Bessie Smith Cultural CenterWhoever strutted away from the Bessie Smith Cultural Center with tens of thousands of dollars in cash last week tried to make the theft look like a hate crime.
Or they maintained a peculiar level of respect while committing one.
The theft felt like a low blow in the community, coming just hours after one of its annual high points, the popular celebration known as the Bessie Smith Strut.
Chattanooga police are exploring leads that indicate the theft to be an inside job made to look like the work of racists, police sources with knowledge of the investigation confirmed.
Now in the second week of exploring the case, authorities continue to interview people of interest and are considering the use of polygraph tests on some, the sources said.