2004 break leading to original conviction: "Seeing a dolly and other odd equipment inside, he took down the license plate number. Police ran it. The vehicle had been rented from Avis by one Gerald Daniel Blanchard."
2017 arrest: "[O]fficers used video surveillance footage of the parking lot and traced the suspect’s licence plate to a car rented in Blanchard’s name."
Being a successful, repeat criminal must be so exhausting. Before the 2004 incident the guy already had several fake identities he presumably could have used. I guess there's no end to how much effort you can put into covering your tracks and eventually you just have to roll the dice.
You can't make this stuff up..