Cape manhunt leads to capture of armed teen

A 17-year-old from Jackson, Tenn., was apprehended Tuesday night following an hourlong pursuit, most of it on foot, after he crashed his pickup truck into a utility pole on Belleridge Pike near Lexington Avenue, according to Cape Girardeau police.

Police received a bulletin from Tennessee authorities around 8:25 p.m. Tuesday advising authorities that the suspect had taken 10 weapons from his home along with the truck he was driving, said Cape Girardeau Lt. Roger Fields.

Fields said the teen was reported as a runaway and may have been looking for relatives in the Cape Girardeau area. Because he is considered a juvenile in Tennessee, his name has not been released. His identity may be released today after Missouri charges are filed, Fields said.

Police caught up with the suspect following a trespassing complaint, Fields said. He reportedly tried to elude officers in the 3000 block of Kenneth Street. He fled onto Belleridge Pike and crashed the truck he was driving into a utility pole in the 2200 block. Fields said he also struck another vehicle on Belleridge Pike.

The suspect then left the truck and took off on foot in a wooded area near Belleridge Pike and Lexington Avenue. Police found seven weapons in the vehicle, an assortment of handguns and rifles. Fields said the suspect later told police that there was an eighth firearm, which has not yet been located.

Fields said it is unknown if there actually were 10 weapons in the truck as reported by Tennessee authorities.

Police also found a sheath for a knife in the vehicle, but have not yet found the knife.

Troopers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol and deputies from the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department joined in the search.Fields said a trooper initially spotted the suspect, but lost track of him. Fields brought in a thermal imaging device, but it was old-fashioned sniffing that prevailed.

"If we had gone an other 100 yards I would have had him," he said.

Instead patrolman Roy Rahn and his dog, Bolo, soon picked up the chase and caught the suspect.

"The dog picked up the scent and tracked him until he was located," Fields said. The dog was able to pick up the suspect's scent from a lost shoe, police said.

Bolo and the other officers tracked the suspect for about a mile before he was finally caught at 9:33 p.m., Fields said. The teen was unarmed at the time he was apprehended and offered no resistance.

The suspect will remain in police custody until police can apply for warrants from the prosecuting attorney's office today, Fields said.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160