HARRISON -- For decades, a mysterious 600-pound safe sat in the back corner of Harrison District Court's room in the Old Federal Building, between the door and a row of chairs for spectators along the back wall.
Nobody knew the combination of the 52-year-old safe or what, if anything, it contained.
"As far as we know, the safe hadn't been opened since the 1970s," said Lucretia Richardson, executive assistant to Boone County Judge Robert Hathaway.
A sign on the front of the safe referred to a U.S. government agency, the General Services Administration. That led people to believe that the safe -- a type described in government documents as "a security filing cabinet" -- might contain evidence from a decades-old federal court case.
Or maybe guns, said Richardson.
For 15 years, county judges talked with John Villines about the old safe. Villines is a locksmith who owns Villines Lock & Key in Harrison.
At first, the county was going to have Villines open the safe so they could use it in the future. But that would have cost the county some money.
Tired of having the old safe sitting around, Hathaway made a deal with Villines. If Villines could open it, he could keep the safe if he gave the contents to the county.
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Photos by Bill Bowden
Photos by Bill Bowden
On March 3, Hathaway issued an official order declaring: "This safe is not of historic value and does not have a fixed-asset tag assigned to it. The safe is taking up valuable space and holds no purpose for the county."
Villines said he took the deal, in part, to help the county out. Villines said he might break even after he replaces the lock and sells the safe. He said that type of safe sells for $150 to $250.
"So, they're not valuable and there are thousands of these," said Villines.
On Tuesday morning, Villines and Chris Black, his employee and brother-in-law, moved the old safe to Villines' shop on Goblin Drive and set it out front. At about 10 a.m., as snowflakes fluttered by, Villines began drilling two holes in the front of the safe.
"I don't know if it's booby-trapped or not," he said. "We've opened some that had tear gas in them."
Most safes yield a couple of paper clips or pieces of paper, said Villines. One safe he opened had a jar of silver coins in it.
After an hour, the holes were drilled and five drill bits were burned up in the process. If there had been tear gas inside, the drill bit probably would have hit it, said Villines.
It took another hour and a half before the tumblers were lined up on the Diebold lock and Villines was ready to open the safe.
Then they called the authorities.
As part of the deal, Wes Bradford, a deputy prosecutor in the 14th Judicial Circuit, was present, as was Capt. Tom Smith from the Boone County sheriff's office.
"Since it was uncertain what, if anything, may be in the safe, it was my suggestion that a representative from law enforcement be present just in case there was anything of evidentiary value that would need to be collected, for purposes of establishing or maintaining a proper chain of custody," said Bradford.
"The mystery is about to be solved," said Villines.
Villines and Bradford asked Smith to do the honors and open the safe. Black suggested tying a string to the handle and opening it from some distance, just in case of a booby trap.
Smith didn't bother with the string method. He walked to the safe and slid the top drawer open.
There was silence.
Nothing exploded.
No gas.
Then he opened the second drawer. Same thing.
The drawers were empty except for a couple of small signs reading "open" and "closed."
Villines noticed a small piece of paper inside the top drawer. When he unfolded it, he saw the paper contained the combination to the lock and instructions on how to open the safe.
Metro on 03/15/2017