Give me (most of) your money

Let's pretend for a moment that you're looking to rob someone. Now, you're robbing them because you're a little short on cash for whatever it is you want. With that image firmly in your head, you find someone to rob, and proceed to try and get their money from them. They have more than you need, leaving you with the option of either waiting for them to get change, or simply taking the money.

Well, if you happen to be James Mitchell of Mount Vernon, NY, you'll give your victim the chance to break that $10 into something more manageable, before you take the $4 you so desperately need.

Yes, you read that correctly. Because Mitchell only need $4, he allowed his victim to go into a pizza parlor to get change for the $10 he was carrying. This lead to Capt. Joseph DeCarlo pointing out the uniqueness of the case, due to Mitchell not taking all of the money. To us, this is something of a "Well, duh" statement.

Of course, we want to believe that Mitchell had good reason to turn down the extra $6. Therefore, we've been trying to figure out just what it could possibly have been that drove him to steal only $4 from an 18-year-old. Perhaps he was just a little bit shy of being able to afford that extra case of Coors Light. Maybe he really needed a pack of cigarettes, and didn't want to pay with quarters this time around. It's possible that he was looking to try and set a new all-time record on Donkey Kong, and figured that 16 plays through the game would be enough to secure the title.

Or maybe, just maybe, he was looking out for the kid's well being. After all, with $6, the 18-year-old could almost get into a movie (but not be able to afford popcorn), he get most of a value meal (but not get it in a large size), or could gorge himself on ramen noodles for almost a month.

Yeah, that's it. Mitchell was really looking out for his victim's health, and took the $4 to try and keep the kid from overeating. That makes about as much sense to us as letting the kid get change in the first place.