UPDATE: ATM taken from convenience store

COLUMBIA – Thieves took an ATM from a convenience store north of Columbia early Wednesday.

A passerby noticed a white, full-size cargo van backed up to the front door of Fastlane Convenience Store, 7701 N. Roanoke Drive, and called the Boone County Sheriff's Department at about 1:50 a.m., according to a news release from the department. At the same time, an alarm went off at the business, Detective Tom O'Sullivan said.

When deputies arrived, they saw that the front door of the store had been damaged and that an ATM was missing.

"We believe that they used a cable to tie around the machine and pull it out," O'Sullivan said.

The passerby indicated that after leaving the parking lot, the vehicle headed north on Route B. Deputies later found the damaged ATM on Mount Zion Church Road, several miles away, O'Sullivan said. Deputies were not sure if any money was taken.

The vehicle believed to be involved in the theft was located in Callaway County on Wednesday. The Sheriff's Department currently has no suspects.

The store was closed and no one was inside when the incident occurred.

O'Sullivan said this was the second ATM theft in approximately three months. Previously, an ATM was taken from a convenience store located near Lake of the Woods and St. Charles roads. No arrests were made in that case.

"However, nothing points definitively to a connection between the two crimes," O'Sullivan said.

Any information about this incident can be reported to the Sheriff’s Department, 875-1111 or Crime Stoppers, 875-TIPS.