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Cannon Falls police ask for help as they investigate abduction, high speed chase

Updated  August 28, 2022 10:44pm CDT
Crime and Public Safety
FOX 9

CANNON FALLS, Minn. (FOX 9) - Authorities are asking for the public's help as detectives piece together a possible abduction of a woman in Minneapolis that ended when she escaped in Cannon Falls, and police arrested the suspect in Faribault after a high-speed chase.  

Cannon Falls police say at 10:48 a.m. on Saturday, a woman called 911 from a bathroom of a gas station to report that she had been abducted.

The woman, who was in her 30s, told investigators that early that morning, she got into a four-door Toyota sedan in downtown Minneapolis. The man driving the car, who was in his 20s, did not take her to where she expected to go, but instead drove her around the metro, and eventually more than 40 miles away to Cannon Falls, according to a press release from the Cannon Falls Police Department. 

Officers rushed to the gas station and tried to stop the suspect, but he sped away, at one point hitting a squad car, the press release said. The resulting car chase involved speeds of over 100 mph and went from Cannon Falls to Northfield and then to I-35 near Faribault.   

During the pursuit, the man turned around and headed north on I-35 and then exited into Faribault, where deputies lost sight of the vehicle. That sequence is captured in this footage taken from traffic monitoring cameras: 

Video: Traffic cams track suspect during high speed chase on I-35 near Faribault

A man suspected of abducting a woman in Minneapolis led police on a high speed chase that went from Cannon Falls to Northfield and then ended on I-35 in Faribault.

Soon afterward, a resident spotted the suspect and the vehicle in Faribault and tipped off police, who arrested him soon afterward, according to the press release. The man, whoever, refused to identify himself. 

Investigators are now asking for the public’s help as they try to piece together what happened, and they are focused on one particular moment during the abduction.  

Police say the woman remembers seeing people near a dock on a lake and yelling for help, but the suspect drove away fast, and she’s uncertain exactly where this occurred.

Police believe this occurred near sunrise on Saturday near a body of water within 15 minutes of Maple Grove and that witnesses may have spotted a dark sedan and heard a woman yelling. 

The Cannon Falls Police Department asks that anyone with information call them at 507-263-2278.