How police caught the bicycle bandit after almost two decades on the run

ABC NEWS (Australia)

South Australia Police have revealed how they used publicly sourced DNA for the first time to catch one of the state’s most wanted men. Former police officer Kym Allen Parsons, who was known as the bicycle bandit, was arrested in 2023. Almost 20 years after he committed his first robbery. For the victims, his arrest and sentence have been bitter-sweet. But Parsons could well have escaped capture if not for the new investigative tool. And it is hoped the new method could help solve countless more crimes.

Transcript

00:00The moment in October 2023, when Kim Alan Parsons' violent past finally caught up with

00:09him.

00:10There was a resignation in his face, we could tell that the day had finally come for him.

00:14For almost 20 years he'd been known only as the Bicycle Bandit, the man who terrorised

00:19bank staff.

00:20Bring everything out, put it in the green bag, everything.

00:25Rose Lindner remembers the fear she felt when she came face to face with Parsons at the

00:30Tanunda Bank in 2006.

00:32I'm going to die, yeah, he's going to shoot us.

00:37For Rose, it was a life changing moment.

00:39I was hyper vigilant, I would be mid-serving a customer and drop to the ground and crawl

00:47across the bank's floor to safety.

00:50The arrest of the former police officer and long-time firefighter delivering an immediate

00:55sense of relief for those he terrorised.

01:00In all, Parsons committed 11 armed hold-ups over a 10-year period and hit the same bank

01:05at Mount Pleasant three times.

01:07He had complete disregard for victims.

01:11With no DNA match to law enforcement databases, police turned to forensic investigative genetic

01:17genealogy.

01:18This is the first time that South Australia Police applied the technique to a criminal

01:23case.

01:24In this case, police linked the DNA left by Kim Parsons to a distant cousin overseas on

01:29a public database.

01:31From there, detectives began working through the family tree until they finally found their

01:36match.

01:37It's a game-changing technique for law enforcement and it will be used to solve more cold cases.

01:43With Parsons suffering stage four cancer, police moved to fast-track the court process.

01:48The 73-year-old eventually accepted his fate and pleaded guilty.

01:53He was given a 35-year sentence in order to pay back the $359,000 that he'd stolen.

02:01For Rose, knowing her tormentor is no longer out there is helping the healing process.

02:06Life's good.

02:07I can't change anything that happened.

02:10It'll just be with me.

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