Investigators say 19-year-old Steven Hecker of Council Bluffs is still on the run with his 14-year-old girlfriend. Hecker prompted a statewide Amber Alert on Monday after authorities say he abducted JanaKay Lee from her Council Bluffs home. Hecker is wanted on charges stemming from his relationship with the under-age girl.
Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker says Hecker fled with Lee to an Illinois town near St. Louis. Sheriff Danker says, “We located them at a relative’s residence in Sorento, Illinois, last night but they did leave that residence and they didn’t say where they were going.”
Hecker was charged last week with three felony counts because of his reportedly consensual, sexual relationship with the girl. Sheriff Danker says law enforcement partners in the St. Louis area are helping to search for the couple. Danker says, “We’ve notified authorities in that area of Illinois and actually posters were placed in a 70-mile radius around that town.”
They are believed to be driving a black Mitsubishi Eclipse with Iowa plates, the vehicle that was the subject of the Amber Alert. Danker says he’s confident they’ll find the two.
Danker says “We’re looking at the computer they had to see if there was any other contact they had made with anybody else that might indicate where they’d be going or any type of activity on any credit card.” A suicide note was reportedly found in Hecker’s home, but authorities say they don’t believe the girl’s life is in danger.
By Karla James