Two suspects arrested in two Cape Girardeau burglaries

Two suspects were arrested over the weekend in connection with two burglaries committed in Cape Girardeau, authorities said.

Justin D. Roach, 25, of Jackson faces two counts of burglary and one count of receiving stolen property, and Misty J. Batterton, 25, of Cape Girardeau was charged with one count of receiving stolen property.

"We got a bunch of tips, and one led to a description of a suspect vehicle," Sgt. Jason Selzer said.

Justin Roach

The vehicle was believed to have been used in at least two of the burglaries committed in Cape Girardeau last week.

According to a probable-cause statement by Cpl. Don Perry, a patrol officer stopped Batterton on Sept. 24 while she was driving a 1998 Ford Explorer, after a computer check of the license plate revealed she did not have a valid license.

A search of the vehicle revealed some rare coins, a Nintendo gaming system and games that were reported stolen in one of the burglaries. Police found a diamond ring in Batterton's purse, and the victim whose home had been burglarized identified it as her engagement ring, She'd had the ring for 15 years, she told police.

Justin Roach

The day after Batterton was stopped by police, investigators took a statement from someone who said he'd seen Batterton and Roach together recently.

According to the written statement, Roach had two black nylon bags with him and had asked the witness to "do something with the stuff."

The three of them had gone to Hamburger Express, where they disposed of the items in the bags by leaving them in a storage unit at the drive-through restaurant.

Someone later found a laptop and a flat-screen television inside the storage unit and turned the goods over to investigators.

Five watches that were stolen during the burglaries were also recovered, the statement said. One of them had the Jackson Fire Department patch on the face plate.

The two burglaries linked to Batterton and Roach were both reported Wednesday. One was in the 700 block of East Rodney Drive, and one occurred in the 1800 block of Rampart Street.

Glueck said the burglaries do not appeared to be related to the cases involving Mark Lowery, a man convicted this summer who police tied to more than 100 burglaries in Cape Girardeau County.