The trio of sharknappers — Ocean’s Three? — can be seen on surveillance video using their own net to capture Miss Helen on Saturday, removing her from the 76-degree water after staking out the pool for more than an hour, the aquarium said in a statement. She was placed into 52-degree water to make her voyage — a shock to the system that her handlers feared would quickly kill her.
But Miss Helen, who’s less than a year old, proved her resilience, from her snout to her caudal fin. And the thieves, if bad at covering their tracks, turned out to be good at taking care of sharks.
If aquarium employees are correct in their suspicions, the thieves were also skilled at reconnaissance. An official said she recognized one of them from a month earlier, when he said he worked for the facility’s salt supplier and got an all-access tour.
On Saturday, just after Miss Helen’s disappearance, an aquarium manager caught up to the trio in the parking lot. They refused to allow an inspection of their truck or the baby stroller and drove off, said Ammon Covino, the aquarium’s chief operating officer.
No matter. Surveillance footage recorded the license plate number, and an image of the getaway truck was all over local media. Tips poured in to the police, who tracked down the truck Monday morning, according to Joseph Salvaggio, chief of the Leon Valley Police Department.
The police arrived at a home near where the car was found and were preparing a warrant when a man arrived and let the officers into the home, Chief Salvaggio said.
They quickly found Miss Helen. It was hard to miss the giant pool inside the house, filled with sharks and other marine animals.
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