EVANSTON — Two Missouri men are in a local jail after leading officials on a 35-mile high-speed chase that ended in Evanston Sunday afternoon. Jerrod Lamont Dixon, 22, and Alonzo Marvin Anderson, 21, were arrested on suspicion of committing 21 crimes between them, including stealing the car they were in while trying to flee, said Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Scott Nielsen.

Nielsen said he was parked near milepost 41 on Interstate 80, when he clocked a white passenger vehicle driving westbound at 81 mph in the 75-mph zone. Nielsen said the car had darkened, obscure license plates, so he pursued the vehicle to address that, along with the vehicle’s speed.

“I caught up with them at (milepost) 38,” Nielsen said, “and by that time they were going much faster.”

The trooper said as he approached the speeding car, he clocked it traveling at 103 mph. He turned on his patrol vehicle’s lights but the car didn’t pull over — it sped up.

“They sped up and took off, reaching a top speed of 118,” Nielsen said.

State troopers, along with Uinta County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Evanston police officers worked ahead of the chase to close off ramps and setup spike strips to avoid another high-speed chase on city and county roads. (A South Dakota man led local law enforcement officers on a chase that passed through Evanston neighborhoods at high speeds before ending on Highway 150 outside of Evanston on Friday, March 16.)

Nielsen said Dixon was driving the vehicle involved in Sunday’s chase, and officers were able to puncture the front driver’s side tire with spikes set up at milepost 9. Prior to that, Nielsen said, Dixon hit a guardrail at milepost 18 and continued to elude law enforcement.

The two men got off exit 6 in Evanston, and scanner traffic indicated they might head into town. That might have just been a move to try to lose police, though, as the car then immediately sped back onto I-80. 

Nielsen said Dixon then sped onto the off ramp of exit 3, which leads to Harrison Drive. The car was going too fast for the bend in the off ramp, and left the roadway, hitting a sign and plowing through a fence before coming to rest in a field adjacent to the ramp. 

Both suspects then fled on foot, Nielsen said. Dixon was apprehended nearby, in the Wyoming Downs OTB parking lot. Anderson was arrested shortly after when officers found him hiding in a restroom at the Comfort Inn. Both men are from St. Louis, Missouri. 

Nielsen said the 21 charges the two face include eluding officers, reckless driving, vehicle theft, possession of controlled substances — officers found 11 ecstasy pills and 4 grams of marijuana, property destruction and conspiracy. Nielsen said investigators found a scale in the car, so the men were also charged with intent to deliver a controlled substance. Investigators also believe Dixon was under the influence of the drugs while he was driving, adding a DUI charge to the long list of alleged crimes. 

Sunday wasn’t the pair’s first run-in with law enforcement. Nielsen said the men were able to escape Iowa troopers Saturday night.

“We discovered through the investigation that they actually ran from Iowa Highway Patrol the evening before — they actually got away from them, then we got them,” Nielsen said.

Both suspects were transported to Evanston Regional Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries sustained from the car crash. Once treated, they were taken to the Uinta County Detention Center and booked.