KILL DEVIL HILL, N.C.-- A suspicious device was discovered Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of Kill Devil Custard by the owner of the restaurant.
The owner told officers that she'd seen a white male in his late 30's, about 5'6" – 5'7" tall and balding pull into the parking lot and get out at one of the outdoor tables on the restaurant property.
The male pulled something out of a green military style duffle bag and then placed the object underneath the metal base of a light post in the parking lot. The man then left in a blue-green passenger car driving north on US 158.
The object that the man left behind was a 7 inch long plastic tube with screw on end caps. The metal light pole base had been propped up with a piece of wood and there were no markings on the object.
Kill Devil Hills Police and Fire responded and were unable to determine the nature of the object. The Marine Explosive Ordinance Disposal team from Cherry Point, N.C. was consulted and responded with a team to the scene.
The EOD team used a robot to remove the suspicious device. It was hand carried by a technician to a nearby empty field where it was detonated.
Inside the object, investigators discovered a small sheaf of papers bound together with a zip tie. Notes on the papers go back to 2010 and appear to be messages passed from one person to the next.
The suspicious object was determined to be a "Geocache" container. According to Wikipedia, Geocashing is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches".
Normally these "caches" are clearly marked as a "geocache."
The investigation tied up police and fire units for several hours, disrupted normal activity in the neighborhood, nearby homes and businesses were evacuated, and when the EOD team was preparing to explode the object, traffic on US 158 had to be diverted north and south of the location out of safety concerns for the public.
Kill Devil Hills Police Chief Gary Britt strongly urged anybody participating in "geocaching" to use common sense when choosing a container to hide notes and objects in.
"Something that looks like a pipe bomb, close enough that even a military EOD team felt there was cause for concern, is probably not what you want to use," Chief Britt stated. "I hope anybody playing this game will use appropriate containers which are clearly marked as "geocache" on the outside."
At this time, the investigation into the identity of the individual who left the "geocache" continues.
