String of burglaries in Cole County lead to possibly larger investigation
Cole County deputies are investigating several home break-ins this month.
Deputies got reports from three different locations where residents say some of their things were missing.
Brice Walther has been charged with burglary, stealing and tampering with evidence in regards to this case.
Sheriff John Wheeler told ABC 17 News the department is looking into other possible suspects regarding the string of burglaries, along with other unsolved burglary cases that all the possible suspects could have been involved with. Including if the suspects involved could be involved with other burglaries in other counties.
“We are looking at their MO to see what’s going on,” Wheeler said. “We are speaking with more witnesses, following up on a lot of leads, verifying those leads. This case is going to be a big caseload.”
On Oct. 9, deputies responded to the 6700 block of Loesch Road, 5500 block of Buffalo Road and the 5200 block of Route D.
Sheriff Wheeler said investigators are still working on a concrete timeline of which burglaries happened when and verifying them.
6000 block of Loesch Road
On OcT. 9, deputies responded to a reported burglary at the address above. A neighbor called and said he saw two people, a man and woman, standing by the driveway acting strange, he told deputies the two ran into the woods.
Deputies checked the home and found the back door kicked in and found knives, coins, gaming system, ammunition, handgun all missing. Those items were later found in the woods near the home.
The suspects were found on Loesch Road a short time later in a car that was stopped by deputies. While the two were in custody the two admitted to the burglary on Loesch Road as well as two other burglaries in the area, see above locations.
The two told deputies that Brice Walther said he would pick the houses to steal from and then drop them off in the area. Walther allegedly told them which items to steal when they were inside the houses.
One of the suspects said they threw away some of the stolen items in a dumpster nearby. When law enforcement searched the dumpster they found a suitcase that had a camera inside it.
While in jail, the male suspect allegedly made phone calls to Walther asking him “who was getting the gun charge.”
A search warrant was done at the 3200 block of Cassidy Road where authorities found more stolen items.
Wheeler gives credit to the resident who reported the suspicious behavior and encourages other Cole County neighborhoods to have a neighborhood watch program to help prevent crime from happening.
