ONE CAUGHT, ONE SOUGHT IN MANHUNT

CHARLESTON -- Police arrested one boy Thursday and have combed farmland east of Charleston for another since Wednesday night.

Police were looking for a 15-year-old Independence boy who goes by the name "Psycho." He and a 17-year-old companion ran off from a weigh station on Interstate 57 around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday after stopping for directions. An officer at the weigh station radioed in the license number of the vehicle the boys were driving and it came back as stolen.

The officer attempted to detain the boys until police arrived, but they ran off into a cornfield. Additional officers were called to the scene, and the highway patrol's new helicopter out of Poplar Bluff was brought into action.

As night fell Wednesday, authorities used another helicopter equipped with infrared sensors to search for the boys. Highway Patrol Lt. Jim McNiell said the boys took special precautions during the night to keep from being seen by the infrared equipment.

McNiell said the boys covered themselves with mud and stayed low in the rows of high, thickly clustered corn. This coupled with the warm summer temperatures defeated the heat-seeing abilities of the helicopter's equipment.

The night search was called off around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

Sometime in the night the boys split up, McNiell said. The 17-year-old was sighted by a farmer who called the sheriff's department. Deputies responded and captured the boy four miles north of Charleston on the Outer Road near I-57.

McNiell said the boy was bruised, cut, thirsty, hungry and had numerous bug bites. McNiell expects to find Psycho in the same condition.

McNiell said their names are being withheld until charges are filed.

At 10:30 a.m., a patrol officer spotted Psycho emerging from the woods near county roads AB and J. The officer saw the boy in his rearview mirror and attempted to turn around and "sneak up on him," McNiell said.

When the officer made the turn, Psycho had disappeared. Officers were sent to the area, a K-9 unit from Charleston was dispatched and the helicopter was sent back. McNiell said 20 officers responded to the manhunt.

The dog picked up a trail leading from a creek to the road. A single shoe print was found in the mud along the creek, but officers didn't find the boy.

The main search was called off at 4 p.m., but officers were ordered to patrol the roads in the area to see if Psycho would emerge from his hiding spot. If the boy is seen, additional officers will be sent to the area to continue the pursuit.

McNiell expects the boy, who is 5-foot-8, 140 pounds, with shoulder-length blond hair and wearing jeans, no shirt and tennis shoes, to stay close to the roads and eventually try to make his way back to I-57.

Residents living around the area were cautioned to lock their doors and secure their vehicles. McNiell thinks Psycho isn't a dangerous criminal but he is desperate. That desperation could make him dangerous.

McNiell said the boys will probably be charged with possession of stolen property. The 17-year-old also has a warrant for his arrest from Kansas City.