HOT SPRINGS - Wanda Morgan said it was just a "gut feeling" she had that caused her to call an out-of-state bank, and then enlist the assistance of other Hot Springs businesses to apprehend a Nebraska couple for bad checks after they left her store on Aug. 27.

Her business, Wanda's Finds, is one mile north of Hot Springs on U.S. Highway 385 and features a number of new and used items including antiques and collectibles, along with Western and Native American items.

When a husband and wife from Nebraska started piling mounds of merchandise onto her glass counter -- including belt buckles, beadwork and other Native American items -- Morgan said she didn't think of it as anything unusual.

It wasn't until they asked if she took out-of-state checks from Nebraska that she thought something might be amiss. The couple told Morgan that they were from a small town south of Chadron, called Lisco. Having lived most of her life in Nebraska, Morgan had heard of Lisco and knew it was more centrally located in the state, between Bridgeport and Ogalala.

Despite her initial concerns, she told the couple that she would accept their checks but asked them to include their phone number and driver's license number.

After shopping in her store for about an hour, Morgan rang up an approximate $150 sale for the wife, and another $250 sale for the husband. The couple each paid with separate checks and left the store

"It was just a gut feeling I had after they went out the door. I thought 'What could it hurt, just to call their bank," she said.

Once Morgan called the bank in Lisco, Neb., she found out that both accounts had been closed.

After calling the Fall River Sheriff's Department, Wanda then immediately asked her husband Veldon to watch the store. "I'm going to catch some criminals!" she exclaimed as she headed into town in an attempt to track down the couple and reclaim her $400 of merchandise.

"I didn't know what kind of car they were driving, but they were so distinctive looking," she said. "I knew I could spot them inside of a car in town."

According to Morgan, both the husband and wife had similar stocky builds and were wearing identical grayish-blue T-shirts with a Native American design on it.

After driving through Hot Springs, she said she sat at Taco Johns and watched vehicles. Not seeing anyone that matched, she then contacted other local businesses to warn them about the couple and to contact her if they see them.

"I called Pamida and told Big Bats and Taco Johns," Morgan said. "I knew what kinds of things they were looking for, so I went through town and told some other businesses that carried those kinds of items."

One of the businesses she stopped into to warn about the couple was Smith-Fargo and owners Dick and Liz Smith.

According to Liz, about 10 to 15 minutes after Morgan was in to warn them about the couple, they walked into their store.

"I was in back and came to the front and saw Dick working with some people matching their description," Liz Smith said in a phone interview last week. "I tried to call Wanda two times but couldn't get through. I called the police but they couldn't get up here right away."

Liz then took down the make and model of their car, along with the license plate number.

"We normally take out of state checks, but we told them we couldn't take them," she said.

After they were told their checks were not good in their store, the couple, who was still not done shopping, then left to get another check book from their car. But they never returned.

What the couple left on the counter of Smith-Fargo was about $100 in merchandise they were intending to buy.

"It was different. (The couple) had to know what they were doing. They were gathering," Liz said. "You normally don't see people gather stuff quite so fast."

Morgan laughed when she recalled hearing Liz's phone message when she returned to her store that afternoon.

"Liz left a couple of messages - saying 'They're here. They're here.,' Morgan said. "I called her back and shortly after that, Cal (Larive) called me too."

Cal Larive's business, Larive's Black Hills Gold, was next on the Nebraska couple's hit list that day, and thankfully, one of the businesses Morgan had warned.

"They were piling merchandise up on the counter, adding T-shirts and a couple of pieces of jewelry. They acted like they were buying Christmas gifts," Larive said. "They had a pretty hefty amount, around $200 worth."

With the city police already notified by Larive, officers entered the store while the Nebraska man was in the middle of writing the check for the merchandise.

"When the guy saw the police, he panicked and never completed the sale," Larive said. "He was like, 'Uh, I think we're going to get another check book and come back tomorrow.'"

And with that, the couple was out the door before the officers could even get a chance to question them.

Fall River County Sheriff Jeff Tarrell, however, confirmed the couple was later apprehended by Hot Springs VAMC police officers, who heard of the incident over the radio and then noticed the couple's Ford Taurus at the VA.

Tarrell said the VA police stopped the couple to question them, and once they confirmed their identity were able to seize the merchandise they purchased with bad checks from Wanda's Finds.

"Wanda is pretty much the hero of this whole outfit," said Larive. "She saved me about $200."

"It was really nice that she (Wanda) had come in and told us about them," added Smith. "We normally have taken checks from all over, but this really makes you think twice."

While Hot Springs authorities continue to investigate the thefts, news came from Lisco, Neb., late last week that the couple, Donald and Elizabeth Osborn, were victims in a double suicide at there home.

According to the Omaha World-Herald, the couple's deaths came amid a turbulent summer for Donald, 39, and Elizabeth, 22. The couple's 8-month-old child died in July. And Donald Osborn was the subject of several criminal investigations, some of them linked back to South Dakota.