Coronavirus Samples Stolen From Lab Tech's Car At Gas Station

CHICAGO, IL — Frozen coronavirus test samples were taken from a lab employee's car when she ran into a South Side gas station Thursday evening.

Chicago police said the employee left work with the frozen samples stored in her trunk when she stopped at the gas station shortly before 7 p.m. Her car had been left running and unlocked when two men apparently entered the vehicle and drove off.

The woman and relative went searching for the car and found it sometime after midnight in the 200 block of East 68th Street, police said. They flagged down police, but when officers approached the car, the two men ran off.

The five frozen test samples were missing from the trunk. Neither the thieves nor the samples have been found, police said.