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Woman Leads Police on Chase in a Van Painted as the ‘Scooby Doo Mystery Machine’

By Jacintha Webster
Published on: 13:14 PST, Mar 7, 2016

A Northern Californian woman has led police on a high speed chase down Highway 273 in a 1994 Chrysler minivan painted to look like the “Mystery Machine” from the popular cartoon show Scooby Doo according to Record Searchlight.

The woman that led police on the chase was identified as 51-year-old Sharon Kay Turman. She is still at large after speeding away from the police in the brightly painted van.

Leads police on chase
Sharon Kay Turman is still at large after leading police on a chase in a brightly painted van. [Photo via Redding Police]
The chase began on Sunday at 12:50 p.m. after a probation officer with Shasta County Probation contacted Redding Police Department regarding Turman. She was wanted for a probation violation.

Redding Police spotted Turman driving the Scooby Doo themed van at 3:50 p.m. on Sunday and tried to stop her. She then led police on a chase, driving in and out of traffic quite like the cartoon that the van’s paint job was based on. Police on the road lost sight of her after she sped through a red light smashing into four cars at an intersection.

With the help of a California Highway Patrol helicopter authorities were able to locate the van, allowing police to continue their pursuit. Turman headed towards the nearby city of Anderson via Interstate 5 exceeding speeds of 100 mph.

The police chase came to a stop once again near Buenaventura and Highway 273 due to public safety as the car chase speeds exceeded 100 mph. Turman continued to speed the brightly colored van southbound on Highway 273, said police. The California Highway Patrol helicopter continued to tail her movements from the air.

Turman later stopped driving, too, and was seen abandoning her vehicle by the California Highway Patrol helicopter. She took off on foot and is still at large.

The police later located the van at Hill Drive just north of Anderson thanks to the California Highway Patrol helicopter and have impounded the brightly painted van.

It is unknown why the 1994 Chrysler minivan was painted as the famous cartoon Mystery Machine, complete with flowers and “The Mystery Machine” painted over the windows, but it helped the police lead on the chase to spot and follow the van. The recognizable Chrysler was also spotted by bystanders who uploaded snaps of the speeding Mystery Machine to Twitter.

The Mystery Machine has been a fixture of the popular Scooby Doo television cartoons and movies since 1969 with Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, Fred and Scooby Doo racing around to solve crimes and debunk signs of supernatural phenomena. The unusually brightly colored van has brought global attention to the car chase.

The official Scooby Doo website notes that the Mystery Machine “is always ready to provide a quick getaway,” but Redding police are not amused by the case or the attention.

“You can’t really get caught up in the cartoon because it’s a serious business,” Redding police Cpl. Levi Solada said.

Truman is still wanted by the Redding California Police Department and Shasta County Probation. Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Sharon Kay Turnman are encouraged to contact the Redding Police Department at (530) 225-4200 or Secret Witness of Shasta County at (530) 243-2319.

[Image via Erin Cadigan / Shutterstock.com]

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