Images via Michael Stoke Photography/Yuma Police Department.

The week-long manhunt for David E. Byers came to an end after he was arrested Wednesday following a cross-country chase. The strapping romance novel cover model was wanted in at least four states after he allegedly robbed two Chase Banks and a gas station Connecticut last week. The L.A. Times reports that the alleged robber was taken in by the San Diego County sheriff’s office after being spotted at a liquor store.


Byers was best known for his work on the cover of romance and erotica books in photographs taken by Michael Stokes. Stokes says he received a text from Byers on Tuesday, in which he said he was moving with his girlfriend to New York; Byers’s girlfriend told authorities that he emailed her a photograph featuring stacks of cash. Stokes told the L.A. Times, “I think his issue is that he’s a pleaser. He always wants to please certain people, and that derails him.”


Armed robbery charges are not the first mark on Byers’s record. According to NBC San Diego, he failed to appear in court in March to face accusations of stealing a rowing machine from a gym in an apartment complex in San Diego. In addition to robbery, he now faces charges of larceny and reckless endangerment charges. Of the heart.