By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post
The manhunt for Victor Farris that began earlier this month in northern Peoria County ended earlier this week in southeast Iowa. By way of Kansas, apparently.
Victor Farris was arrested Monday in Albia, Iowa, according to law-enforcement authorities there and in Peoria. The Ohioan had been on the run after he was accused of stealing a vehicle in Peoria in which a 3-year-old child was inside. That incident, which ended with the child found safe, happened Sept. 4.
Twelve days later, Farris turned up in Albia. The city of about 3,700 is located 64 miles southeast of Des Moines and almost 200 miles west of Peoria.
According to Albia Police Chief Jacob Miller, Farris took a circuitous route to get there. It included a stop in El Dorado, Kan., which is near Wichita and more than 350 miles southwest of Albia.
That the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office wanted Farris for multiple felonies appeared to surprise Miller.
“They go, ‘We’ve been looking for this guy,’” he said Tuesday about his contact with Peoria authorities. “One of our officers looked up their press releases, and this guy’s all over their website and news media. We had no idea who we were dealing with.”
About 9 a.m. Monday, a man later identified as Farris was spotted on a BNSF Railway freight train stopped next to Albia High School. Miller said Farris was using a washroom in the caboose or locomotive. When a conductor confronted Farris, he jumped off the train and fled on foot.
Within about 15 minutes, on the Albia city square, Monroe County Sheriff Dan Johnson and other law-enforcement personnel located a man who matched the description of the man aboard the train.
“He was sitting on a park bench in front of a storefront,” Miller said. “He was pretty relaxed. The square was bustling with activity. When we approached him, he claimed not to understand why we were approaching him. He was very nonchalant about the whole thing.
“He didn’t have an ID on him. He said, ‘What are you bothering me for? I haven’t done anything wrong.’”
Farris, a 45-year-old from Cincinnati, dropped his identification and cellphone after he was spotted Sept. 5 on the Rock Island Trail south of Princeville. He disappeared into a cornfield before authorities could apprehend him.
To the law-enforcement officials in Albia, Farris offered the name and birthdate of a real person in Maryland, according to Miller. But a photo of him didn’t provide a close-enough match with the suspect.
County dispatchers did some digging and discovered Farris’ true identity.
Among items Iowa authorities found was evidence Farris visited a doctor’s office Sept. 7 in El Dorado. By then, a massive search for Farris in northern and western Peoria County had been futile and was about to go dormant.
“He was telling us in his roundabout way that he’s been jumping trains all over the country for the last couple of days,” Miller said. “He was trying to get to Des Moines.”
Instead, Miller was awaiting a court appearance in Albia. Officials there charged him with trespassing, interference with official acts and malicious prosecution, all misdemeanors. The malicious-prosecution accusation is connected to the incorrect name Farris provided.
Peoria County prosecutors have charged Farris with aggravated vehicular hijacking, kidnapping and unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle.
Farris’ extradition to Illinois might take a while, according to Miller. But he said Farris eventually was cooperative and nobody from the public was in any danger.
Everything happened so quickly the high school didn’t need to take precautions.
“For such a small town, we worked really well together to bring this to a peaceful and swift conclusion,” Miller said. “Hopefully we helped Peoria with their charges and their investigations, and we apprehended somebody who needed to be apprehended.”
