Missing Juvenile Found After Investigators Stop Stolen Pickup Truck On Hwy 13 In Garfield County

RIO BLANCO/GARFIELD, Colo. (CBS4) - A missing juvenile was among three people who were stopped after the pursuit of a stolen pickup truck started in Craig and ended on Highway 13 in Garfield County.

According to a Rio Blanco Sheriff's Office press release, at about 5 a.m., Craig police originally attempted to pull over a dark blue 2010 Ford F-150 with no visible license plate. The pickup truck did not stop and drove away from police onto southbound Hwy-13, passing through Meeker.

At that point, a Rio Blanco deputy began to pursue the F-150, and the truck came to a stop at about mile marker 9 on Hwy-13. One of the passengers was stopped by the responding deputy, but the driver and another passenger ran away from the scene into the brush off the highway.

Garfield County deputies, including Garfield K9-unit dog, Messi, joined the response to track down the two who were running away, and they were able to find them after about an hour of searching. The sheriff's office described the conditions in the wooded area as, "wet, muddy and extremely cold."

Once Messi found the two who ran away, they were taken in by law enforcement officers without issue.  The pickup truck was listed as stolen out of Mesa County, which is where the juvenile passenger who was in the truck was also listed as missing from. The press release did not confirm which passenger was the missing juvenile. Names have not been released for any of those in the truck.

Colorado State Patrol was also involved in this investigation.

There is no further information at this time.