Vanessa R. Henschel

     A Briarcliff woman, 21 year old VANESSA RENEE HENSCHEL, was arrested Sunday afternoon, February 2^nd, on several motor vehicle theft charges and remains incarcerated today in the Baxter County Detention Center.

     On the morning of February 2^nd, Sheriff’s Corporal Kristofer Savino took a report that a 1992 Red Geo Tracker valued at $4,500 had been stolen from a private residence on Heritage Road in the rural Mountain Home area.  During the process of taking this report, Corporal Savino realized he had a previous encounter with this vehicle earlier in the morning that was being operated by VANESSA HENSCHEL.  At the time of that encounter, the vehicle had not yet been reported stolen.

     At approximately 2:28 PM on afternoon of February 2^nd, Corporal Savino and Deputy Doug Meurer responded to a complaint call of a suspicious person in a Red Geo Tracker at a residence on Alpine Ln. in rural Baxter County.  Upon arrival, deputies found VANESSA HENSCHEL walking near the area of the complaint.  During their investigation, deputies found that HENSCHEL had a black bag in her possession that contained driver licenses, credit cards, and a license plate, along with numerous keys.  HENSCHEL told deputies that she had “borrowed” a Green and Silver Dodge 1500 truck from an address on Ben Loyal Dr. in Briarcliff and had driven it to Peal’s Resort in Salesville.  This truck was also stolen with a value of $3,000.  Deputy Meurer later confirmed this stolen truck was parked at Peal’s Resort. 

     Inside the bag that was in HENSCHEL’s possession, deputies found a set of keys belonging to a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee valued at $6,000 that had also been reported stolen earlier in the morning from Peal’s Resort.  The victim in this theft identified the keys in question as belonging to him, and he also reported the keys had been inside his residence when they were taken, and further that HENSCHEL would have had to enter his residence in order to take the keys.  This vehicle was later recovered from a residence on Old Arkansas Road where it was parked behind a trailer.

     VANESSA HENSCHEL was taken into custody and transported to the Sheriff’s Office.  Sheriff’s Investigator Brad Lewis conducted a follow-up investigation, which resulted in the following charges being filed against VANESSA HENSCHEL:

Residential Burglary – Class B Felony
Theft of Property (1 count) – Class C Felony
Theft of Property (2 counts) – Class D Felonies

     HENSCHEL is being held in lieu of $10,000 bond, with an appearance in Circuit Court set for February 6^th.

/s/ John F. Montgomery,
Baxter County Sheriff