stand out negatively. She also said that Bonnie wasn't particularly clean and no one wanted to be around her, presumably because she smelled. Vicky also stated that Bonnie kept a bag of peanuts in her desk and constantly snacked on them during her shift, which probably meant she always had her hands near her mouth as she was counting money or handling office equipment.

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by unsolved88

I have to wonder if she made up some crap about her car being in the shop or something. I wonder if anyone saw her driving to work that day, because it would be super suspicious to drive a seemingly functional car to work in the morning only to abandon it there and catch a cab home.

good point.

Originally Posted by unsolved88

think Vicky Bosma said in her posts that it wasn't just Bonnie's weight that made her stand out negatively. She also said that Bonnie wasn't particularly clean and no one wanted to be around her, presumably because she smelled. Vicky also stated that Bonnie kept a bag of peanuts in her desk and constantly snacked on them during her shift, which probably meant she always had her hands near her mouth as she was counting money or handling office equipment.

I remember that. I wish Vicki Bosma would post here again, she must have a wealth of information. I'd be curious to learn about Bonnie's other heists, and exactly how many she has pulled off. IIRC, she had multiple ones in Florida, Georgia and Michigan and at least one each in Louisiana and Tennessee. I believe she has hit at least 8 stores at the bare minimum.

I was always curious about the Hispanic male accomplice and what role he played. Nothing is known about him.

[unsolved88]

There was a Reddit thread about Bonnie Wilder a few months ago with a link to the update thread where Vicky Bosma posted here. A user on Reddit brought up an interesting point. The UM segment implies that Bonnie was true management material and that the staff really liked her. Vicky's posts basically say that all her co-workers found her weird and gross and went out of their way to avoid her. The Reddit user wisely stated that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by unsolved88

There was a Reddit thread about Bonnie Wilder a few months ago with a link to the update thread where Vicky Bosma posted here. A user on Reddit brought up an interesting point. The UM segment implies that Bonnie was true management material and that the staff really liked her. Vicky's posts basically say that all her co-workers found her weird and gross and went out of their way to avoid her. The Reddit user wisely stated that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

She probably could have benefitted by visiting the perfume counter.

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

Originally Posted by Charlie99909

My first job out of high school was for Kohl's. Most of us were kids in high school or college and no one really questioned anything someone in her similar position would tell us to do. Plus, most of us being under 20, didn't really care about what happened to the store. We all wanted to be doing other things.
The taxi thing isn't an issue, I took a taxi from work once when my car was in a shop over night.

Yeah I see where you are going with that. I wonder if she targeted particular locations within this industry because of the lack of awareness. She won their trust and knew she could get away with it. It was just a matter of skipping town before she was caught.

[wiseguy182]

Another thing that was weird was that she was still a new employee at that point. She hadn't even been working there for 2 months. It just seems, all things considered, somebody would have noticed all the red flags that were sent up. It's not like she was some long-time, trusted employee.

[flytrapp]

On the day of Bonnie's heist, Stack says that she went up to each cashier in each department with an "unusual request", in that they empty the contents of their till into a bag. And then, like 5 seconds later, Stack says "Nobody thought this was unusual." Those seem to be contradictory statements. Was it unusual or not unusual? My guess is that it would be unusual since that was apparently not the norm. And how would she keep track of what monies came from which till?

HaHA! I never noticed this before either! Even though I have watched this segment so many times that I have every word memorized. My guess is that it was unusual protocol for the employees to empty their tills and give them to Bonnie, but what's not unusual is that the employees would do what Bonnie said because she was considered a management figure. That's my take on it.

About Bonnie's appearance or hygiene and people not wanting to be around her...Stack at one point says "Bonnie became very popular with her coworkers". To me this would make sense. As Wiseguy pointed out, Bonnie had only worked at the store for less than two months, and it sounds like she worked quickly to gain everyone's trust, and part of gaining people's trust is for them to somewhat like you, and people aren't going to like you that well if you smell. The segment also mentions how Bonnie persuaded management that checking everyone's bags and purses before they leave would detrimental to the staff's morale. So not only did this aid in her plan, it also showed that she went to bat for her coworkers, so it's possible that the employees felt like Bonnie had their backs, so to speak.

One guy interviewed in the segment (who once worked there) said that the staff at the store viewed Bonnie as part of the management team. The segment also said she was good at her job. So again, I think she probably snowed everyone by acting like she cared about the store, wanting to improve their operations, etc., so no one really had a reason not to trust her.

I feel like Bonnie's weight was her biggest weapon. I worked at a company before where it was 90% women. If you were blonde and thin and pretty it didn't take long for the petty comments to start. However, Bonnie being heavier and eccentric meant she was not a threat to anyone. Her unassuming looks made her even more dangerous, because people couldn't see her doing what she did. We've since this before in UM cases and in other crimes. Like sweet little Gertrude Pruitt, no thought this cute little fruitcake-baking granny would steal their money. But she did. Many people also thought that there was no way Ted Bundy could be a killer because he was handsome and charming and educated. Anyway, I think Bonnie's appearance was all part of her plan.

About Bonnie's family, I think because it was a new store people were probably assuming that the family would relocate to Georgia soon. She never said where in Florida, and I think the Florida border is about an hour's drive from Atlanta. I think, I may be wrong, been about ten years since I made that drive.

About the alias and why UM used "Bonnie" instead of the real alias. I'm not sure about privacy laws, but maybe because the alias really belonged to another woman, UM didn't want to put that person's name out there? That might also be the reason for not listing off other aliases, as the names belonged to real women/victims.

