Charges have been filed and a suspect has been arrested after a woman was rescued following a kidnapping that resulted in a 17-mile pursuit from Round Lake that ended in Waukegan last week.
Round Lake Police Chief David Prus said the department received a 911 open line call around 6 p.m. on February 11.
A woman whispered to dispatchers asking for help and saying that she was being held against her will and was going to be killed, Prus told Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
Officers located the GMC Yukon, which was occupied by a female and two males, near Route 120 and Wilson Road in Round Lake.
Prus said a traffic stop was attempted on the vehicle but it refused to stop and a pursuit was initiated.
The GMC made a U-turn and traveled eastbound on Route 120.
The pursuit went through parts of Hainesville, Grayslake, Gurnee, North Chicago and Waukegan.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Theis said the GMC disobeyed at least six red lights or stop signs during the 17-mile pursuit.
The vehicle also went into oncoming traffic multiple times and went around other vehicles in the roadway.
The chase came to an end near Melrose Avenue and Fulton Avenue with a suspect fleeing on foot from the car, Theis said.
Officers tended to the female victim inside the car, Prus said. She was shaken but uninjured.
The second male who was in the car was detained but determined not to be a suspect.
Theis said the driver, later identified as Latrell J. Hill, 22, of Waukegan, fled the car and a police canine was called to track him.
The canine tracked Hill to a home in the 200 block of Fulton Avenue where officers knew was his residence, Theis said.
Theis said Hill’s mother confirmed he lives there but refused to let officers search the home and denied he was there at the time.
Officers interviewed the female victim, who was in a relationship with Hill, and she said Hill had struck her while she was in the car.
She also said he threatened her and brandished a knife, Theis said, adding that Hill refused to let her out of the car.
Prus said the incident was classified as a kidnapping and unlawful restraint case.
An arrest warrant was obtained charging Hill with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, domestic battery, aggravated fleeing to elude a peace officer and criminal trespass to vehicle.
A parole violation warrant was also issued for Hill, who is on parole for a weapons offense.
Hill was taken into custody on Thursday and remains held in the Lake County Jail after his pre-trial release was denied on Friday.
Prus said that additional charges are possible as the department is continuing to work with the state’s attorney’s office.