Police in Washington, D.C., say they have arrested an 18-year-old man found driving the missing Jeep belonging to Sue Ann Marcum, the American University professor found dead in her Bethesda home Monday.

Deandrew Hamlin, 18, of Northwest Washington, D.C., was arrested by Metropolitan Police after a short chase that ended when he crashed into a traffic sign on the 200 block of M Street Northwest shortly after midnight today, police spokeswoman Istmania Bonilla said.

The Jeep was indentified by the city's license plate recognition system when it passed Benning Road in the northeast quadrant of the city. It alerted police in the area that the vehicle was stolen and they pursued.

Hamlin was treated at a hospital for back and neck pain and is now in police custody.

Police were called to Marcum's house after her boyfriend found her dead Monday morning. Detectives at the scene reported signs that someone forced their way into her home and killed her, said Montgomery County police spokesman Capt. Paul Starks said.

Starks said his department has been looking for Marcum's beige Jeep Cherokee as a part of their investigation into her death.

Hamlin has been charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and fleeing from police. More charges are pending, Bonilla said.

Bonilla said her department does not know if Hamlin knew Marcum.

Starks said his department has not interviewed Hamlin, but consider him a person of interest in the case.

"We have an interest in speaking with him about how he came into possession of Sue Marcum's vehicle and if he has any information about who broke into her house," he said.

Marcum has been a member of the accounting faculty at American University since 1999, according to a statement from the Kogod School of Business.

Representatives of AU could not immediately say whether or not Hamlin is a student there.

aruoff@gazette.net