Eureka Police are searching for a man suspected of stealing an SUV from outside a home on Shaw Drive. The man also allegedly used the victim’s credit card to buy cigarettes, police reported.
The victim, a 30-year-old Eureka man, told police he had parked his 2018 Honda CR-V outside his home at about 8 p.m. Nov. 26, and he called police at about 9 a.m. Nov. 27 to report it stolen. He told police he had left the SUV unlocked with the keys inside it, the report said.
A credit card that was in the CR-V reportedly was used at about 6:14 a.m. Nov. 27 at the BP gas station, 5150 Hwy. 109, in Eureka. A man was seen in surveillance video using the card to purchase a carton of cigarettes for $58.50, the report said.
An employee at the gas station told police that after the man purchased the cigarettes, he asked her for directions. Then he drove away in the CR-V, headed north on Hwy. 109, according to the report.
Eureka Police posted a picture of the man from the surveillance video and believe they know his identity. An officer recognized the man from a trespassing incident that occurred Nov. 26 in the 100 block of Chatterbird Lane, and the man who answered the door at the home that day was wearing the same clothing as the man seen in the surveillance video from the BP station, Eureka Police reported.
The officer said the man seen in the surveillance video did not live at the home. In addition, the officer said when he returned to the house on Chatterbird Lane, the owner said he didn’t know the man from the surveillance footage, the report said.
The CR-V was last seen at about 7 a.m. Nov. 27 at the intersection of Hwy. 141 and Gravois Bluffs Boulevard in Fenton. It is valued at about $14,000, according to the report.
As of Dec. 2, the SUV had not been recovered, and no arrests had been made, Lt. Michael Werges said. He asks anyone with knowledge of where the SUV or suspect are to call Eureka Police at 636-938-6600.