Offbeat

Social media sleuths try to solve Pasadena’s urine bottle mystery

by: Marc Sternfield

Two local filmmakers are trying to solve a mystery that has confounded and disgusted residents of Pasadena for more than two years: Who is placing containers full of urine atop a utility box, and why?

As the Los Angeles Times reports, the so-called “Piss Bandit” has been fixated on a specific Pasadena Water & Power electrical box on Colorado Boulevard – leaving behind bottles and even large jugs of urine.

Some are even labeled as such.

In a series of True Crime-style videos posted to TikTok, Derek Milton and Grant Yansura have made it their mission to document and potentially expose the culprit.

One video, which includes night vision hidden camera footage, has amassed over six million views, and subsequent videos have reached millions more. Pasadena Piss Bandit Bottles of urine are seen atop a utility box in Pasadena, California, in 2024. (TikTok @_derekmilton)

A city spokesperson told the L.A. Times that police in Pasadena are also interested since the bottles have irked residents and drawn complaints.

Recently, the city tried to stop the “Piss Artist” -as Milton calls him- by installing a triangular metal cap atop the electrical box so it was no longer flat.

It didn’t work.

The person destroyed the cap, leaving shards of metal on the ground – along with a fresh delivery of urine-filled bottles.

Milton and Yansura believe the “bandit” is a single man. As to his motive, no one is quite sure.