Before this year’s Super Bowl, the Kansas City football superfan known as Chiefsaholic was a source of fascination in the sports world. How, people wondered, did a man known for wearing a wolf mask to games and placing large bets end up in jail on charges that he robbed a bank in Tulsa, Okla.?
Now Chiefsaholic, known legally as Xaviar Babudar, is at the heart of a much simpler mystery: Where is he?
Babudar, who had been released from jail while awaiting trial, failed to appear at a hearing Monday morning, according to court records. His court-ordered GPS monitor was found in a wooded area near an Academy Sports + Outdoors store in southern Tulsa with the strap cut off.
Michael Lloyd, the bail bondsman who paid Babudar’s $80,000 bond to secure his release from jail last month, said the unit’s tamper alert went off around 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Lloyd went to Babudar’s hotel — though Babudar lives in the Kansas City, Mo., area, he was required to remain in Tulsa County, Okla., as a condition of his release — but his room was empty.
Babudar’s lawyer, Tracy Tiernan, is as confused as anyone. “I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “I reached out to him and have not had a response.”
Babudar, 28, may be Kansas City’s best known fan. He wore a wolf mask and outlandish shirt and pants to nearly every game, including the team’s Super Bowl victory in Miami Gardens, Fla., in February 2020.
He cultivated an image as a high roller by frequently posting slips from bets worth thousands of dollars on social media, where he had tens of thousands of followers. He also attended the charity gala of Patrick Mahomes, the team’s star quarterback, and apparently won a painting.
When fans questioned how he afforded his lifestyle, Babudar responded that he managed multiple warehouses in the Midwest.
But much of what he said did not add up. Colleges he said he attended had no records of him, and Amazon said he worked at one of its warehouses for just nine months, and not as a manager. Police records from four states painted a picture of Babudar as rootless, living in his car with his mother and brother. He was frequently arrested and charged with petty crimes like shoplifting.
In December, his image as a fun-loving football fan was shattered when he was arrested outside Tulsa. Police say he robbed a credit union by sticking what they called a “CO2 pistol” in a teller’s face.
Kansas City fans speculated that he robbed the bank while driving to Houston to attend one of the team’s away games, and that was how he funded his expensive lifestyle. But so far he has been charged with robbing just the single bank in Oklahoma. He has pleaded not guilty.
Lloyd, the bail bondsman, said he agreed to pay Babudar’s bond in part because he too is a Kansas City fan.
“I did want to help him because he is K.C. wolfman,” Lloyd said. “I have followed him for years. And yeah I wanted to help him. What is crazy is I still want to help him.”
But to help him, Lloyd will first have to find him.
Soon after Babudar was released from jail in February, Tiernan filed a motion for him to travel to Arizona for what the filing said was a family trip. Not going on the trip would “cause considerable financial hardship for the defendant and his family,” the filing said.
The motion was filed three days before the Chiefs were to play the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl held in Glendale, Ariz.
A judge did not consider the motion, and Babudar was not spotted in Arizona. His disappearance nearly seven weeks later, and a week after he paid a court-ordered fee for the GPS monitoring, baffled Lloyd.
“Why did he wait until two days before a hearing? Why did he pay his fees for the leg monitoring? He could’ve done this a long time ago without paying anybody, without paying a lawyer,” Lloyd said.
Babudar may have a strong incentive to travel. If the betting slips he posted on social media are to be believed, he won $100,000 when Mahomes was named the N.F.L.’s most valuable player and his team won the Super Bowl. The bets were placed in Kansas, and winnings must be collected in person.
If Babudar is found, he will pay a hefty price to regain his freedom. On Monday, Judge Michelle Keely issued a warrant for his arrest and set a new bond, this time for $1 million.