SUV used in police chase stolen from Lincoln Park woman

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Chicago woman's stolen white SUV was the center of a police chase during the Wednesday evening commute through Chicago and the south suburbs.

On Thursday, for better or worse, she's got her car back.

Alex Sparkman's 2009 Ford Escape was stolen last week from her Lincoln Park condo. She thought she would never see it again until a friend - who was following the police chase via the ABC7 Twitter feed -- alerted her that her vehicle appeared to be involved.

"It's pretty crazy," Sparkman said. "I actually didn't realize it was in the chase until a friend had sent me a message on Facebook. He saw it on ABC7's Twitter feed and sent me a message and I immediately knew it was my car just because of the two stickers on the back."

The police chase started in the city's Englewood neighborhood and continued through Hazel Crest and Markham.

The high-speed chase involved shoulder riding and dangerous maneuvers. Chopper7 HD captured the arrest of four offenders near a car dealership in Hazel Crest.

A dealership employee said they had heard at least one suspect laughing and yelling to nearby witnesses to put his name on Facebook.

"I was hoping it would turn up, I was being optimistic but I really wasn't expecting ever to see it again," Sparkman said.

After getting off her computer on Wednesday, Sparkman called Chicago police. A few hours later, they told her to retrieve her ride, sporting a dent from the chase, at the police station in Englewood.

ABC7 saw the vehicle on Thursday -- back in the same spot from which it was stolen.

"It's dirty," Sparkman said. "They used my car handles as ashtrays, there was candy wrappers, a lot of stolen goods."

After this incident, Sparkman said the SUV that took her to college is too sullied for her to keep. She said she will probably sell the vehicle.

"The inside is nothing like the last time I saw it," she said. "It smells like smoke and other horrible things so it's just not a good situation."

Meanwhile, no charges have been filed against the individuals involved in the police chase. All of the offenders are in the custody of Chicago police, however, the three police departments involved are trying to determine jurisdiction.