17-year-old on car theft spree hits and kills 23-year-old veteran, Oklahoma cops say

A 17-year-old in a stolen car was the subject of a cross-county chase when he hit a mom and her 23-year-old daughter driving on the highway, Oklahoma police said.

The teen had stolen three vehicles in 24 hours, according to the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office and KOTV , and had said he would “take a life” to steal a car.

The high-speed chase started in Craig County on Oct. 20 and continued into Roger’s County, deputies said. They eventually found the vehicle crashed in a ditch, officials said.

Then, dispatchers received a 911 call from a person saying their truck, with a gun inside, had just been stolen, deputies said. Officers eventually found the teen speeding down a country road in the stolen truck.

The teen initially avoided the stop sticks thrown by deputies, but punctured three tires when deputies threw the sticks later on.

With punctured tires, the 17-year-old drove over railroad tracks, striking a vehicle with the mother and daughter inside, deputies said. Logan Harrell, a 23-year-old military veteran, died at the scene, according to a news release and her obituary.

Her mother was injured and taken to the hospital, police said.

Harrell, according to her obituary, served six months in Kuwait when she was in the army from 2019-2023. She also studied elementary education and cheered at Rogers State College.

“Logan enjoyed being with her family, going shopping, wearing her Crocs, and teaching and assisting other cheerleaders in the area,” her obituary said.

The teen accused of killing her was charged with murder, endangering others while attempting to elude a police officer, larceny of an automobile and other offenses on Oct. 25, according to court records.

Attorney information for the teen was not listed. McClatchy News is not naming the suspect because he is a minor.

Deputies told KOTV that the teen had been pursued across three different states and was traveling from Missouri to California on a crime-spree.

“He’d completed a home invasion near Republic, Missouri, where he planned to kill the homeowner, a former mentor,” Sheriff Scott Walton told KOTV.

The teen is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 31.

Rogers County is about a 35-mile drive northeast from Tulsa.

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