Marquise Spates (photo courtesy of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department)

Police pursuit by local agencies of a stolen vehicle from Missouri ended in a subdivision off Route 3 just south of Waterloo early Tuesday, with two of three suspects taken into custody this week.

Columbia Police Chief Jerry Paul said a resident in the 300 block of Bradington Drive called police to report that occupants of a white 2017 Kia SUV were getting out of the vehicle and entering unlocked cars in that neighborhood about 12:30 a.m.

“We know from witnesses that they did enter cars,” Paul said.

A Columbia police officer canvassing the area observed the SUV near Taco Bell and attempted to pull it over. The SUV, with three black males inside, evaded the officer by turning south onto Route 3 and continuing at a high rate of speed.

An Illinois State Police Emergency Radio Network broadcast was issued for the vehicle, Paul said, and the license plate came back stolen out of the Richmond Heights, Mo., area. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department and Waterloo Police Department assisted Columbia in attempting to stop the vehicle, which continued south on Route 3 through Waterloo before officers lost sight of it. Officers eventually located the unoccupied SUV in the Oak Valley subdivision just south of Waterloo, across from the William Nobbe John Deere dealership.

Markevion Winford

The Columbia police K-9 conducted a track, quickly locating one of the three suspects — 18-year-old Marquise Spates of East St. Louis — in a cornfield near the subdivision. He remains in custody at the Monroe County Jail, charged with a fugitive from justice out-of-state warrant, a St. Louis County warrant for tampering with a motor vehicle, and local charges of criminal trespass to a motor vehicle and obstructing justice.

A second suspect, Markevion D. Winford, 18, of East St. Louis was apprehended Wednesday by police in East St. Louis and charged with felony obstructing justice and four misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass to motor vehicle. He was arraigned Thursday at the Monroe County Courthouse and entered a plea of not guilty. Winford remains in the Monroe County Jail on $10,000 bond.

A third suspect remains at large.

“We greatly appreciate the resident who called us after seeing the suspicious activity,” Paul said.

Columbia police have determined so far that four unlocked cars were entered in the Bradington Drive area. Anyone with additional information on that activity is asked to call the CPD at 281-5151.

Those who may have observed the fleeing suspects on foot in the area where the pursuit ended can call the sheriff’s department at 939-8651. The sheriff’s department is also investigating the report of a stolen vehicle that was parked in the 4800 block of Red Oak Drive in the subdivision where the pursuit ended.