Netflix 'Heist': How nursing assistant Heather Tallchief ended up on a Most Wanted list
True-crime documentaries are always intriguing and it tells the world about such incidents that might have been overlooked in the past. One such documentary series making its way to Netflix is ‘Heist’. The upcoming docuseries will talk about three of the biggest heists in modern America and the stories behind them. One of the stories in the docuseries is of Heather Tallchief, who shocked everyone by completing a robbery that would go on to shock the entire world.
The upcoming true-crime docuseries joins the list of projects such as ‘The Night Stalker’, ‘Evil Genius’ and ‘The Sons of Sam’ that have worked really well for the streaming platform. Coming back to the series, Heather Tallchief completed one of the biggest heists in America and ran away with the money. But how did she do it? And why she was the “most wanted woman in America” at one time? Let’s take a look at the chilling real-life story behind the Netflix docuseries.
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Why was Heather the most wanted woman in America?
Heather Tallchief is one of the most notorious criminals in the history of the USA and grew up in Buffalo, New York. Tallchief had been a nursing assistant caring for patients with full-blown AIDS. She was caring and everyone loved her. However, she lost her job for doing too many drugs and decided to leave San Francisco to make her life better. In 1993, she would meet a guy named Roberto Solis in a bar who would captivate her mind through his charm, and from that point, they were inseparable.
They moved to Las Vegas in 1993 and Solis told her to get a job as a driver with the Loomis armored car company. She would drive to casinos up and down the Strip and wait while the van was being filled up with cash. However, something really peculiar happened on October 1, 1993. Heather was behind the wheel and the truck was being filled with cash amounting to around $3 million.
The armored vehicle stopped at the Circus Circus casino and two of the men accompanying Heather just popped out of it and took out one of the money containers. They closed the door and signaled Heather that she should wait in the parking and if she doesn’t get parking, then she should drive to the other side of the casino and wait for them.
However, something big was about to happen. As soon as they finished their work, they made their way to the exit and did not find her. They waited for a long but she did not arrive. In reality, she disappeared along with $3 million cash.
Two hours after Heather left her colleagues at the casino, she and Roberto arrived at McCarran Airport in disguise. Solis disguised himself as an elderly man while Heather played his wife and sat in a wheelchair. FBI checked her apartment first and got to know that she was sharing it with Solis, who is a convicted criminal.
When they landed in Denver, she miraculously stood up and walked to the limousine. But by the time the FBI traced them, they vanished again. Two weeks after the robbery, they found the armored van and it was parked in a warehouse space rented by Solis. The law enforcement agency found a lot of things inside the van, including some money. Authorities did find an address that suggested that Heather and Roberto fled to Florida. However, it turned out to be a postal drop containing two forged passports.
The couple would not be caught for 12 years and they continued to fly away from place to place while enjoying their lives. Police would announce rewards for anyone who would give information about them, but that never really worked out.
Tallchief’s first appearance in more than 12 years
It seems something really freaked Tallchief out and she decided to turn herself in. In 2005, she actually talked to NBC News and told her side of the story. She told the outlet that she did a lot of drugs and was in an abusive relationship and ended up meeting Solios. Whatever he told to her about spirituality and “sex magick” swept her away and she was in his control.
In her interview, she also revealed that Solios would show her a videotape just before she would leave for work. According to her, the tape “would go into a colorful swirl and the voice would count ten to one.” Then, she would wake up and go to work. She believes that she hypnotized her and manipulated her to do his dirty work.
She started working as a chambermaid under a fake name. However, she got tired of running after she found out that she was pregnant and she did not want her child to face all the hardships. Her son was in Amsterdam, living with someone who is known to be a father figure to him. Tallchief returned to Las Vegas and surrendered.
The authorities believed that Solios was the mastermind and he manipulated her, but it is impossible to rule her out completely because fake ID cards were made in her name. Shockingly, Tallchief denied having any clue about fake IDs and said she only had one ID.
She was later sentenced to sixty-three months in prison. In June 2010, she was released on parole.
Where is Heather Tallchief now?
After her parole, Tallchief lived just outside Nevada under five years of federal supervision. That was the last time someone saw her and since then, no one knows if she is in America or went back to Amsterdam. We might get an answer to that question in the upcoming docuseries ‘Heist’. However, we won’t be meeting the real Heather Tallchief on the show because she denied talking about what happened in her life during that period.
'Heist' premieres exclusively on Netflix on Wednesday, July 14.