Arrest made in witch’s bank holdup

A woman is being held for investigation in four bank holdups, including one on Halloween in which a robber dressed as a witch vanished in the smoke of an exploding dye pack, police said.

Parts of a witch costume were found at the apartment of Vanessa D. Molina, and she had red ink under a fingernail, which she told investigators was from the dye pack, police Detective Samuel Costello said.

Molina, 22, was arrested at the apartment Wednesday, along with her boyfriend, Donald E. Jefferson, 36, who was caught hiding in some bushes, police Cmdr. Tor Bjornstad said.

Jefferson was being held for investigation as a potential accomplice in at least two of the holdups and in a drug case in neighboring Pierce County, police said. He also had been sought on a warrant accusing him of parole violation in California.

The holdups occurred in October — including two within an hour on Oct. 31.

In the first Halloween heist, a woman wearing a purple witch hat, cloak and long blond wig was running from a Washington Mutual branch in Lacey when a dye pack inserted by the teller went off across the street.

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The robber fled, leaving behind the hat and the money.

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Less than an hour later, at a Washington Mutual branch in Olympia, a woman in a blue hooded sweat shirt with black pants handed the teller a note and escaped with an undisclosed amount of money.

An officer later noticed similarities between the robber and a woman shown on security videotape using stolen ID to withdraw money from an account at the bank in Lacey in early November, police said.