FREDERICK COUNTY, Va. – It was a busy morning for multiple law enforcement agencies in the Shenandoah Valley on Tuesday.
Two men, one from Botetourt County and the other from Pulaski County, are now in custody after authorities said they stole a car in Roanoke, drove it up to Frederick County, where they carjacked a woman, led authorities on a high-speed chase, tried escaping by running into the woods before one was found by a K-9 unit and the surrendered.
At 3:40 a.m., authorities received a 911 call from a woman who said that two armed men had forced her out of her car, a Nissan Maxima, drove away just after she exited Route 37 at Valley Pike. She also told authorities they left the car that they were in before stealing her car on the ramp.
Not long after that receiving that call, a Frederick County deputy spotted the stolen Maxima about 5 miles away and tried to stop it.
The driver refused to stop and instead, lead the deputy on a chase, reaching 118 mph in an attempt to get away from the deputy, according to the sheriff’s office.
During the chase, the deputy noted that various items were being thrown out of the vehicle.
As the chase continued back toward Kernstown on Route 37, another deputy successfully used spike strips on the Maxima, which was able to exit Route 37 and drive for about another mile before running out of road on Hillandale Lane.
The driver crashed the Maxima down a 30-foot embankment and then he and the passenger ran away into the woods.
At this point, members of Virginia State Police and the Winchester Police Department assisted the sheriff’s office in setting up a perimeter as a deputy and his K-9 partner, Majlo, began tracking the two men.
Authorities were also assisted by a police helicopter out of Fairfax that responded to the scene.
About a mile away from where the Maxima crashed, authorities found the passenger and identified him as Isaiah Houston, 24, of Daleville.
Later, the driver, identified as Desmon Wheeler, 24, of Belspring, walked out of the woods and surrendered to authorities without incident, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
When authorities inspected the stolen Maxima, they found a gun inside the vehicle. They also found a gun inside a fanny pack that was thrown from the vehicle during the earlier pursuit.
Upon further investigation, authorities learned that the vehicle Wheeler and Houston abandoned before stealing the Maxima was reported stolen out of Roanoke.
The two 24-year-olds are now being held at the regional adult detention center, facing various charges, including carjacking, felony eluding, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony and possession of stolen property.