Koehlhoeffer escapes from custody

The Fairfield man charged in the October Packwood bank robbery escaped from custody at an Iowa City hospital late Tuesday night and remains at large today.

Twenty-year-old Anthony Michael Koehlhoeffer, of 505 1/2 W. Madison Ave., is now believed to be in the Quad Cities area.

Authorities said Koehlhoeffer ran away while receiving treatment at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, assaulted a female student and stole her car. The student was not seriously injured, the university said.

Authorities said Koehlhoeffer fled the city heading south. But at about 5:30 a.m. today, a man believed to be Koehlhoeffer ? dressed in the gown, flip-flops and a hooded sweatshirt given to him at the hospital ? committed a carjacking at a convenience store in Iowa City, said police spokeswoman Sgt. Denise Brotherton.

Brotherton said the green Buick he stole Tuesday crashed into another vehicle, and a man believed to be Koehlhoeffer fled on foot through the snow in weather that was about 10 degrees. No one was injured in the crash. Police told schools to go into lockdown this morning as Iowa City police and Johnson County Sheriff?s Office K-9 units searched for the man.

After they were unable to find him, police said a woman reported at 9:15 a.m. that she was carjacked by a man believed to be Koehlhoeffer, and that he forced her to drive him 55 miles east to Bettendorf. Koehlhoeffer fled on foot and left her in her vehicle, Brotherton said, adding the woman was not injured and she did not know whether the man had a weapon.

Brotherton said Koehlhoeffer was believed to be in the Quad-Cities region of eastern Iowa and western Illinois. Police in Davenport did not immediately return phone messages.

Brotherton had earlier cautioned city residents to lock their doors, call 911 immediately if they saw the man and not to resist or confront him.

?We want the public to make the assumption that he?s armed and dangerous based on the fact that he?s in custody for bank robbery and he?s carjacked,? she said.

For the complete article, see the Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, printed edition of The Fairfield Ledger.