Left: Gavin Thompson (Lancaster County Department of Corrections). Right: Dorinda Segebrecht (Iowa County Sheriff”s Office).
A man from Wisconsin has been accused of leading police on a chase while driving in the wrong direction on a highway. This incident involves a vehicle linked to a missing person case, where the missing individual might be the deceased person discovered in the vehicle.
Gavin Thompson, aged 23, is now detained at Lancaster County Jail in Nebraska. Authorities apprehended Thompson after he allegedly drove across state lines in a vehicle tied to 67-year-old Dorinda Segebrecht. Segebrecht was reported missing in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, this past Monday. As reported by the Nebraska State Patrol, an alert was issued by the Iowa County Sheriff’s Office in Wisconsin regarding Segebrecht’s black Hyundai Kona, which was suspected to be on the move, heading west in Nebraska.
State troopers identified the car at about 1:50 a.m. on Wednesday, noting that the driver did not resemble the car’s owner. As they tried to stop the vehicle, the driver, later confirmed to be Thompson, who is also a resident of Dodgeville, reportedly attempted to escape instead of pulling over.
According to the Nebraska State Patrol, Thompson had allegedly tried to exit Interstate 80 to evade police. After he fled, he got back on the interstate’s eastbound lane, headed in the wrong direction inside of a construction zone, officials say.
Thompson then “failed to navigate the lane shift, drove into the median, and crashed into a creek.” He fled on foot, and police approached the car. Authorities say that in the back seat was the dead body of a woman who matched Segebrecht’s description. While Nebraska officials have not officially confirmed the identity of the body, they stated, “It was clear that the woman had died before the crash.”
State troopers summoned several local law enforcement agencies, including the SWAT team. Using “police service dogs, drones, and the NSP helicopter,” a deputy with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office found Thompson about 4 miles away from the crash site. He was arrested without incident.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Iowa County Sheriff Michael Peterson and Dodgeville Police Department Police Chief Brandon Wilhelm both said that there was no known relationship between Thompson and Segebrecht. Wilhelm called the alleged crime a “random act of violence.”
Peterson stated, “We’ve lost a beloved member of our county under tragic and senseless circumstances.”
Thompson is currently being held without bond at Nebraska’s Lancaster County Jail after being charged with reckless driving and avoiding arrest. He is expected to be extradited to Wisconsin’s Iowa County.
