2 Charged After Police Chase: Baltimore County PD

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Police identified two people arrested after a police chase Friday afternoon in Baltimore County. The couple, who live in Essex, are also allegedly wanted by authorities in Virginia.

Baltimore County police said officials in Newport News, Virginia, asked for help finding a vehicle before 12:20 p.m. Friday in connection with a homicide.

When local officials found the silver Scion leaving a parking lot on Eastern Boulevard near Back River and tried to stop it, the chase began.

Melissa Joyce Moen, 38, of the 100 block of Wiltshire Road in Essex, was driving the car, police reported.

Christopher Levar Cox, 33, of the 300 block of Magnolia Terrace in Essex, was the passenger, officials said.

A police helicopter followed the suspects, who drove onto Harford Road near Taylor Avenue. Two news choppers began broadcasting the pursuit, which authorities said lasted more than 30 minutes.

Ammunition and two long guns were thrown out of the Scion during the chase, police said; officers later searched roads to collect evidence.

Despite the lengthy pursuit, there were no crashes, the vehicles traveled "at moderate speeds" and nobody was injured, the Baltimore County Police Department said afterward in a statement.

Ultimately, officers boxed the vehicle into a parking lot in the 12500 block of Eastern Avenue, where they arrested Moen and Cox at 1:07 p.m.

According to WTKR, a CBS station in Hampton, Virginia, the couple was wanted in connection with a burglary and homicide in Virginia. They are accused of breaking into a home in Hampton, Virginia, where they allegedly stabbed and injured a man in his sleep, then assaulted another man in the house who tried to intervene. Next, they proceeded to an apartment in Newport News, Virginia, where another man was fatally shot. The burglary took place around 2:30 a.m. and the deadly shooting occurred before 3:15 a.m. on Friday, WTKR reported.

Both Moen and Cox are being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center on charges of first-degree burglary, misdemeanor theft and credit card fraud, police reported. Local authorities said the two are being detained pending their extradition to Virginia, and officials plan to coordinate prosecution of the Baltimore County charges with the Hampton Police Division in Virginia.

Photos courtesy of the Baltimore County Police Department.