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Police seeking pair of Summit Acamdemy runaways

SUMMIT TWP — A manhunt is on for two teenagers who escaped Sunday night from the Summit Academy reform school.

State police do not know if the suspects could have made their getaway in a Jeep stolen not far from the facility on Herman Road.

Police identified one of the escapees as Donald James Chrisko, 18, of New Paris, Bedford County. Authorities only identified his accomplice as a 15-year-old Duncannon, Perry County boy.

The wanted teenagers and a third student, a 15-year-old Masontown, Fayette County boy, ran away from Summit Academy about 7:40 p.m.

Trooper Ronald Kesten said the school staff chased after the trio and caught the Masontown boy. The other two got away from the school for adjudicated youths and young adults in grades 9-12.

Police were notified and searched for the escapees to no avail.

At 10:30 a.m. Monday, a homeowner on Beck Road — one to two miles from the school — discovered his red, 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee missing. The owner last saw the vehicle about 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

The victim admitted that he had left the keys in the unlocked vehicle.

“We don’t know if these two (escapees) took the Jeep,” Kesten said.

But a be-on-the-lookout advisory that police issued Monday morning indicated that the teens could be driving the missing Jeep, which had the Pennsylvania license plate JVL9236.

Chrisko is described as being white, 5 feet, 7 inches tall and 190 pounds. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. The missing boy is white, 5 feet, 11 inches tall and 145 pounds. He has red hair and brown eyes.

Both teenagers were wearing blue gym shorts with the name Summit Academy on them.

Anyone with information about their whereabouts is asked to call police at 7240-284-8100.

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