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A woman who had been staying at a women’s sobriety home in California stole a minivan and was chased by police for hours until she crossed over to Mexico on Monday.
A second woman, Nicolle Walters, 45, reported to authorities that her 2004 gray Toyota Sienna was missing, along with her car key, according to a statement by the Ventura county sheriff’s office. Walters, owner and operator of two women’s sober living homes, identified the suspect as Alyssa Wilson, one of the residents at Diana’s House Sober Living in Thousand Oaks, which is about an hour’s drive north-west of Los Angeles.
“The keys were stolen out of my house manager’s purse. I happened to pull up right when it was happening,” she said, adding that the minivan is used for the sobriety home’s tasks.
Officials tracked the van about 12 miles (19km) north to Simi Valley, where they tried to pull the vehicle over, but Wilson refused to stop and sped away. She reached about 90mph (145km/h) on the 118 freeway until the chase continued into Los Angeles county. There, Ventura county authorities handed over the pursuit to the California highway patrol (CHP) once Wilson entered the 405 freeway heading south, the statement said.
“This one is very unique in the sense of the traffic conditions allowing individuals to continue to remain on the freeway and extend this pursuit,” said Capt Robert Yoos, a public information officer at the Ventura county sheriff’s office, during an interview with KTLA-TV.
Wilson dodged all the spike strips tossed on the road by authorities, according to aerial videos published by ABC7.
The chase eventually reached the US-Mexico border by 1.30pm, according to Walters, where the CHP ended its pursuit amid jurisdictional constraints.
Walters said on Tuesday that the vehicle was in Tijuana, Mexico, and that she was working with the CHP to retrieve it.
“At the end of the day, I’m not worried about the car,” Walters said. “I’m more at ease knowing she wasn’t hurt. The car is replaceable.”
Walters, as the owner of Diana’s House Sober Living since October 2024, recognizes that the path to recovery from addiction and trauma is not always linear.
“This is a mental health and substance abuse crisis,” she said. “We need more support. We need more resources for those that are struggling.”
“Recovery isn’t always pretty,” she added.
