The case of the missing meat, laundry detergent, cigarettes and pop has been solved.

Police believe they have the man responsible for the thefts and his burglary tool of choice: a can of beets.

One man is in custody, facing burglary charges, and a female friend, her husband and her mother-in-law may also face charges for aiding and abetting the crime.

The outcome -- a crime successfully solved less than eight hours after it happened -- is enough for Austin Police Capt. Curt Rude to declare the open criminal case "cleared" and to praise patrolman Patrick Retterath for solving the crime.

"He's a patrolman; not a detective," said Rude, "and he really went above and beyond the call of duty to solve this crime. He did good work."

It began Monday morning at the Knauer's Food Market in downtown Austin. The burglary was believed to have occurred sometime overnight Sunday, according to reports, when a thief gained entrance by breaking a rear window.

According to Capt. Rude, Retterath received anonymous tips that led him to the apartment of a 34-year-old man in Twin Towers.

Retterath and another unidentified officer trainee with him went to the Twin Towers to question the suspect.

When the officers got there, they asked for consent to search the apartment for items reported stolen from the market. The man refused, saying the officers should get a search warrant.

Retterath and his partner left the apartment and conversed in a hallway outside the entrance to the apartment with detectives.

Moments later, they heard a door open and close.

When they investigated, they discovered the man carrying a box with six 100-ounce Tide laundry detergent containers.

The officers and detectives entered the apartment and gave the suspect his Miranda warning.

The officers asked if they could search the man's refrigerator freezer and he consented. When they did, packages of meat, some in their original white-paper wrappings, dropped to the floor.

The meat and laundry detergent, plus several packages of cigarettes in the apartment were seized and taken to the Austin – Mower County Law Enforcement Center. There an employee of Knauer's Food Market identified the products as items stolen from the store overnight Sunday.

Confronted with the evidence, the man's story changed and this time he implicated his female friend in the caper.

Next, according to the police captain, officers went to the Downtown Motel to question the woman and her husband.

The woman told officers she went to the Twin Towers to visit her friend, but the pair never left the apartment.

Officers were granted permission to search the woman's motel room and inside a refrigerator they discovered more t-bone steaks.

The officers returned to the Twin Towers apartment a second time Monday and discovered a one-inch cut on the suspect's left knee.

The man told officers he didn't know how he cut his knee.

Officers told the suspect they believed he cut it crawling into Knauer's Food Market through a broken window in the act of committing a burglary and the suspect confessed.

He also implicated his female friend and her mother-in-law in the crime for accepting the stolen property.

When police went to the mother-in-law's home and discovered more t-bone steaks in her refrigerator-freezer, the woman told officers "her daughter got a good deal on meat and wanted her to store it for her," according to the report.

In all, some 24 pounds of steaks were stolen, but also destroyed when they thawed out in the perpetrators' refrigerators.

Also still missing are several packages of cigarettes, the soda pop and an undetermined amount of change taken from the store.

Only the laundry detergent was recovered.

According to the Mower County Attorney's office, charges will be made by complaint summonses in the case.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com