The missing structure was a steel bridge on private property in North Beaver Township, Lawrence County. It was about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, and investigators said someone had apparently used tools like a blowtorch to cut it apart and haul it away piece by piece.

The suspected motive was not a dramatic getaway route or an elaborate heist movie plot. It was scrap metal. Reports at the time said the bridge may have been worth around $100,000 as a structure, but only a fraction of that if sold for scrap.

That is the wild part: stealing a bridge is both incredibly bold and incredibly inefficient. You need equipment, time, transportation, and somehow the confidence that nobody will ask why you are disassembling a bridge.

Most thieves steal valuables. These ones allegedly stole infrastructure.