SEARCH FOR 2 FUGITIVES CONTINUES

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Two fugitives who shot at police before eluding them and later traded cars with friends in Bollinger County could be anywhere, an investigator said.

"We've been told they said they were heading to California, some said Chicago," said detective Lt. Mark Crocker of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety. "I don't know. They're just as likely to be here as anywhere else."

James Darrell Dodds and William Hammer, who fired shots at Sikeston police during a car chase through Scott and Mississippi counties early Thursday morning, traded a stolen Chevrolet van for a friend's 1986 red Plymouth Voyager minivan in Glenallen, Mo., about noon the same day, Crocker said.

The men were sought by police after Hammer's wife told Scott County sheriff's deputies she had been held captive for two days by the men in a Bollinger County residence. The woman told officers Dodds and her husband said they were prepared to kill anyone necessary.

Dodds and Hammer are believed to have several pistols, a rifle, shotgun and a police scanner.

"The most important thing for the public to know is if they're going to fire on officers, they'll fire on just about anybody," Crocker said.

Janie Murphy said her cousin Dodds, who is called Darrell by the family, is not someone she believes is capable of shooting at police. They grew up together around Sikeston and Matthews, Mo.

"I called his mother the other day to see if what I heard was true," Murphy said. "She said she couldn't believe it either."

The Scott County prosecutor charged both men with six counts of first-degree assault of an officer and one count of armed criminal action for shooting at police.

"They're going to end up with charges in several counties," said Sikeston police Capt. Dan Armour.

Dodds, 37, was already wanted by police before he assisted Hammer in the shooting and holding his wife captive. Dodds is wanted for committing his fourth offense of driving while intoxicated, a charge of second-degree assault of an officer and parole violation for an assault conviction in Arkansas.

Hammer, 36, was wanted in Mississippi County prior to Wednesday for failure to appear in court on a charge of resisting arrest.

Both men have been in and out of jails for several years, said John Fougere of the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Hammer was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1992 after a conviction for first-degree tampering with a vehicle in Mississippi County. He was released on parole in 1995. The following year he returned to prison after a conviction for second-degree burglary in Mississippi County. Hammer was sentenced to four years. In January 2000, he was released.

Dodds was convicted of first-degree battery in Arkansas in 1996. However, he was paroled and allowed to move to Sikeston to be with his mother.