CRIME: SCOTT CITY MANHUNT CONTINUES

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- Law enforcement officers were searching late Wednesday night for a man who had jumped out of a vehicle after he had carjacked a 37-year-old woman in St. Louis and ordered her at gunpoint to drive south on Interstate 55.

"Basically, we're looking at everything south of us, because he told her to drive south," said Capt. Janice Stroup of the Scott City police.

The woman told police that she had gone to a business about 4 p.m. to pick up a paycheck for her sister. As she returned to her car, she was approached by a man wearing a black ski mask holding a gun. He forced her into her car and locked the doors.

"He held the gun to her side and told her to drive south," Stroup said.

Shortly before 6 p.m., the woman was still driving as they neared Scott City. Recognizing the area, since she said her brother lived in the vicinity, she decided that it was time to act.

Since she was familiar with the exit, she accelerated her car and pulled onto the exit ramp. Her abductor attempted to take control of the steering wheel. As they fought, she approached a car that was stopped at a traffic light at the bottom of the exit ramp. At that point, the kidnapper decided to jump out of the car.

The woman reported no physical injuries, police said.

Assistance in tracking the man was initially received from the Miner, Mo., police's bloodhound. But after several attempts to find a scent, the dog was brought in.

A K-9 unit from the Missouri State Highway Patrol searched in fields adjacent to an access road immediately east of the schools, as deputies from the Scott County Sheriff's Department also assisted Scott City police in the search.

An announcement was made at the end of the I-55 Classic high school basketball tournament in Scott City for those in attendance to report anything suspicious seen in the vicinity of the school to police.

The kidnapper was described as wearing baggy blue jeans, a dark baggy jacket over a gray hooded sweatshirt and dark gloves. It was impossible to determine the man's race, the woman told police, since no skin was left exposed. She could only see that he had brown eyes, Stroup said.