Updated on January 13
The infamous Ice Pick Bandit has struck again, this time with two attacks in his main stomping ground off I-75 at a Love's travel stop in Macon, Georgia, and the Pinehurst Travel Center about 50 miles south. The result this time was at least one on-highway blowout.
"Somebody came and slashed some tires yesterday around this area," said a representative at the Love's. "Here at and at other rest areas on I-75."
Farther south down I-75, multiple Overdrive readers reported an attack. "Drivers woke up to there [sic] tires punctured," one wrote who frequents the area. "Just hope I don’t catch him." Both incidents took place on the night of January 9th.
Overdrive has been tracking the mysterious incidents of truck vandalism since 2023, and while we've had reports from as far as Texas and Missouri, I-75 south of Atlanta and north of Gainesville, Florida, make up the real hot spot for Ice Pick Bandit attacks.
In September, a driver's dashcam appeared to capture video of the bandit in the act at a truck stop in Tennessee, and perhaps his truck as well, but nothing came of it. Just a week or so later a rampage of the same style of attacks played out along the Texas-Arkansas border.
On Friday, Macon-Bibb police confirmed they had received three calls from truck drivers mentioning tire vandalism. The description of the attacks matches other instances, as the tires seem to have been punctured with a small tool that left hard-to-detect holes that slowly drain the tire.
"He started going down the road towards Atlanta and he had a blowout," a police representative for Macon-Bibb county told Overdrive. "The person he called for the tire change said his tires were all flat" when they got into the shop.
Temperatures on January 9 in Macon would have sat near freezing as much of the country grapples with a deep freeze, but the Ice Pick Bandit has braved inhospitable rain and weather before to attack trucks. Local police are investigating the incident, and Overdrive has alerted statewide and federal authorities about the continuing attacks.
The Love's attendant said his lot had cameras, but it would "depend" where the attacked trucks were parked as to whether or not he would have captured any footage. In the past, the bandit has proven adept at dodging cameras, mostly targeting mom-and-pop truck stops with dirt lots and few cameras.
Overdrive compiled a timeline of Ice Pick Bandit incidents here. If you or anyone you know has been a victim of these acts of vandalism, please contact [email protected] with information.
[Related: Ice Pick Bandit caught in the act piercing tires in Tennessee]
