Local woman reports being knocked out and robbed

A local Bonne Terre woman was walking on Timberline Drive in Lake Timberline Tuesday night when a vehicle drove by and reportedly struck her with an unknown blunt object.

The St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department was originally called at about 8:30 p.m. to the lake development for an unconscious man in a ditch.

St. Francois County Sheriff Dan Bullock said when they arrived it turned out to be a woman who was assaulted and was walking around at that point.

“We are looking for three male subjects and the truck that they were in,” said Bullock. “After they hit her in the head with the unknown object, they jumped out of the truck and took her money out of her wallet and drove away.”

Bullock said that she was treated by EMS at the scene and was then taken to a local hospital. Deputies immediately put a county-wide stop and hold out on a blue pickup truck and its three occupants for robbery and assault.

The truck is described as having an American flag on the driver’s side door and a rebel flag on the passenger side door with a white or silver tool box in the bed of the truck.

It was reported that there were several deputies canvassing the Lake Timberline area for the suspect vehicle that night. Bullock said that the suspects weren’t found, but they are obtaining the surveillance video from the front gate to see if the truck passed through the gates.

The deputy is currently in the process of getting a statement from the victim because she was unable to give him one at the time. It was reported that she was heading to the convenience store outside of the lake development at the time of the incident.

St. Francois County Corporal Mike Ryan is working the case and anyone with any information on the whereabouts of the vehicle or suspects is asked to contact Central Dispatch at 573-431-3131.

Renee Bronaugh is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-518-3617 or rbronaugh@dailyjournalonline.com