The Mystery of the Coin Machine Murder

A shady character lurking about Simmons Laundry and Self Storage Monday night and Tuesday morning is being sought for the murder of the laundromat's coin machine.

"This is the third time," says Simmons Laundry owner Cindy Harris Simmons. "The last time, we went to Ener-Tel [the security alarm company] and we asked for security stations specifically for coin machines."

The coin machine murderer is suspected to have entered the building three different times and watched the machine, before exiting and returning later. The identity of the man is still unknown, and photos from the three different surveillance videos suggest the man repeatedly entering is the same that busted and robbed the machine, Simmons says.

If that proves to be the case, the clever fox was even smart enough to walk around without his face being covered initially, only to return and cover part of it for the robbery.

"He comes in and paces around," Simmons says. "He comes in and eyeballs the machine, then leaves." Simmons says she, her husband and Ener-tel have all reviewed surveillance video footage, and believe the suspect to have come in at 10:30 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. when customers were in the shop, and then to have returned at 1:33 a.m. for the kill. 

"The alarm [on the coin machine] wasn’t working," Simmons says. "He got all of the bills, but wasn’t able to get down to the bottom to get the quarters."

Simmons says a customer, who entered the store one minute after the suspect, called the police. 

Photos from the video footage of all three occasions in which the suspect enters the building have been sent to the police, Simmons says.

The suspect is a hispanic male who Simmons estimates to be approximately 5'7" or 5'8".

She says that this is the third time her coin machine has been abused and emptied, which inevitably takes place between November and January each year. 

"We take this personal," she says. "We come from a small town where things like this don't happen."