JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. — Police are searching for a suspect after a woman was kidnapped in Jefferson County on Sunday morning.
According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, one of its deputies responded to a call for a disturbance on Valley View Road in Barnhart, at around 8:20 a.m. Sunday morning.
A 911 caller reported that a male suspect was sexually assaulting a woman in a black Chevrolet extended cab pickup with Arizona license plates.
"The woman got out of the truck running away, and she was partially unclothed," Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Public Safety Coordinator Grant Bissell said. "She got out of the truck and tried to run away. He caught her, tackled her, started punching her over and over, dragged her back into the truck, and then he took off from the neighborhood at that point."
The deputy who responded to the call spotted the suspect's vehicle and tried to pull it over, but it didn't stop. The sheriff's office then began a pursuit that eventually made its way onto Interstate 70 in north St. Louis. During the pursuit, the deputy said that he witnessed the suspect continue to hit the woman.
The pursuit ended when the suspect took an exit ramp off of I-70 in north St. Louis, the sheriff's office said. He then drove the wrong way onto the eastbound exit ramp and pulled a U-turn to continue driving the correct direction on eastbound I-70.
"It is one of these situations where you have to look at the 'small picture' of this pursuit that is happening right now, but then you also have to consider at the 'bigger picture' of 'what is the danger that I might put other people in if I continue this pursuit,'" Bissell said adding that the car was moving "in the wrong direction against traffic that is coming off of an interstate at interstate speeds."
The suspect is still on the loose and the victim has not been found.
An investigation is ongoing.
This is a developing story and will be updated as 5 On Your Side receives more information.
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