Sheriff's office: Wanted former LaSalle County deputy remains at large in Earlville

PLAINFIELD – A former LaSalle County deputy on the run in a kidnapping and home invasion case apparently ditched the SUV he hijacked at gunpoint Wednesday morning and sprinted into a nearby woods, the Lee County sheriff said in a news release Wednesday afternoon.

The search is intensifying for Lowell Maxwell “Max” Ambler, who abandoned the 2005 burgundy Hyundai Santa Fe south of Earlville about 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sheriff John Simonton said in the release.

Officers spotted a man matching Ambler’s description running from a hunting blind in the wooded area where the car was found, the release said.

Police started going door to door in residential neighborhoods near the woods about 7 p.m. Wednesday. Simonton has provided updates throughout the manhunt, and no news releases had been sent as of 6 this morning.

The car was stolen Wednesday in Plainfield after there was a manhunt in the Plainfield area for Ambler on Tuesday.

Ambler, 46, of Mendota, is thought to have removed the driver of the Santa Fe at gunpoint and stolen his vehicle in Plainfield.

Plainfield police said they responded to 119th Street, west of Van Dyke Road, at 8:24 a.m. and met with the victim, who was on a relative’s property when a subject requested a ride and subsequently produced a handgun and demanded his vehicle.

The victim turned over his vehicle, police said, and the suspect immediately fled the area in an unknown direction. The victim, who said the suspect resembled Ambler, flagged down a passer-by and was able to call 911.

Police arrived in the area and were unable to locate the vehicle. The Will County Sheriff’s Office was contacted and is handling the carjacking investigation.

Ambler is considered armed and dangerous, and may have a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, Simonton has said.

The LaSalle County Sheriff’s Office, Plainfield police and other agencies are searching for Ambler, who lived in Earlville before moving to Mendota, authorities have said.

Ambler’s son, Dalton, died in January 2015 after a three-year battle with cancer.

Earlville resident Bri Sweeney, who said she was in the same grade in school as Dalton, called the events that unfolded Wednesday “crazy.”

“Nothing like this ever happens here,” she said. “He was a police officer, he was big in school with the Dalton Memorial Scholarship. I never would have imagined him doing something like this. It sounds like something from TV, not something that happens in Earlville.”

Her co-worker at the BP Subway, Valerie Helton, said that the people around town are concerned – they all know Ambler, or at least know of him, she said.

“He’s from Earlville, so he came home,” Helton said. “I think he just gave up. His son is buried out in that cemetery. Why else would he come back home?”

Ambler, a former LaSalle County deputy, was out on bond when he apparently violated the terms of his release by contacting the mother of the teenage girl – who is from Plainfield – he’s accused of holding against her will.

Shortly after noon Tuesday, Plainfield police received a state police emergency response message regarding Ambler, indicating he was riding in a stolen semitrailer and possibly en route to the northwest portion of Plainfield. He was considered armed and dangerous.

Ambler had active arrest warrants in Lee and LaSalle counties for violating the conditions of his of bail bond and violating a protective order.

Plainfield police officers located the stolen semitrailer Tuesday on Normantown Road north of 119th Street. The semi was unoccupied.

Local schools, including Plainfield North High School, were placed on soft lockdowns Tuesday and a reverse 911 alert of that area was made so residents could take shelter.
Earlville resident Ed Roland said he left his job in Peru early when he heard his 5-year-old daughter's school had been locked down.

“We had no clue what was happening,” Roland said. “I didn’t know the guy personally, but I knew of him and his son’s passing. I’m not too worried about what will happen, the police are everywhere. I just hope nothing bad happens.”

Police units from towns near Plainfield and federal agents were called in to conduct an exhaustive search that scoured residential areas, commercial areas, abandoned buildings, farm houses, agricultural fields and more, Plainfield police said.

Ambler was arrested Sept. 15 and charged with home invasion and aggravated kidnapping, both of which carry six to 30 years in prison. He posted $25,000 of his $250,000 bond Sept. 20, Lee County Court records show.

A warrant was issued for Ambler’s arrest after he contacted the girl’s mother Sunday, Simonton said. Law enforcement has been looking for him since.

Violating the terms of his release is a misdemeanor; Ambler was charged with that Monday, when the warrant was issued.

He had made a court appearance Wednesday in the felony case; he has another hearing set for Nov. 6.

The girl’s mother said that he has two shotguns, a 9 mm handgun and a muzzleloader. He has an unspecified job in Yorkville, she told authorities.

“My worst fear is that if he bails out, he will think he has noting left to lose and come to kill me or my daughter,” she told authorities. “I also fear that he knows how to get away with things since he is a former deputy.”

Ambler, a former Earlville police officer, is white, 6-foot, 200 to 230 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair. He started his career as a LaSalle County deputy July 24, 2000, according to the sheriff’s office, and he resigned June 15, 2015.

Anyone who sees Ambler, or who has any information, is advised not to approach him, but to call the Lee County Sheriff’s Office at 815-284-5217, Mendota police at 815-539-9331, or the anonymous reward tip line, Lee-Ogle Crime Stoppers, at 888-228-4411.