Four arrested, two sought in connection to Marble Hill meth lab

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Marble Hill police say they took down a working methamphetamine lab and arrested four suspects in connection early Sunday morning. Two suspects, one of them a juvenile, escaped arrest and were being sought Monday morning, said police chief Dennis Willis.

Willis said that a Marble Hill officer knocked at the door of a residence at 103 Broad St. around 12:15 a.m. Sunday to ask one of the occupants there to move a pickup truck that was blocking the street.

"We'd been watching the house for quite some time," Willis said. "Activity had been picking up there and we'd gotten complaints from the neighbors. The officer knew the truck, knew the person and knew the background."

The officer also smelled ether, and called for backup, Willis said. A woman answered the front door when the officer knocked, and the occupants tried to escape through the back, where another officer was waiting.

"They arrested everybody they could catch," Willis said. "We collected evidence and samples and we got a working meth lab."

Officers sought warrants for the four adults who were arrested, and the two suspects who escaped, Willis said. No names could be released until the warrants were issued. Prosecuting attorney Steve Gray could not be reached Monday to release any names because of the Columbus Day holiday.

The Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force was called in to work with city officers, and the investigation is ongoing.