Man charged in high-speed chase involving missing teen that started in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — A man is facing charges after he led police on a high-speed chase from Pittsburgh to Ohio, all while a missing teenager was in his car.

According to the criminal complaint, officers were notified of a car from Erie County involving in a kidnapping that was at the Wendy’s on Penn Avenue just before midnight on April 16. The missing teenager was believed to be in “high danger of bodily harm.”

The car was registered to John Wolfe, 20, who police found in the car at a red light in the area of East Liberty. Officers tried to conduct a traffic stop but Wolfe made no attempt to stop, picked up speed and took off heading toward 5th Avenue.

>> High-speed police chase involving missing teen started in Pittsburgh, ends in Ohio

The pursuit continued through several Pittsburgh neighborhoods, onto the I-376 and the Parkway North to the Turnpike, then to the Ohio line, sometimes reaching speeds of over 100 miles per hour. At one point during the pursuit, Wolfe called a family member and said that “the only way out of this is to die” and that he was not stopping for police, the complaint said.

State troopers in Ohio lost sight of the car, which was later found abandoned in Portage County, Ohio.

The missing teenager was found with Wolfe in a Toyota that was abandoned, officials said.

State Patrol says Wolfe and the girl were found walking nearby.

Wolfe is over two dozen charges related to the chase, including fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, recklessly endangering another person, careless driving, reckless driving, scattering rubbish and several obedience to traffic-control devices charges.

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