PRINCE GEORGE, Va. -- Three people who led deputies on a chase in a spray-painted stolen Honda might be connected to at least one homicide investigation, possibly more, Crime Insider sources told Jon Burkett.
Law enforcement agencies from multiple jurisdictions around Central Virginia are assisting in the investigation.
The chase was initiated by Hopewell Sheriff's deputies on Interstate 295 south of the Appomattox River on Wednesday.
The speeding vehicle sped away from deputies.
The pursuit lasted miles, even leaving the highway for a time, near Oaklawn Boulevard.
A man who asked to conceal his identity witnessed the chase circle through his neighborhood twice.
"It's all over the place," the man said of the car and mailbox parts left outside his house. "I've called the police officer three times to look at it, so I can pick the crap out of the yard."
"Red Honda, and I thought [they were] going to hit me because there wasn't much room, but [they] didn't," he continued.
The witness said the Honda popped a tire after hitting a mailbox, ran a red light on Oaklawn Boulevard, and then got back on I-295 with officers close behind.
What the man thought was a red Honda was in fact spray paint, a possible attempt to conceal the stolen vehicle.
"It was obvious that the paint had been added to the vehicle because it returned to a grey Honda Civic," Hopewell Sheriff Travis Stanley said.
The vehicle was stolen out of Prince George County, according to Stanley. The woman driving it claimed she wrecked the car in the median of the I-295 near Rt. 460 to protect the responding deputies from the another suspect in the vehicle, Stanley said.
"She stated he was threatening to shoot the cops or deputies, and that's when she went off the road and into the median," Stanley said.
The three people taken into custody following the wreck are believed to be connected to a homicide early Wednesday morning at Richmond Highway and Halifax Avenue in South Richmond, according to Crime Insider Sources. Detectives think the stolen vehicle portion of the investigation could result in another case, Burkett reported.
The stolen vehicle is being processed for forensic evidence, sources said.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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