The police began near Campbell Avenue at Grand Street in Springfield when a Greene County sheriff's deputy spotted the truck, which had been reported stolen by the Lawrence County Sheriff's Department. The driver led officers on a chase through streets, yards, fenced farm fields, railroad rights of way and narrow lanes at speeds of up to 80 miles an hour.

Spike strips finally stopped the vehicle, which the thief kept using even with flattened tires until its engine gave out in a field off Farm Road 148 in eastern Republic.

The owner of the truck says it was parked under a shed attached to a horse barn where he lives near Aurora. The keys were in the side pocket for quick access since it was a work truck used on a dairy farm that he shares with his mother and brother. It's been quite an ordeal that's taking on toll on the family operation.

"He pretty well ruined it, so it makes you sick because I feel like that was part of our house and I feel violated because somebody has been in our home," said Ricky Stine. "Since he's been in it, I don't want it back. That's what we use to feed our cows back. We had a bale bed and that's what we used to feed the cows. The other truck we use to feed cows got hurt in the storm and we had it in the body shop. Now we're just down to the tractor."

The theft comes on the heels of other trouble for the Stine family. A tornado on Jan. 7 destroyed most of their outbuildings along with a lot of farm machinery.