Two in custody in connection with weekend incident

A man and a woman from Gary, Ind., were in custody and facing multiple charges following an incident which occurred last weekend in Union County and eventually involved an extensive ground and aerial search.

Union County Sheriff Dale Foster said that the incident began to unfold at approximately 11:31 p.m. Saturday in Jonesboro. A Jonesboro Police Department officer made a traffic stop which involved a passenger car. Two persons were in the car.

Subsequent to the traffic stop, the car fled from the scene and went west on Illinois Route 146.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office K-9 deputy joined in pursuit of the vehicle. 

The car went to Ware and then traveled south on Illinois Route 3. The car ran off the road, went into a ditch and then went into a field.

The two persons in the car left the vehicle and fled on foot into flooded fields, going west, in the direction of the Mississippi River levee.

The woman who had fled from the car hid in brush. She was discovered by the Union County Sheriff’s Office K-9 deputy. 

The woman was transported to Union County Hospital in Anna for treatment. She then was transported to the Union County Sheriff’s Office in Jonesboro and then to the Jackson County Jail in Murphysboro.

A search continued for the man who was in the field. Illinois State Police and the Anna Police Department joined in the search.

The search continued until about 3:30 a.m. Sunday. After a pause, the search was resumed at daylight on Sunday morning and continued. A Life Beat helicopter joined in the search.

Around the middle of the afternoon on Sunday, the driver, who had returned to the Ware area, was taken into custody by Union County Sheriff Foster and Jonesboro Police Chief David Wilkins when he was seen coming out of a field. The suspect may have gone to Cape Girardeau before coming to the Ware area.

Three other male subjects, also from Indiana, also were reported to have been involved in connection with the incident. They were released without charges.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office, Jonesboro Police Department, Anna Police Department, Illinois State Police and Life Beat joined in the investigation.

The sheriff said that assistance in the search was provided by two persons who made infrared equipment available to assist in search.

No injuries were reported in connection with the incident.