The Feather Thief

Johnson acknowledges that he “had become consumed by the crimes of Edwin Rist” (156). Part of his obsession stems from his experiences with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to years of aid work in war-torn Iraq. Johnson was immensely frustrated that the US government seemed fine with abandoning Iraqi allies. He turned to fly-fishing initially as therapy.

Johnson dove into the case of the missing bird skins with the goal of finding them. He began conducting internet searches for “Edwin” and “Fluteplayer 1988,” which revealed some posts related to Edwin’s activities of selling bird skins. He also relied heavily on his New Mexico fly-fishing guide Spencer Seim for help deciphering jargon from the strange fly-tying community. Spencer also helped Johnson learn to tie his first fly. Spencer encouraged Johnson to attend the international fly-tying symposium in Somerset, New Jersey.

At the symposium, Johnson ran into Roger Plourde, a master fly-tier who also sold bird parts for fly-tying. Plourde had also been a regular contributor to fly-tying online forums. Johnson tried to talk to Plourde about the Tring heist, but Plourde refused to discuss the crime. In fact, he threatened Johnson. After this encounter, it became clear to Johnson that the rest of the symposium attendees had identified him as an outsider.