Southeast Missouri family chases down car thief

VAN BUREN, Mo. - A Fairdealing, Mo., man facing a possible jail sentence

fled from court and led a high-speed chase in a stolen car before being run down by the car owner's family and arrested when authorities arrived.

Randall D. Hancock, 46, was in court on a probation violation when, according to officials, he told his mother he was going to the restroom and instead exited the Carter County Court House at about 9:50 a.m. Monday.

In a nearby parking lot, Hancock found a Buick with the keys in it. He sped away with members of the owner's family in hot pursuit. The chase lasted about 40 miles before Hancock pulled off the road near Eminence and ran toward a wooded area. He didn't make it very far before being caught by one of his pursuers.

"I did not want him to get away," said Elijah Bell, 20, who made the assist. "Who would have thought in a city of 845 people, a man would have the guts to walk up to our office and steal a car right in front of the window? I just couldn't believe it."

The vehicle, owned by Diann Bell, was sitting outside of Bell Oil Company on Ash Street.

Employees of the propane gas business, which is family owned, witnessed the theft. After what was happening had set in, the victim's brother David rode shotgun while his son Elijah took off after the suspect in his GMC Sierra pickup truck.

"I knew Elijah was a good driver, but didn't realize how good he was until I got to ride this one out," said David. They went west through Fremont about 100 miles per hour, until the suspect turned north on a gravel road in the Peck Ranch Wildlife Management Area of Mark Twain National Forest and was forced to slow down.

David said Elijah had a couple opportunities to bump the back of the car to cause it to fishtail but he didn't want to cause damage to his aunt's Buick.

"My son was doing something neat," said David. "The man tried to go down a couple side roads but Elijah would push him too hard to turn, keeping him on the main gravel."

David made contact with authorities on his cell phone when he had reception to try to keep them updated to the car thief's whereabouts on the country roads.

"No highway patrolmen were available at that moment

so we decided if [the suspect] bailed we would give chase and get him one way or another," said David. "We didn't know if he was armed or unarmed so we came up with a plan in case he started popping off at us."

If the suspect reached a dead end and got out with a gun, David explained, Elijah had planned to throw the truck in reverse and attempt to keep the road blocked off until authorities arrived.

David was able to get in touch with Diann who was at the Carter County Sheriff's Department at that point, and she explained that the suspect escaped from the courthouse and should be unarmed as he passed through a metal detector that morning.

The chase ended in Shannon County, where Hancock made his way out on Route H toward Highway 106 and stopped the car. "We had park service officials coming both ways on 106 so we knew we would meet somebody sooner or later," said David.

The suspect opened the door and jumped a fence, cutting his arm on barbed wire as he ran towards the woods. Elijah, who ran cross county in high school, chased after Hancock and eventually caught up with him.

"I ended up taking him down," said Elijah. "My adrenaline was going and I started gaining on him. He turned around towards me and I didn't know if he was going to punch me or what, so I tackled him and put my knee into his back. After all he'd put me through I had absolute hatred towards the man."

Close behind, Elijah's father, who admitted he's a little slower at 51, was able to help hold the suspect down as park rangers arrived with handcuffs. Van Buren police took Hancock to a holding cell in Carter County and he was later transported to the Butler County jail.

Hancock was booked with no bond for failure to appear for violating probation, with a pending motor vehicle theft warrant as of Tuesday morning, according to Ryan Crandell, Van Buren chief of police.

"I believe the suspect believed he was going to be sentenced," Crandell explained the motive behind the escape attempt. Hancock was on probation for manufacturing a controlled substance and he was in violation for allegedly driving while intoxicated, according to police reports.

Crandell declined to comment as to whether he felt the Bells did the right thing, but the police chief said he was glad it worked out in the end. The stolen car was returned safely to the owner.