The owner of the stolen minivan reached out to the News-Sun to share her story.
Tina Musgrove said her van was stolen a little after noon on Wednesday from True North (Shell) gas station at 1415 S. Smithville Road when her husband, Shawn, was getting gas.
“This has been such a domino effect. I’m sure that the man who stole my van didn’t intend for all of this to happen, but he sure as hell didn’t prevent it either. There’s a pretty widespread impact,” Musgrove said.
A sheriff’s deputy saw a stolen vehicle out of Dayton around 7:19 a.m. Thursday pull out of Speedway gas station in Enon. The deputy attempted to stop the vehicle before it fled, making several turns through a neighborhood in Enon, including a cul-de-sac on Dorhman Drive and through a yard, striking two fences before re-entering the road.
Other deputies then joined in the pursuit as the driver got onto I-70 East, Rodgers said. Once on the highway, the deputy attempted a PIT maneuver to stop the vehicle before it could speed up.
“The suspect hit his brakes, causing unintentional contact by the deputy before the PIT could be performed. The fleeing vehicle then drove into the median (grass) and the deputy attempted a second PIT maneuver and successfully caused the van to spin out in the grass,” Rodgers said.
The driver then tried to flee again, but another cruiser pulled out in front of him and was struck by the van, disabling both cars.
Anderson fled from the vehicle on foot and was apprehended at 7:24 a.m., Rodgers said. He was not injured but was taken to the hospital to be checked out as a precaution.
There was also a passenger who was not hurt or charged and was released.
Shortly after that crash, two commercial motor vehicles were involved in separate crash that happened at 7:44 a.m. on I-70 near State Route 4 in Mad River Twp., Clark County, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. E.J. Devers.
A Freightliner semi tractor-trailer, operated by Marc Zulme, 30, of Morrisville, PA, was traveling east on I-70 when it struck the back of a 2022 Volvo semi tractor-trailer, operated by Adam Patton, 50, of Kansas City, MO, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. E.J. Devers.
Zulme was transported by CareFlight to Miami Valley Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Patton was transported to Springfield Regional Medical Center with minor injuries.
The conditions of both people are unknown as of Friday. Hospital officials would not release any information.
The eastbound lanes were closed on I-70 at times, then traffic was allowed to use the far left lanes to get through, but traffic was backed up for some time.
As for the theft of the vehicle, Musgrove said she said her husband stopped at a gas station before going home on his lunch break and had to go inside to pay. He had one key in his pocket, and left the other in the van, but thought he locked it.
“The man who stole it was standing nearby and had been inside the store not too long before that. The cashier and the manager both recognized him. Everybody had seen it happen,” Musgrove said. “My husband was only away from the vehicle for all of 90 seconds to two minutes. He was running home on his lunch break to eat. He had very limited time so he was in a hurry.”
Musgrove said they didn’t think the man would get very far, so they “scoured the neighborhood for hours yesterday thinking he must have run out of gas and just ditched the van somewhere ... Obviously that theory did not pan out.”
Her husband’s phone was left in the stolen van, so he used a phone at the gas station to call his wife and the police. Once they were together, they drove through part of the neighborhood and also called their cell phone provider to see if they could locate it, who would only suggest to use Google’s find my phone feature.
The couple then used that feature to located Shawn Musgrove’s phone, but they found it about three blocks from where the van was stolen in someone’s front yard, as well as his lunch bag about four houses down. After that, they went back home and followed up with an officer, who had been out looking with his partner for the van and suspect, which was unsuccessful.
Musgrove said they went back out at night searching for their van again, but did not find anything. She said: “We came home angry and exhausted, went to bed and this morning I woke up to a phone call from the Dayton Police Department letting me know that they’d found the van and it had been in an accident on I-70.”
“Even more than the way it has hurt my family, I hate to know that there’s an innocent person laying in the hospital right now who may not make it because this guy used my vehicle as a tool to cause harm,” she said.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office later received reports that this suspect had been in multiple pursuits in the early morning hours with several other agencies, including in Miami and Montgomery counties.
Additional unknown charges are more than likely to come from those other agencies as well. According to booking records, Anderson’s charges include assault knowingly harm victim, obstructing official business, failure to comply with order or signal of peace officer, receiving stolen property, resisting arrest, OVI, driving under suspension and reckless operation.
The pursuit and crash is being investigated by the sheriff’s office. The crash involving the commercial vehicles remains under investigation by the Springfield Post.
The OSHP was helped on scene by the Mad River Fire Department, Bethel Twp. Fire Department and the Ohio Department of Transportation.
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