Ted Treece, 31, of High Ridge was arrested Thursday evening (Aug. 26), two days after he allegedly attacked a man with a machete inside a gas station. Treece was found at about 6:45 p.m. sleeping on a couch in a vacant home in the 10000 block of East Brook Road off Hwy. WW in Dittmer, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Treece on Wednesday (Aug. 25) with first-degree assault, a class B felony punishable by five to 15 years in prison, and armed criminal action, an unclassified felony that carries a penalty of at least three years in prison.
Treece was being held without bond today (Aug. 27) in the Jefferson County Jail.
The alleged assault occurred at about 2:55 p.m. Tuesday (Aug. 24) after Treece, who was shirtless and wearing a bandana over his face and carrying a machete, entered the Quick Stop at 2915 High Ridge Blvd., the Sheriff’s Office reported.
Video surveillance reportedly showed Treece approach a man playing a video game inside the convenience store. The two men, who apparently know each other, began to argue. Then, Treece allegedly hit the other man with the machete blade, leaving the man with a cut on his cheek, the probable-cause statement in the case said.
The victim got off a chair and threw something at Treece, and the two continued to argue. The victim appeared to throw a glass bottle at Treece, and then the two began to wrestle. The alleged victim got Treece in a headlock and appeared to smash a bottle over his head, according to the report.
The two fell and continued to wrestle before Treece left the store. Deputies retrieved the machete from the convenience store, the report said.
Video surveillance also appeared to show Treece bleeding from his head as he left the store. Then, he reportedly got into a red Dodge Challenger and drove away from the gas station on High Ridge Boulevard to Hwy. PP to Hwy. 30 towards House Springs before getting on Hwy. MM, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
A deputy spotted the Challenger on the highway and began to follow it, although deputies did not begin chasing the car, which sideswiped a Northwest R-1 School District bus on Hwy. MM. The bus had 34 students and the driver inside at the time, the report said.
Chuck McPherson, Northwest’s coordinator of communications and community relations, said students from Valley Middle School and Northwest High School were on the bus when it was struck. He said the students and driver were not injured in the accident, which caused minimal damage to the bus.
Treece lost control of the Challenger near Heads Creek Road, and the car hit a tree. He then ran into a wooded area, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
Deputies searched the area with police dogs until about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday before stopping the man hunt. Since the Sheriff’s Office has identified the suspect as Treece, no large-scale search was not resumed the next morning, spokesman Grant Bissell said.
He said it is unknown why the two men argued and fought inside the convenience store.
Treece previously was convicted of several felonies.
He was on probation for firing a crossbow and assault rifle at an acquaintance in 2018, court records show. In July of that year, he confronted an acquaintance in the 4700 block of Wedgewood Drive in House Springs after accusing the man of putting sugar in the gas tank of his vehicle, the probable-cause statement in the case said.
On Aug. 18, 2018, Treece tried to reclaim ammunition and arrows deputies had seized from his vehicle after the confrontation in July, but he was told the property could not be released. He then became argumentative with the evidence officer, according to the probable-cause statement.
Treece was arrested Aug. 22, 2018, in Columbia after leading police on a chase after he fled from them and crashed his car on I-70 near Lake of the Woods, police reported.
In September 2019, he pleaded guilty to an unlawful use of a weapon charge and was sentenced to three years in prison, but Jefferson County Div. 2 Circuit Judge Darrell E. Missey suspended the sentence and placed Treece on fire years’ probation, court records show.
The July 2018 incident occurred a few days after his father, Steve Earnest Treece, shot and killed his mother, Donna Treece, at their Cedar Hill Lakes home.
In March, a jury found Steve Treece guilty of first-degree murder, and the next month he was sentenced to life without parole.