MARYLAND HEIGHTS • They call it the great pumpkin caper of suburban St. Louis.

It all started on the midnight watch for one Maryland Heights police officer the night of Oct. 18. It was about 1:40 a.m. when the first call came in: The pumpkins were missing.

First in one subdivision — Pinehurst — then more calls from another — Arrow Heights. There soon seemed to be gaping holes in fall stoop displays everywhere in the area.

Sgt. Jamie White of the Maryland Heights Police Department was on the case.

A neighbor called in a description of a compact SUV spotted around the time of the first vanishing pumpkin.

In yet another subdivision — Brookside — White soon tracked down a Subaru Forester matching the description.

The officer quickly suspected he’d nabbed his thief. The car held three teenage boys and 48 pumpkins.

Plus one gourd.

“No idea how they all fit in there,” Maryland Heights police Capt. Scott Will said. “It was top-to-bottom orange.

“It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together after that.”