Dartmouth Police Arrest Two for Driving Stolen Car

DARTMOUTH — Dartmouth police have arrested two women allegedly driving a stolen car after a large-scale search Sunday night that involved K-9 units and the state police air wing.

Police said that at around 7:10 p.m. Sunday night, officer Nicholas Mancuso conducted a motor vehicle search on a passing Mercury Mountaineer and learned that it was stolen.

When Mancuso and his field training officer, Andrew Fredette, tried to stop the vehicle, it allegedly fled from them.

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In order to keep the public safe, the officers did not pursue the vehicle further and instead began to check the surrounding area for it.

Police said a short time later they received a call from a John Alden Lane resident informing them that the vehicle had been abandoned in the resident's yard.

The caller also said they saw two people flee into the woods.

Several Dartmouth officers, including a K-9 unit, responded to the area along with New Bedford police and the Massachusetts State Police Air Wing.

Officer Justin Amaral and his K-9 partner Gunner immediately found the suspect's trail, as police said the scene was "extremely fresh."

After tracking the suspects for a short period of time, officers found and arrested two women hiding in the woods.

The suspects were identified as Jamie Donovan, 34, of Ruth Street, New Bedford, and Misty Baker, 28, of Waquoit Landing Road, East Falmouth.

Both are charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle.

Police said Donovan also had four outstanding arrest warrants.

Officers learned later that there is also a third suspect in the case, who is still at large.

“Though one suspect was able to elude capture, I’m overwhelmingly pleased with the effort put forward by my officers," said Dartmouth Police Chief Brian Levesque. "All of our assets were used perfectly, and no one was injured."

He also thanked the outside agencies for helping in the search, noting, "Their timely response certainly assisted with the quick apprehension of these two individuals.”

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The New Bedford highway murders took place in 1988, with the bodies discovered into 1989. The killer is confirmed to have killed nine women and suspected of murdering at least two more. Although there were at least three different men considered as suspects by the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, the murders remain unsolved and the families of the victims are still searching for closure. The cases are all featured on the unsolved cases page of the Bristol County District Attorney's Office website.

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