A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words but these pictures were taken as several thousand dollars changed hands unwillingly.
The first three photographs shown here were taken during a bank robbery in East Lyme on October 11; the following four were taken during a bank robbery in Killingworth yesterday. The suspect in the first set bears a striking resemblance to the suspect in the second set.
Asked whether police believed the same person was responsible for both robberies, police at Troop F said, "It's not confirmed at this time." But details of the robbery also have a familiar ring to them.
The TD Bank on Route 81 in Killingworth was robbed at 1:15 p.m. on Friday. According to Sgt. Sal Calvo of Troop F, the suspect calmly walked into the bank, handed a teller a note and then calmly walked out of the bank with an undetermined amount of cash. The suspect implied a handgun, but one was not displayed during robbery, police said.
Savings Institute Bank & Trust in East Lyme Commons, 305 Flanders Road in East Lyme was robbed at 5:04 p.m. on October 11 just as the bank was closing. Sgt. William Bundy of the Eastern District Major Crimes Division, Troop E said a white suspect entered the bank and approached a teller. The suspect handed the teller a note indicating it was a robbery. Again, the suspect implied there was a gun but no weapon was produced. Bundy said the robber left with an undetermined amount of cash.
Calvo described the suspect as, "a white male. He was wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses and he was about 5-foot-9." In both sets of surveillance photographs, the hat appears to be the same.
Bundy did not specify the gender of the suspect involved in the East Lyme robbery, believing it possible that it could have been a woman disguised as a man or a man disguised as a woman. One witness to the East Lyme robbery said that the suspect spoke with a soft voice and appeared to be female.
In both cases, the suspect left on foot and, though K-9 units were called in, dogs were unable to pick up a trail.
Because of their location, the robberies are being investigated by two different State Police troops. Sgt. William Bundy of the Eastern District Major Crimes Division, Troop E, is heading the investigation of the East Lyme robbery. Detectives from State Police Troop F are investigating the Killingworth robbery. Neither of the officers leading the investigation were available for comment as of this morning.
Anyone with information about the robbery in Killingworth should call Troop F at (860) 399-2100. If you have information about the robbery in East Lyme, please call Troop E at (860) 848-6500.
