MAN, WOMAN SOUGHT IN FIVE ARMED ROBBERIES

A series of armed robberies over the past two weeks has Cape Girardeau police searching for a woman who asks for directions and a man who shows up later in a ski mask carrying a gun.

Police Cpl. Rick Schmidt said the robberies start with the woman, described as 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall with medium build and wearing casual clothes, approaching people on the street to ask for directions.

"She'll ask what hundred block this is, where a street is located, things like that to distract," Schmidt said.

She is followed by the stocky man wearing a ski mask and threatening victims with a gun.

No one has been injured in the robberies, Schmidt said.

"Of course, no one has confronted them, either," he said. "When someone points a gun at you, just do what they say."

Police listed the string of reported robberies.

The first was about 1:30 a.m. May 10 in the 200 block of North Henderson Street. Two people sitting in a car were approached by the woman. While discussing directions, the man with the gun came to the other side of the car and demanded money. After the victims handed over their money, both robbers ran away.

At 5:30 a.m. on May 12, an elderly couple was walking in the first block of North Pacific Street when a woman approached them. The same series of events followed, but before the man in the ski mask ran off, he told the couple not to call police.

Other similar robberies took place at 10:20 p.m. May 12 at 555 N. Spring St., 11:55 p.m. Saturday at 205 Bellevue and 11:20 p.m. Sunday at 422 Bellevue.

An armed robbery also occurred about 9 p.m. on May 12 at Hamburger Express at 902 William St., Schmidt said. However, police do not believe that the unmasked gunman who ran off with the fast-food drive-through's cash drawer was involved in the other robberies.