Carjacking Suspect May Have Fled To Chile

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Authorities now believe a nuclear plant operator has fled the country after committing an unlikely carjacking.

Prosecutors now say there is plenty of evidence to suggest that 31-year-old Michael Buhrman, a well-paid senior reactor operator at the Dresden nuclear plant in Morris, is now somewhere is South America.

Last May, police arrested Buhrman after the allegedly pointed a gun at a young woman waiting in a car in a parking lot in Woodridge. He then demanded her vehicle and took off.

The woman thought the suspect was an elderly man, but it turns out Buhrman was wearing a latex mask.

Months later, after posting bail, Buhrman disappeared. He first cut off his tracking device, withdrew cash from his bank account, dropped off a present for his young son at his ex-wife's house and was never seen again.

There are reports that Buhrman had collected $100,000 in gold bars and fled to Chile.

In:
• Carjacking