What began as an early morning investigation into a vehicle stolen at gunpoint led local authorities to solving an earlier armed home invasion with the arrest of the car owner's boyfriend and his brother.
At 5:20 a.m. today, Crystal Insco of the 1000 block of Stella Street reported her 2003 Chevrolet Impala had been stolen from her residence at gunpoint by two black males, according to Poplar Bluff Deputy Police Chief Jeff Rolland.
"Crystal informed officers her boyfriend, Atari Amos, walked into their residence and told her they took the car," Rolland said. "Atari further stated the two black males had assaulted him in front of their residence.
"He said he was struck in the head by one of the individuals," who then took Insco's car, Rolland said.
Seven minutes after the initial report, Cpl. Richard Knapp said, Patrolman James Henry saw the suspected stolen vehicle traveling north on Alice at Pershing.
"As (Henry) attempted to stop the vehicle, it accelerated and crashed into a ditch," Knapp said.
The occupants, according to Rolland, fled on foot and remain at large at this time. A handgun, he said, was found inside the car.
"As officers are investigating the report of the stolen vehicle, we were called to an armed, first-degree burglary in the 800 block of Foley, which is the residence of Tasheka Dudley," Rolland explained.
Although the alleged burglary occurred at about 4 a.m., Knapp said, Dudley reported it to the police department at 6:06 a.m.
"When contact was made with Tasheka, she identified her assailants as Atari Amos and a person she knows as Atari's brother from Michigan," later determined to be Alvin Burnam, Rolland said.
Dudley, Knapp said, reported she was awakened by a loud noise at the front door.
"When she walked into the living room, she observed two black males standing in her residence," Knapp said. " ... Alvin was holding a handgun and pointed it toward her; Atari demanded money from her.
"She told Alvin and Atari she didn't have any money. Atari said 'It's the first of the month, everybody has money.'"
At that point, Knapp said, Dudley "pleaded with Alvin and Atari not to harm her or her children."
Burnam then allegedly pointed the gun at her small child, who apparently also had been awakened by the noise and followed his mother into the living room.
"She again told him she had no money; she went to the back of the house to protect her children," taking her son with her, Knapp said. "(Amos and Burnam) left, only to return a few seconds later, at which time, they stole her 19-inch, flat-screen TV."
The brothers then allegedly fled Dudley's home on foot, Knapp said.
"Cpl. Knapp, who is on the scene at Foley, sent out a radio dispatch of the suspects in the armed, first-degree burglary" to other officers, Rolland said. "He was advised by officer (Kenny) Carpenter that (Amos and Burnam) were at the Stella Street home during the initial report of the stolen vehicle."
Carpenter, Knapp said, returned to the Stella Street home, where he detained Amos and Burnam for positive identification.
"Miss Dudley was transported to that location, where she positively identified those two (men) as being her assailants," Knapp said.
Dudley also identified the handgun found in Insco's car as being consistent with the one "used by Alvin" in the home invasion, Rolland said. Her television was not recovered.
The handgun, according to Chief Danny Whiteley, had been reported stolen during a previous, unrelated burglary.
Amos, 29, of the 1000 block of Stella and his 19-year-old brother from Albion, Mich., were arrested on suspicion of first-degree burglary, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.
"Atari Amos is well known to all Poplar Bluff law enforcement as a frequent flier involved in criminal activity," Whiteley said.
Members of the department's patrol division and Criminal Investigation Bureau are continuing their investigation of the stolen vehicle, said Rolland, who anticipates arrests being forthcoming.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the police department at 573-785-5776.
In light of this morning's events, "people breaking into homes need to be aware of the fact of the Castle Doctrine (which gives persons the right to defend their home, if necessary, with deadly force) and the fact there are many hunting enthusiasts/sportsmen that have firearms in their homes by the Second Amendment rights," Whiteley said.
"You might just break into the wrong house."