TEENS ARRESTED AFTER MANHUNT

JACKSON, Mo. -- Two teen-agers from Southeast Missouri who led law enforcement officials on a multi-state manhunt were arrested Friday in Alabama, the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department reported.

Suspects in a Bootheel crime spree, 18-year-olds Michael Dean Wilkins of De Soto, Mo., and Benjamin H. Brase, of Sikeston, Mo., were located late Thursday night at the Guest House Inn motel in Gulf Shores, Ala., by local police, said Lt. David James of the sheriff's department.

The two are being held pending extradition to Missouri, James said.

Their burglary spree started last Tuesday on County Road 253 near Whitewater, Mo. More than 20 guns were stolen from one residence.

After midnight, three more homes along the road were burglarized, and two cars were stolen. The boys had wrecked their own car, then stole another and wrecked it before driving away successfully in a Ford pickup, James said.

Later than morning, they successfully cashed a stolen check at a convenience store in Advance, Mo.

As they continued south, the teen-agers stopped at a Walmart in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and tried to cash another stolen check. This time they were unsuccessful, and fled the store.

Police didn't discover them again until the stolen pickup truck was found abandoned in Summit, Miss., on Thursday.

James could not say Friday how police finally tracked the boys to the Gulf Shores, Ala., motel.

When their extradition from Alabama is finalized by the state court, officers from Cape Girardeau County will travel to Gulf Shores to escort the teen-agers back to Missouri to face charges, James said.

Brase is charged with first-degree burglary and theft of a motor vehicle. The only charge against Wilkins involves vehicle theft, a class C felony punishable by up to seven years in prison. First-degree burglary is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Other charges are pending further investigation.

Their bonds were set at $100,000.