‘Animal’ trapped in empty camper turned out to be St. Clair County burglary suspect

A Red Bud man faces felony burglary charges after a night of playing cat-and-mouse with New Athens police.

Jacob W. Eisenmann, 31, of the 100 block of East Avenue in Red Bud, was charged with burglary, criminal damage to property, and fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer.

The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s office alleges that Eisenmann escaped New Athens officers in a vehicle on May 1, but was spotted the next morning running toward Illinois 156 at about 7:30 the following morning. Police, in the meantime, were dispatched to investigate a burglary in progress in the 2500 block of Bruer Lake Road in New Athens.

According to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, the victim reported hearing noises inside her locked, unoccupied camper and discovered that the door had been pried open.

She initially believed it was an animal, police said, until the door swung open and a white male matching Eisenmann’s description and wearing a blanket over his head jumped out of the camper and ran into an open field.

At about 11:14 a.m., police received calls about a suspicious looking man in a field located near Kaiser Road. The burglary victim identified the man and Eisenmann was arrested, according to the sheriff’s department.

As of Tuesday afternoon, he was being held in the St. Clair County Jail on $45,000 bond.