North Texas Serial Bank Robber Identified

The manhunt for suspected serial bank robber Steven Milam now stretches from North Texas to Tyler.

His most recent robbery was Saturday morning at a BBVA Compass Bank branch in Richardson.

Milam is also accused of hitting banks in Dallas, Irving and Plano while wearing what’s known as a “Handsome Guy” mask.

Authorities say Milam, 44, is actually a casket salesman from Tyler, who was featured in a 2009 TV report.

Richardson police said Milam robbed the BBVA Compass Bank at Campbell and Plano Roads Saturday morning, then opened fire on the first officer to respond.

No one was hurt, but their were three bullet holes left in the squad car. The FBI says Milam may be responsible for more than half a dozen holdups in North Texas.

Carla Bridges lives next door to Milam in Tyler and was surprised to learn about his alleged double life.

Bridges told WFAA in Dallas, “Shoot! I didn’t know all that,” she said. “They’ve always been nice. They’d speak to us when we’d speak to them, and all that.”

A handful of patrol cars have been staking out the suspect’s home, but Bridges said she hasn’t seen him since Christmas.

This isn’t Milam’s first rodeo. He went to prison in 2005 for bank robberies. When caught this time, he will face a more serious charge of attempted capital murder for shooting at police and if convicted will spend  the rest of his life in prision. 

Police and the FBI are asking for the public’s help in finding Steven Milam before he strikes again. Milam is now wanted for attempted capital murder and multiple counts of bank robbery. Milam is armed and extremely dangerous. Call Richardson police at 972-744-4801 or your local police agency if you have any information about the suspect.

Update on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 5:17PM by Bonzer Wolf

You may have heard that Milam was arrested in Jackson County, Mississippi this morning. He was taken into custody by the sheriff himself, Mike Byrd. The  Dallas Observer tells us how the arrest went down:

Says Byrd, it began out on Interstate 10 a little before 10 this morning, where the sheriff’s department had K9 officers running a drug-interdiction operation. Deputies espied Milam’s Texas plates and ran the tags. Says Byrd, the feds’ National Crime Information Center came back with a hit: Milam, it said, was wanted for homicide — “the willful killing of a police officer in Richardson, Texas.” (He actually shot at officers during a botched New Year’s Eve robbery, which is how authorities finally figured out the identity of the man beneath the mask.)

Says Byrd, officers hit their lights and drove after Milam: “We made three attempts to spike-strip the vehicle.” But that didn’t work. Officers shut down I-10, in front of and behind the chase. The sheriff didn’t want anyone getting hurt. That’s when Byrd got involved. “I pulled up at 85 miles and shot out the right rear tire.” He used his pistol: a .40-caliber Sig Sauer.

“He pulled over, but he would not get out of the vehicle,” Byrd says. “We had to physically remove him.” He was taken into custody. “Then he puked in the back of the car.” Milam was taken to the hospital to see if he’d tried to overdose. Now he’s in county jail, behind held on local charges (“felon fleeing”). Milam, says the sheriff, will be sent back to North Texas when “I get the federal warrant.”