FBI St. Louis
St. Louis Press Office
(314) 589-2500
May 15, 2015

Suspect in Adult Abduction in Custody

This press release was originally issued by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Their Media Relations Department can be reached at (573) 335-6621, ext. 1263.


On Friday at approximately 2:00 p.m., a suspect in the adult abduction case was taken into custody in Yorkville, Illinois, which is located just west of Chicago, Illinois. Investigators with the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Cape Girardeau Police Department; Missouri Highway Patrol; Illinois State Police; Effingham, Illinois Police Department; Anna, Illinois Police Department; and Centralia, Illinois Police Department have been diligently following leads over the past three days.

On May 12, 2015, an adult female told authorities she was abducted for hours before escaping her captor. The female says she was sitting in her vehicle in Cape County Park South in Cape Girardeau when she was physically forced into a red extended cab pick-up truck. It happened sometime between 11:00 a.m. and noon on May 12, 2015. The female says she was then driven to various locations and sexually assaulted before she managed to escape in Effingham, Illinois around 6:00 p.m.

This morning the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab advised that fingerprints that had been lifted from the victim’s vehicle checked to a Jeffery M. Lazier, a while male age 43, from Coal City, Illinois. Investigators also confirmed that Lazier owns a red 2006 Ford F-250 and is a registered sex offender in the state of Illinois.

Lazier was located in Yorkville, Illinois and was taken into custody by Illinois State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation without incident. He is currently being held on a warrant out of Cape Girardeau County for Class A Robbery 1st Degree, Class B Felony Kidnapping, Armed Criminal Action, Felony Sodomy 1st Degree, and Class C Felony of Sexual Abuse 1st Degree. His bond has been set at $250,000 cash only. Lazier is being held pending extradition back to Missouri.