Ammonia theft leads to chase through 3 counties

~ At one point, the truck turned around to face the Advance officer's patrol car.

ADVANCE, Mo. -- What began as an anhydrous ammonia theft from an Advance agriculture store ended in a police chase through three counties with speeds over 100 mph.

Two people were arrested Thursday night and a third was being sought Friday in connection to the theft and subsequent chase, according to Advance police chief Donnie Bohnsack.

The 30-minute pursuit began around 8 p.m. Thursday when an Advance police officer tried to curb a Ford F-150 that was swerving across lanes of traffic near an MFA store, Bohnsack said.

The truck instead took off down Route C and the officer gave chase.

Following the truck at a safe distance, the officer reached speeds over 100 mph trying to keep the truck's taillights in sight, according to Bohnsack.

Along the way, two anhydrous ammonia tanks were tossed from the cab of the truck, Bohnsack said. The two-gallon tanks were recovered, but the anhydrous had evaporated. According to a police incident report, the pursuing officer saw what looked like a "big white cloud" come up when the tanks struck the ground.

The officer was led through Arab, Mo., on Route P to Route Z in Wayne County, then on County Road 511 to eastbound Route E and County Road 731 in Bollinger County near Zalma, Mo.

Off of County Road 731, the truck turned down a field road and turned around in a private yard to face the officer's patrol car.

The driver then revved the truck's motor and began heading toward the patrol car, according to the police report. The officer jumped out of his vehicle and hopped over a nearby fence.

"The driver of the truck was trying to run me over," the officer said in the report.

At the last moment, the truck swerved to miss the patrol car and crashed through a fence post and about 25 feet of barbed wire fencing, the report stated.

The truck headed down the field road again, and the officer climbed back into his car to follow. He found the truck less than a mile down the road, its occupants gone.

According to Bohnsack, one of the truck's tires of blew out.

The Advance officer, who was the only police officer following the truck during the pursuit, single-handedly arrested two of the suspects, according to Bohnsack.

Jeffery D. Boyer, 29, of Qulin, Mo., and Sherri A. Goodwin, 18, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., were each charged with stealing anhydrous ammonia and resisting arrest by fleeing.

The third suspect and driver of the truck, Chad R. Dunahoo, 29, of Poplar Bluff, was still being sought Friday. He was charged in an arrest warrant with stealing anhydrous ammonia, resisting arrest by fleeing, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, careless and imprudent driving, failure to drive on the right half of the roadway.

The trio were suspected of stealing the anhydrous tanks from MFA for methamphetamine production, Bohnsack said.

"That's the only reason to steal anhydrous, to manufacture methamphetamine," he said.

The man on the run was also suspected of stealing a 1989 Toyota Corolla about four miles west of Highway 51 on Route E after abandoning the truck, according to Bollinger County Sheriff's Department deputy chief Leo McElrath.

Neither the stolen car nor the suspect had been located as of Friday evening, he said.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127