Cooper County authorities looking for attacker

The Cooper County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a suspect in a beating. Officials said the suspect severely beat a man and left him by the side of the road just south of Boonville.

The Cooper County Sheriff’s Office said the incident happened Tuesday around midnight. Officials said a man living along Highway 5 opened the door of his house to a traveler who said he had run out of gas and needed a lift into town to fill up. Officials said during that drive, the traveler attacked the man, severely beating him and driving off in his car, leaving the man along the side of the highway. Authorities later found the truck abandoned in the area. The victim was rushed to Columbia for treatment. He’s still recovering in the hospital.

Cooper County Sheriff’s officials are looking for a white man in his mid-40s. They said he could be driving a 2006 Doge pickup with Arizona license plates.