By NATE KING
Salina Post
A maroon 1988 Jeep Wrangler stolen from Salina early Thursday morning has been recovered, and a female suspect was arrested at a ranch in Saline County.
According to Salina Police Department (SPD) Cpt. James Feldman, officers responded to a stolen vehicle report at around 6:30 a.m. on September 12. The Jeep's owner, a 43-year-old man from Salina, reported someone stole his vehicle from the 100 block of South Broadway sometime between 6 and 6:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Feldman said the owner didn't leave the keys in the ignition, but a mechanical issue allowed the vehicle to start without keys.
At 7:51 a.m., Saline County Sheriff's Office deputies were sent to the CW Ranch in the 4000 block of South Halstead Road after a ranch hand noticed a woman behaving erratically near the property's vacation rental area. The farmhand also identified the reported stolen maroon 1988 Jeep on the property.
"She started to take some of her clothes off. She went into a building, a shed, and removed a bottle of wine from the refrigerator area, and began walking around the grounds, drinking that bottle of wine, and then she tried to get into the main residence where she was unsuccessful because the doors were locked," said Saline County Undersherriff Brent Melander. "She was able to make it upstairs to the one of the apartments where one of the another ranch hand stays resides, got into his room and then came back out."
Deputies identified the woman as 40-year-old Lindsay Slater of Park City, Kansas. Following a brief struggle, deputies took Slater nto custody.
Slater was transported to the hospital for evaluation and later booked into the Saline County Jail on charges of aggravated burglary, theft, and possession of drugs and paraphernalia.
Melander said the vehicle's owner was called to the scene, and the Jeep was returned to him.