At about 9:30 p.m. Friday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol conducted a traffic stop of a Scion TC vehicle on Ohio 129 at the Ohio 4 Bypass in Fairfield Twp.
“While troopers were talking with them, the vehicle fled the scene and a short pursuit ensued. The Scion came to a stop on Brooke Hill Court near Willow Brook Drive in Liberty Twp. and the four occupants fled on foot, with troopers taking two suspects quickly into custody,” states a release from the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Dept.
Those initial arrests were Aaron Wade Sebastian, 30, and Kelly McSean, 52.
“Officers, deputies and troopers began to immediately saturate the area in search of the two remaining suspects. During the search, officers from the West Chester Police Dept. located and apprehended one of the suspects in West Chester Twp. at 2:15 a.m.,” the Sheriff’s Department said. “The last suspect was taken into custody by deputies from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office just after 9 a.m. this morning, approximately one-half mile from where all fled on foot,” the department said Saturday.
The suspect who was apprehended by officers from the West Chester Police Dept. was Lujuan Tucker, 37.
The remaining suspect, apprehended by Butler County Sheriff’s Office deputies Saturday morning, was Dakota Pace, 26.
A live press conference aired on Facebook at 12:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon on Butler County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
Sheriff Richard K. Jones led the conference. He said Saturday morning’s search was helped by 25 law enforcement, fire and rescue personnel who were training in the County and were deployed with other departments.
In the video, he said they received calls about a person walking in the Carriage Hill area at daylight. Residents had been instructed to stay inside and lock their doors.
Jones said people pointed in the direction of where the suspected person was and two members from their group happened upon the vehicle of where Pace was found. Their canine “hit the vehicle,” he said.
The windows were fogged which indicated someone could be in the car, Jones said. Deputies opened the car and found Pace hunkered down in the backseat, he said.
The license plates on the car were stolen Kentucky tags, Jones said.
The sheriff’s office received drone footage from the Trenton Police Department of when Pace was apprehended Saturday morning around 9 a.m.
All of the suspects are being held in the Butler County Jail.
Another of the five inmates, Michael Wilkins, 42, was apprehended Thursday in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Surveillance video taken Jan. 17 in Missouri show the escaped inmates entering a stolen vehicle about a mile from the detention center where they were incarcerated. The St. Francois County Sheriff said the inmates earlier had forced their way through a door at the jail, then made their way to the roof of the building and eventually the ground before taking off on foot.
It is not known why the inmates were in Butler County.
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