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by flytrapp

I feel like Bonnie's weight was her biggest weapon. I worked at a company before where it was 90% women. If you were blonde and thin and pretty it didn't take long for the petty comments to start. However, Bonnie being heavier and eccentric meant she was not a threat to anyone. Her unassuming looks made her even more dangerous, because people couldn't see her doing what she did. We've since this before in UM cases and in other crimes. Like sweet little Gertrude Pruitt, no thought this cute little fruitcake-baking granny would steal their money. But she did. Many people also thought that there was no way Ted Bundy could be a killer because he was handsome and charming and educated. Anyway, I think Bonnie's appearance was all part of her plan.

I'm curious as to why her coworkers described her as "eccentric". I feel there's a lot more to this story that would be an interesting read or view.

I feel that Bonnie probably worked there just long enough to get a feel for the day-to-day operations and routines to get a feel for the place, then made her move.

Originally Posted by flytrapp

About the alias and why UM used "Bonnie" instead of the real alias. I'm not sure about privacy laws, but maybe because the alias really belonged to another woman, UM didn't want to put that person's name out there? That might also be the reason for not listing off other aliases, as the names belonged to real women/victims.

Oh, good call. I'm dying to know if she ever used Lisa Penz's identity.

As a sidebar, it seems Lisa Penz and Vicky Bosma didn't like each other very much.

[flytrapp]

As a sidebar, it seems Lisa Penz and Vicky Bosma didn't like each other very much.

LOL. I tend to agree. I think for Lisa, she felt naked. She knew that Vicky knew that if Lisa had maybe checked out the references correctly that the store wouldn't have been in the mess they were. For Vicky, the same thing. I think she was annoyed that Lisa was acting like everyone got duped, meanwhile, Vicky had to do the research that Lisa should have done in the first place.

Lesson here, kids? If you need a job and don't really qualify, apply to Lisa Penz and hope she isn't looking at your resume with her good eye.

Wiseguy, I, too, think there is more to this story. I would love to have been an employee at the store during this time, or even just a fly on the wall, to watch and observe.

About Bonnie being "eccentric". A couple of thoughts come to mind. One is that they all felt she was private. Another is that maybe Bonnie was a little jumpy or something, because I know I certainly would be if I was looking these coworkers in the eye day after day, knowing what I had planned. The next thing is (and this is just a guess) but I believe someone, maybe Lisa Penz, commented on the way Bonnie dressed. Like I said, just a guess, but it was the 80s, and if Bonnie was as large as everyone said she was, maybe her clothes weren't exactly business attire? The segment did show her wearing a big flowered or patterned dress. I had a relative who was a really big girl, and in the 80s, and even the 90s, she was really limited to what clothes she could wear/find. So maybe this was part of Bonnie's "eccentricity", that she didn't wear business suits and such because of her size.

I have to make a catty remark, though. I love how Lisa was going on and on about how Bonnie couldn't get lost in a crowd because she was huge. Hello Lisa, one of your eyes doesn't work, so do you plan on finding her?

Like Wiseguy, I am also just DYING to know if Bonnie ever used Lisa's ID. If Bonnie saw the segment, I doubt it...too risky (depending on how quickly the segment was made after the robbery, I guess, meaning Bonnie may have used it if the segment hadn't aired yet).

[unsolved88]

Originally Posted by flytrapp

About Bonnie being "eccentric". A couple of thoughts come to mind. One is that they all felt she was private. Another is that maybe Bonnie was a little jumpy or something, because I know I certainly would be if I was looking these coworkers in the eye day after day, knowing what I had planned. The next thing is (and this is just a guess) but I believe someone, maybe Lisa Penz, commented on the way Bonnie dressed. Like I said, just a guess, but it was the 80s, and if Bonnie was as large as everyone said she was, maybe her clothes weren't exactly business attire? The segment did show her wearing a big flowered or patterned dress. I had a relative who was a really big girl, and in the 80s, and even the 90s, she was really limited to what clothes she could wear/find. So maybe this was part of Bonnie's "eccentricity", that she didn't wear business suits and such because of her size.

If you look at her outfit in the opening of the segment, she's wearing a muumuu over a collared blouse with a skirt underneath! Since UM was often very accurate about having the actors wear clothes similar to the victims' at the time of the crime (look at the Wendy Camp case), I wonder if such unusual outfits were typical of what Bonnie wore to work. After all, it was 1986 and a 300-pound woman couldn't exactly pull off the shoulder pad look without looking even bigger.

Originally Posted by flytrapp

I have to make a catty remark, though. I love how Lisa was going on and on about how Bonnie couldn't get lost in a crowd because she was huge. Hello Lisa, one of your eyes doesn't work, so do you plan on finding her?

[DazzlerSparkler]

Lisa Penz will probably be one of my favorite UM characters ever. Disgruntled woman who got fired who just slings insults at Bonnie, Bette Davis style.

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

Originally Posted by unsolved88

If you look at her outfit in the opening of the segment, she's wearing a muumuu over a collared blouse with a skirt underneath! Since UM was often very accurate about having the actors wear clothes similar to the victims' at the time of the crime (look at the Wendy Camp case), I wonder if such unusual outfits were typical of what Bonnie wore to work. After all, it was 1986 and a 300-pound woman couldn't exactly pull off the shoulder pad look without looking even bigger.

Shoulder pads lol. Those look bad on anyone.