George Treece, 47, of Kentucky, is accused of trying to rob the Ascend Federal Credit Union on Memorial Boulevard on Tuesday and is still on the run after a wild escape that ended in the woods, police said. Investigators say a black GMC pickup tied to the attempted heist was tracked into West Tennessee and found near Jackson, where the driver bolted into a wooded area during a felony traffic stop. Officers recovered the truck and collected evidence, and police said no money was taken in the attempt.
How police tracked the truck
According to the Murfreesboro Police Department, detectives and crime analysts leaned on license-plate readers (LPR) and other investigative technology to zero in on the pickup and trace its movements in the hours after the attempted hold-up. The department said the Tennessee Highway Patrol, assisted by the FBI, eventually located the truck near Jackson and moved in for a felony traffic stop.
Traffic stop, corrected custody report
Police first announced that the suspect had been taken into custody, then had to walk that back. The man took off on foot into a nearby wooded area during the stop, according to FOX17. Officers searched the area for roughly six hours overnight before suspending the hunt, and as of Wednesday morning Treece still had not been found.
Charges, identity and community warning
Murfreesboro police identified the suspect as Treece and said the 47-year-old from Kentucky is also suspected in a bank robbery in Lebanon, according to the department’s news release. Lebanon detectives are working with Murfreesboro investigators on the case. Authorities urged residents in West Tennessee to call 9-1-1 immediately if they spot Treece, the release said.
Context: a string of brazen attempts
The Memorial Boulevard scare comes on the heels of a run of ATM and bank-targeted crimes this spring in Rutherford County, including an April armored-truck robbery that pushed investigators to lean heavily on license-plate readers and public-safety cameras. As detailed in daylight heist jolts Murfreesboro, Murfreesboro’s Real Time Crime Center frequently uses that technology to map getaway routes and generate leads.
