Elsberry City Hall ransacked overnight

By Ann Rubin

KSDK -- City employees in Elsberry, Missouri arrived Tuesday morning to broken glass and ransacked offices. Police say someone burglarized Elsberry City Hall overnight and they want to know who.

City Hall houses numerous documents and court records. There's also cash from people paying fines and bills. Now investigators are trying to determine exactly what was there, so they know what is missing.

In a small town like Elsberry, big crimes are rare. So what happened overnight had many surprised.

Tony Martin at Parts City Elsberry was one of them.

"Up and down the street today you could see people outside the businesses, looking, trying to find out what was going on," Martin says.

It appeared City Hall had been ransacked. Authorities believe someone sneaked in, breaking windows and trashing offices. Among those targeted, the city collector, and the office shared by the treasurer and court clerk.

While Lincoln County and local police began the investigation this morning, it has now been turned over to the Missouri Highway Patrol. Authorities spent the day processing the crime scene and taking inventory of what was taken, but so far they aren't saying what those items were.

At the Dawg House Bar and Grill, staff saw no sign of trouble when they closed around 1:30 a.m. City employees apparently noticed the burglary when they arrived for work later in the morning.

"It doesn't concern me. We have a good police department. We have a good town here," says Dawg House owner Ann Marshall. "This is just a random act that doesn't make any sense at all."

Marshall says she cannot fathom a motive for the crime. But she's convinced in a town this size, a suspect won't stay hidden for long.

"It might take a week, it might take a month, but it will get out in the open somehow," she says. "Somebody will say something eventually."

In the meantime, some business owners, like Martin, say they'll use a little extra caution.

"Just make sure the doors are locked and make sure the alarm is set every night before we go home," Martin says.

The Missouri Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control is now handling the investigation. No word on why they've stepped in.