Residents have used social media to describe multiple alleged incidents involving suspicious vehicle activity in various neighborhoods in recent weeks. Local law enforcement has not located the vehicles, but urge residents to file reports if they see or are involved in an unusual situation.
On July 7, one person detailed an alleged incident in the Stone Creek Park area. According to the post, a 22-year-old woman was running in Stone Creek the night before. The post claims “a black sedan followed her slowly, then got in front of her and pulled over as if waiting and continued this type of thing for a while until the girl ran to the front door of” a nearby house. The sedan allegedly left after the woman called her boyfriend, who came into the neighborhood.
A comment on the post said the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office had been notified, though Sheriff Brad Youngman said their dispatch records do not show any “suspicious circumstances” calls for that neighborhood for July 6 or 7. He said DCSO did have a request for an extra patrol in Stone Creek on July 10 regarding a black truck possibly following a woman that was walking.
On July 19, a resident posted an alert to anyone who walks or runs near the Ford Avenue and Griffith Avenue area. The post alleged there was a black SUV with a Florida license plate circling around. The resident said she “was stopped late this afternoon and asked repeatedly if I wanted to buy AirPods by a young girl in the backseat. The guy driving the car was feeding her what to say and she was simply repeating. They were extremely persistent, asking 4 times, and saying how ‘low price’ they were. I called 911 immediately.”
Owensboro Police Department Public Information Officer Dylan Evans said of the incident, “Officers responded and were unable to locate the vehicle and an observation has been put out.”
Evans said OPD has seen a slight increase from this time last year in calls related to suspicious activity.
“As always, we want to remind the public to be aware of their surroundings,” he said. “Don’t hesitate to call the police when confronted with concerning situations. We encourage citizens to leave contact information when calling in so that an officer can follow-up with them to get additional details if needed.”
Youngman said he was not aware of an increase in those types of reports, but said “suspicious circumstances calls are one of the more common types of calls that our deputies respond to each day.”
“We always have units out there looking for this type of activity, and I also highly encourage anyone who feels that they may be witnessing something that doesn’t seem right to call in and let us know about it,” he said. “This goes back to if you see something say something. It’s how we protect our community.”
