Alyssa Wilson, a resident at a sober living home, stole a minivan and was chased for hours until crossing the border<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A woman who had been staying at a women\u2019s sobriety home in California<\/a> stole a minivan and was chased by police for hours until she crossed over to Mexico on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s office. Walters, owner and operator of two women\u2019s sober living homes, identified the suspect as Alyssa Wilson, one of the residents at Diana\u2019s House Sober Living in Thousand Oaks, which is about an hour\u2019s drive north-west of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe keys were stolen out of my house manager\u2019s purse. I happened to pull up right when it was happening,\u201d she said, adding that the minivan is used for the sobriety home\u2019s tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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<\/a> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis one is very unique in the sense of the traffic conditions allowing individuals to continue to remain on the freeway and extend this pursuit,\u201d said Capt Robert Yoos, a public information officer at the Ventura county sheriff\u2019s office, during an interview with KTLA-TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilson dodged all the spike strips tossed on the road by authorities, according to aerial videos published by ABC7<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The chase eventually reached the US-Mexico border by 1.30pm, according to Walters, where the CHP ended its pursuit amid jurisdictional constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walters said on Tuesday that the vehicle was in Tijuana, Mexico, and that she was working with the CHP to retrieve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the end of the day, I\u2019m not worried about the car,\u201d Walters said. \u201cI\u2019m more at ease knowing she wasn\u2019t hurt. The car is replaceable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walters, as the owner of Diana\u2019s House Sober Living since October 2024, recognizes that the path to recovery from addiction and trauma is not always linear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a mental health and substance abuse crisis,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need more support. We need more resources for those that are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRecovery isn\u2019t always pretty,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n