WENTZVILLE, Mo. — A Wentzville woman still can't believe on New Year's Day two suspected carjackers on the run from police narrowly missed hitting her home before police captured them. And the driver was just 15 years old.
"It was new year's morning," recalled homeowner Stephanie Klaesner.
It wasn't exactly how Klaesner thought she'd start off her new year.
"it sounded intense because it was super loud."
The loud noises were not the sounds of people ringing in 2020, but police sirens blaring around Klaesner's home in Wentzville.
"Yeah it was scary for sure," she said.
Police were in hot pursuit of two suspects they say carjacked a woman outside Peine Lakes apartments at gunpoint. Officers said the 15-year-old driver and his accomplice, 17-year-old Aaqil Royal sped down I-70, got off on Church Street and then kept going right across Klaesnar's yard.
"It seems they came across the ditch,” she said, pointing at tire tracks in her yard. “There are two obvious sets of tires."
Because at the time her home filled with her two teenagers and their friends.
"It’s unsettling. The what-ifs. Just the what-ifs," she said.
She said the young driver came close to slamming into her side porch, and that's not all.
"Very, very close proximity to my neighbor's garage right there."
He did damage a motion light outside her home.
Investigators say the pursuit lasted for about 10 minutes. It ended just blocks from Klaesner's home after they say the 15-year-old driver hit a utility pole and crashed the stolen car.
"That hurts my heart,” Klaesner said. “I have a 17- and a 15-year-old."
The 17-year-old suspect is charged with first-degree robbery and armed criminal action. Police also said when they arrested the suspects they recovered two handguns.
