FORKS – Police are searching for an Arizona woman who stole a van and sped from a crash on in the county’s west end.

About 4:30 yesterday afternoon, Clallam County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the crash on Highway 113 about 1 mile south of Highway 112.

Investigators say witnesses to the collision stopped to help.  But they reported a woman involved in the collision was acting irate and tried to flee. During the chaos, the woman stole a witness’s van and drove south on Highway 113.

A deputy was able to successfully deploy spike strips as the van drove past them on Highway 113 near Highway 101. The van was seen traveling east on Highway 101.  The van was later found abandoned.

Several other law enforcement agencies, including K-9 units from Port Angeles and Sequim set up containment and tracked the suspect into the woods south of the van with no success. The search is still ongoing.

The suspect has been identified as Catherine Louise Raya of Mesa Arizona. Raya is a 40-year-old Native American, about 5’6” tall, 160 pounds with brown hair and eyes. Witness described her as wearing a white shirt, a black skirt, and was not wearing any shoes or socks.

According to family members who live in Grays Harbor County, Raya recently arrived unsuspectedly from Arizona and was acting paranoid believing that people were after her.