Sullivan Police continue to search for the woman who robbed the Express Cash business there on Thursday morning.
As of midday Friday, law enforcement had not apprehended the suspect, described as a white woman with facial acne, 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-5 inches tall, thin and in her 30s. She had long, blonde hair wrapped in a pony tail and was wearing blue jeans, tennis shoes and a red, pocketed hooded sweatshirt with some kind of logo on the front at the time of the incident.
The amount of money the woman took from the business located at 400 E. Cumberland Way has not been released.
“We’ve run down a couple of leads and will continue to do that,” Sullivan Police Lt. Patrick Johnson told The Missourian on Friday morning. “Right after the robbery, we conducted a physical search, but now the suspect could be anywhere, so we will continue to pursue leads.”
Johnson told The Missourian on Thursday that a few minutes after Express Cash opened at 9 a.m. on Thursday, the suspect walked into the store and demanded cash. The lone clerk working inside at the time refused, at which point the suspect displayed a handgun, walked behind the counter and took a stack of cash that was on top of a desk.
The robber then left the building and escaped west on foot into a dense area of brush and trees.
The clerk was not injured.
Law enforcement did not know if the suspect then left in a vehicle or continued on foot. Sullivan Police, Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies and Missouri Highway Patrol officers were at the scene conducting the investigation and also were searching the area.
A woman speaking with a sheriff’s deputy outside the business shortly after the robbery was asked by The Missourian if she was the clerk who was working at the time of the incident. The woman said “yes,” but would not answer any other questions. While she was speaking with the deputy, the woman was distraught and crying.
A short time later, she went back inside the business.
Johnson said at this time there “is no reason not to believe her” concerning the robbery. He also said there was no video surveillance inside the business or no images of any kind for law enforcement to work with yet.
“If we get anything like that, we certainly will release it to the public,” Johnson said.
Shortly after the incident, a woman partly matching the description was questioned at a nearby gasoline service station on the service road. After talking to her, it was determined she was not the suspect, so she was not detained, Johnson said.
Express Cash is located between the Interstate 44 South Service Road and East Springfield Road.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sullivan Police Department at 573-468-8001 immediately.
