Police punned persistently in soliciting the public’s help in locating “public enemy number 2,” the alleged “poopetrator” of serial defecation inside a Kansas beauty store earlier this month.
“The defecation was significant,” Kansas authorities wrote.
The posts on Twitter and Facebook about the “unique case” quickly went viral. In separate updates, the Wichita Police Department said the woman had since been identified–but did not release her name.
The alleged incident occurred in a wig aisle of a Mid-K Beauty Supply store on May 10, 2022. The business owners and police claimed that several wigs were damaged to the tune of several hundred dollars.
Law enforcement used scatological humor throughout their numerous social media posts about the incident.
“The defecation was significant enough that 8 wigs were destroyed as a result, and the business would like to know who the poopetrator is so they can pursue criminal charges,” the WPD wrote via Twitter.
The public bowel release is said to have been caught on the store’s surveillance camera footage. Law enforcement declined to release that footage, they said, out of respect for certain norms and comity.
“The incident was captured on video surveillance, but for the good of all of you, we are not posting the footage of the offending fecal assault,” the police department wrote in the posts.
The alleged woman responsible was shown, fully clothed and standing, in two still images pulled from the footage–presumably taken before or after the offending incident.
Wichita, we need your help with a… unique case.
We’re trying to identify the pictured female, who on May 10th entered a Beauty Supply store in the 2200 block of E. 21st Street and defecated in the middle of the aisle.
Yes, you read that right. pic.twitter.com/9IGXoQgULH
— Wichita Police (@WichitaPolice) May 17, 2022
Before being identified, the woman was referred to by the WPD as “public enemy number 2.”
If you know the identity of public enemy number 2, you can call Det. Meier at 316-268-4254 or email him at [email protected]#unsolvedmysteries #wpd #wtf
— Wichita Police (@WichitaPolice) May 17, 2022
Social media commentary on the posts, particularly the Facebook post, was rife. Many users made jokes about Amber Heard, who is alleged to have soiled the bed at one point during her relationship with actor Johnny Depp. Heard has denied the claim, blaming it on a Yorkshire terrier with bowel-control problems from consuming Depp’s cannabis. Even though a U.K. judge credited Heard’s alibi, Depp supporters did not, circulating the hashtags #MePoo and #AmberTurd on Twitter. Wichita police pronounced Heard innocent of the Kansas incident.
“We’ve already confirmed that this is NOT Amber Heard so please stop calling and emailing that info!” the WPD said in one Facebook comment, honing in on the zeitgeist of poop-themed chatter. “Thanks!”
“I believe the surveillance footage, and the evidence left behind helped discover what had occurred,” WPD Officer Trevor Macy told Newsweek. “At this time, it is believed to have been intentional.”
Macy told the news magazine the woman is believed to have caused $200 worth of damage during the May 10 incident.
According to The Wichita Eagle, the woman is believed to be a serial offender. The woman performed the same excremental act at yet another Mid-K Beauty Supply later the next day, the WPD told the paper, citing the manager of the first store who allegedly said she had “done this at another store” in the area.
The officer went on to allay concerns as to whether or not she simply needed some last-minute toilet paper. She did not, he said, because the wigs were displayed behind a wall she decided to use them as her toilet.
The wigs “had to be destroyed,” the officer added
A motive for the alleged acts was not immediately clear
“We’ll have to talk to her about that,” Macy told the Eagle.
Criminal charges are currently being considered.
[image via Wichita Police Department]
