Tonganoxie ? Police searched Friday in Tonganoxie for a man who Topeka police think sexually assaulted and attempted to kill a woman Wednesday and then stole her vehicle.

Topeka Police Sgt. John Sanders dusts a stolen vehicle for fingerprints on Northstar Court, behind the Tonganoxie Sonic Drive-In near U.S. Highway 24-40. Topeka police believe the vehicle was stolen from a north Topeka residence after a woman there was beaten and assaulted. Officials searched Friday in Tonganoxie for the suspect.

The man was still at large Friday night.

About 3 a.m. Friday, a Tonganoxie police officer was on patrol on U.S. Highway 24-40 when he noticed a suspicious person in the Sonic Drive-In parking lot.

When the officer drove through the lot, he no longer saw the person but saw a Buick parked just northeast of the restaurant. The officer checked the vehicle and learned it had been stolen in Topeka.

Topeka police, as well as the Jefferson County K-9 Unit and the Leavenworth County Sheriff’s Office, assisted Tonganoxie police after the vehicle was found.

A K-9 unit officer put his bloodhound on the scent of an item found in the vehicle. The dog took officers east from Sonic and then north on 218th Street to Parallel Parkway, but there was no sign of the suspect, whom Topeka police believe to be 40-year-old Errol Mustafa Sutton.

Tonganoxie police say the man was last seen near 218th and Parallel, which is north of Tonganoxie.

The victim told Topeka police Wednesday that Sutton attacked her. Her vehicle was discovered missing later Wednesday, police said.

The woman was taken to a Topeka hospital where she was in serious but improved condition Friday.

Across the street from the Sonic, classes at Tonganoxie High School continued, but district schools were in low-level lockdown and administrators monitored students between classes. School officials in Basehor also were cautious Friday.

According to the Shawnee County District Court database, an Errol Mustafa Sutton II was charged in February with one count of aggravated battery. At an April hearing, he was sentenced to 17 months in prison, but the judge later suspended the sentence, allowing Sutton to serve 12 months of probation instead.

Police urged residents to be cautious and to call 911 or the police department, (913) 369-3754, if they notice anything suspicious.