There’s a special kind of criminal blunder that makes you shake your head and chuckle a little, even when the underlying charges are serious business. This is one of those stories. A 31 year old Phoenix man is now facing a felony arson charge after allegedly stealing a Chevrolet Suburban from a grocery store parking lot and torching it just hours later, according to court documents. It’s the kind of case that sounds almost too on the nose to be real, right down to the detail that ultimately helped investigators zero in on a suspect.
Blake Alexander Hauff was arrested on July 22 in Tucson and booked into a Maricopa County jail. Detectives say they had plenty to work with, including store surveillance footage, a distinctive outfit that showed up in two separate video clips, and one very unfortunate shopping habit. We’ll get to that part, because it’s the detail that’s going to stick with readers longest.
The whole thing kicked off on the evening of July 12 at a Safeway on Apache Trail in Apache Junction, Arizona, reported Fox 10. From there, things escalated quickly, moving from a simple theft to a vehicle fire in the span of about four hours. Police say the physical evidence and camera footage lined up almost too neatly, which is exactly how these cases tend to unravel for suspects.
What follows is a rundown of how authorities say the night played out, and how one small, easily traceable detail may have made all the difference.
A Detour Through the Employee Break Room
According to investigators, surveillance cameras showed Hauff wandering the Safeway aisles before slipping into the employee break room and going through a locker. Police allege he pulled a set of car keys from an employee’s purse.
Before leaving, he reportedly bought something at the register and entered his personal loyalty rewards phone number, a routine habit for regular shoppers that, in this case, allegedly tied him directly to the crime. He then walked out and drove off in the victim’s tan Suburban.
The SUV Goes Up in Flames
Just four hours later, in the early morning hours of July 13, Phoenix police responded to reports of a vehicle fire near 26th Street and Kelton Lane. They found the same Suburban engulfed in flames. Officers located a gas can nearby and noticed fabric sticking out of the open fuel tank compartment, details that pointed toward arson rather than an accidental fire.
Footage from a nearby guest house reportedly showed a man matching Hauff’s description walking away from the burning SUV around 1:30 a.m. Investigators noted the same distinctive outfit, dark sweatpants with one leg rolled up over dark leggings, that appeared in the earlier Safeway video. A hatchback then picked him up not far from his girlfriend’s home.
The Story Doesn’t Quite Add Up
When detectives eventually caught up with Hauff in Tucson, he admitted to taking the Suburban but denied setting it on fire, claiming armed strangers in masks stole it from him afterward. Investigators pointed out the vehicle was already burning while he was seen walking away. Hauff then asked for an attorney and the interview ended there.
Hauff remains in custody on the felony arson charge, with additional theft charges expected from the Apache Junction Police Department.