Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Three juvenile girls are suspected of stealing a vehicle and leading police on a high-speed chase into Marshall County.
The girls were reported as runaways from the Kosciusko County Juvenile Shelter around 10:45 p.m. Saturday. Julie Essick, 15, and Sandra Kellogg, 16, are in custody at Parkview Juvenile Detention Center, South Bend. The other, Elaine Stump, 15, was returned to the Kosciusko County Shelter.
The vehicle was reported stolen late Saturday night by Cynthia A. Thomas from a home she was visiting on CR 200N, Warsaw.
A Nappanee police officer on patrol spotted the vehicle shortly after midnight in Nappanee. He followed the vehicle onto U.S. 6 and attempted to pull it over.
The vehicle stopped briefly on the shoulder of the road, then took off before police officers could reach it. The girls headed west on U.S. 6 at a high rate of speed, weaving in and out of traffic.
The Bremen Police Department set up stop sticks to stop the vehicle, but the girls avoided the sticks and continued. However, a Nappanee police car ran over the sticks that flatten a car's tires and lost its front two tires.
The pursuit ended at 2:45 a.m. in a field at Pike Road and U.S. 6 in Marshall County. The girls ran from the vehicle and then surrendered to police when a K-9 unit was called.
