LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. – The Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged a Moscow Mills woman Wednesday for stealing a construction trailer from a subdivision last month.

The trailer was stolen late in the evening on December 20, 2018 from the 400 block of Cass Drive. Surveillance video from the scene showed a Chevy Suburban leave the scene with the stolen trailer.

On December 29, a vehicle matching the description of the suspect vehicle was seen towing the stolen trailer in the 400 block of Blue Bunting Drive.

Investigators with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office spoke with the driver, identified as Kristen Zinselmeier, who consented to a search of the Suburban while it was parked in her driveway.

Zinselmeier told detectives the truck belonged to her mother but she was driving it.

During the search, detectives found several stolen items from the trailer sitting in the Suburban. The vehicle was towed from the property while authorities applied for additional warrants to recover the stolen items.

On December 31, the St. Charles County Police Department was contacted by a woman who owned a horse stable near O’Fallon, Missouri.

The stable owner told police Zinselmeier called her and asked if she would remove the trailer from the property.

Zinselmeier allegedly confessed to the stable owner that she stole the trailer from the construction site and needed it moved. She also admitted to having help from her boyfriend, Mitchell Kupfenstiner.

The stable owner refused Zinselmeier’s request and contacted police. The St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department ultimately towed the trailer from the property.

Authorities said Zinselmeier agreed to surrender on January 4 but failed to appear. She went on social media and said the stolen trailer had been returned along with all of the equipment contained. However, the person who owned the construction trailer said several tools were still missing.

Late Monday evening, the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department received an anonymous tip that Zinselmeier was hiding at an apartment in St. Charles.

Zinselmeier was taken into custody on Tuesday.

Prosecutors charged Zinselmeier felony stealing. She remains in custody at Lincoln County Jail on $10,000 cash-only bond.