By Rupert Howell and Emily Darby Williams

Arkansas State Troopers and a U.S. Marshal arrested two men Saturday outside the Crown Inn on N. Main Street, Brinkley without incident about 3:15 p.m. according to a statement from of the Arkansas State Police.

Cody Eggemeyer, 26, and Michael Manis, 33, were wanted in connection with a crime spree that began Christmas Day.

Law enforcement officers from across northwest Mississippi  searched Friday around the Horn Lake area for the suspects responsible for the series of incidents that began in Tallahatchie County Wednesday, moved to Sardis and Batesville and continued to unfold in Horn Lake.

At that point Panola County Sheriff Dennis Darby said confidently Friday that the search had been turned over to the U.S. Marshals service. He had earlier explained that the federal agency had access to more resources that could be used in locating the suspects.

District Attorney John Champion said Friday morning that a truck was reported stolen in Tallahatchie County Wednesday when two suspects “broke in a man’s house and stole his vehicle.”

Unidentified law enforcement sources confirmed that the man caught the burglars in the act, was bound with duct tape while they continued to loot his home and then left in his truck.

That man’s personal effects showed up Thursday at a Batesville dollar store, according to the same official.

Around midnight Thursday, a Sardis Police Department officer pulled over a vehicle on Lee Street fitting the description of the stolen truck, a black Z-71, according to that town’s mayor, Billy Russell.

The tags had been switched and did not match the stolen report, according to the official.
The truck took off, according to Russell, and Batesville Assistant Chief of Police Don Province said his department was soon notified by Sardis PD about the vehicle that resembled the stolen report.

Two Batesville officers, a training officer and trainee, spotted the vehicle shortly afterward and followed. As the vehicles approached Park and Watt Streets, the officers saw a muzzle blast and the police vehicle went dead. Province said the round hit the radiator and electrical wiring, causing the vehicle to stall.

“Luckily, neither (officers) were hit,” Province continued.

Soon afterward a fire was reported in a field behind Harmon Circle. Rusty Woods said he heard “a bunch of popping” at 1:30 a.m.  and as he looked back in the field behind his Pollard Street home, all he saw was fire.

“I went out there with a water hose to put it out, Meg (his wife) called 911 and that’s
when dispatch asked us if the truck was black,” Woods said.

“Dispatch told us to get back in the house and lock the doors,” adding, “Police were there within five minutes. I don’t know how they got there so fast. The sheriff’s department was there.”

Woods surmised, “They had a lot of ammo because once the heat got to that truck it was popping a bunch.”

The crime spree continued early Friday morning as the suspects  headed north and made their way to a residence north of Batesville on Highway 51, and kidnapped a resident, according to Panola Sheriff Dennis Darby.

“They forced him to drive them to Horn Lake,” said Province, who said they then turned the man free.

“He called immediately,” Province said.

“We know who they are,” said Darby Friday morning. “They are armed and dangerous.”

That’s when Darby confirmed the Marshal’s service had become involved.

The suspects remained at large until apprehended Saturday afternoon.