A Union County Grand Jury has indicted the man and woman in the car with accused murderer Sean Hughes when the trio allegedly led police on a chase through Marysville and the county.
The grand jury has indicted Britteny Nicole Mink, also known as Britteny Stepp, 35, of 460 Windmill Drive, Apt. 45, and Joshua “Jay” Rivera Marquez, 25, of Levittown, Pennsylvania.
Marquez is charged with two counts of receiving stolen property and one count each of obstructing justice, carrying a concealed weapon, having a weapon while under disability, failure to comply with the order of a police officer and obstructing official business.
Mink is charged with one count of obstructing justice.
According to court documents, between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, Mink helped hide Hughes, who was a murder suspect in Pennsylvania. Hughes was allegedly involved in shooting a trio of individuals at a Halloween party on Oct. 31. One of the shooting victims, a 14-year-old boy, died.
Hughes allegedly fled the scene and the state in a stolen vehicle and drove to Marysville. Police have not said why they believe Hughes drove to Marysville. They do believe he arrived in the area in the early morning hours of Nov. 1.
As police in Pennsylvania investigated the alleged shooting, they entered the vehicle and registration plate into the National Criminal Intelligence Center as a felony vehicle.
Marysville Police Chief Tony Brooks said that at about 2:13 p.m., Nov. 2, his department was notified that a license plate reader in the city got a hit on the vehicle. He said when officers attempted to stop the car near the intersection of East Fifth and Chestnut streets, “it fled at high rate of speed.”
Police lost the car blocks later near Fourth and Maple streets.
Officials said the vehicle was seen a short time later at the stop light in front of the police station at Fifth Street and Raymond Road. The chief said that by that time police had “saturated the west side of the city and into the county.”
The suspects led officers west on Fifth Street and onto Northwest Parkway. Police were able to deploy spike strips along Northwest Parkway near Poling Road ahead of the chase.
“While the spike strips were effective, the vehicle continued to flee onto Poling Road from Northwest Parkway,” according to a statement from police.
Marysville officers continued the pursuit along Poling Road onto Bear Swamp Road where they again lost sight of it. Brooks said pursuit vehicles were “a considerable distance behind the vehicle.”
Officials said that when police rounded the curve near 19906 Bear Swamp Road they saw the Elantra, stopped with the doors open.
Police checked the car, which was empty.
According to a report, “the driver and front seat passenger jumped out of the vehicle and fled on foot.”
When police arrived they found Marquez, the front seat passenger, hiding in tall weeds a short distance from the road.
“He was taken into custody without incident,” Brooks said.
The suspect driver, Hughes, was located about 30 yards from the passenger. Brooks said the man had already apparently shot himself. First responders attempted to administer medical assistance, but Brooks said the man was already dead.
Marquez complained of a medical condition as was taken to Memorial Hospital. He was later transferred to the Marysville Division of Police.
Marysville police, along with a helicopter, a K-9 unit from Delaware County, deputies from the Union County Sheriff’s Office and troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol also spent more than an hour and a half searching homes, vehicles, barns and fields in the area looking for a female passenger who had been seen in the car. Eventually it was learned that passenger had gotten out of the vehicle in Marysville and the search was called off.
“She was let out in town, probably after our officers lost sight of them. It is not clear whether she was let out or whether she just got out on her own,” Brooks said.
When investigators searched Marquez’s phone, they found pictures of Marquez with guns, including one of him in a ski mask.
During an interview, Marquez admitted to having a .38 caliber revolver during the pursuit but throwing it at the scene. Police found the gun in the field where Marquez said he threw it. Because of a 2019 felony robbery conviction, Marquez is prohibited from having a gun.
If convicted, Marquez could face more than two decades in prison. Mink could face as many as five years in prison.