CHICAGO – A gruesome Chicago stabbing scene littered with Satanic symbols could be linked to the ambush of a sheriff’s deputy and standoff in a rural bank in central Illinois, Chicago police said Friday.

Two men in custody for Thursday’s crime spree near an Amish community in Illinois farm country used a car that was traced to a previous residence of a 40-year-old man whose body was found in a home Thursday night, Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Chicago detectives were in Arcola, about 150 miles south of Chicago, investigating the possible link, Bond said.

The two men arrested in Arcola _ accused of shooting a sheriff’s deputy before one of the men stormed into a rural bank and took five hostages _ remained in custody on Friday while prosecutors and law enforcement officials discussed what charges to file against them.

The spree began during a midmorning traffic stop Thursday when the suspects sped off after a drug-sniffing dog was brought in to search the car they were in, State Police Sgt. Bill Emery said.

The men allegedly robbed a house a few miles from there, ditched their car and stole a van, he said.

When the sheriff’s deputy, Tommy Martin, pulled the van over shortly afterward, he was shot in the face and torso, Emery said. Martin radioed for help and authorities chased the van at speeds of over 100 mph, with the suspects firing at them, before the driver lost control of the van as it careered over railroad tracks, and the suspects abandoned it, Emery said.

One suspect was taken into custody. The other fled into the bank.

“He was in, and he said, ‘Get down,’ and we saw the gun,” Terri Cherry, a teller at the bank who was one of the hostages, said Friday.

“We were all in shock,” said Cherry, who was released after about 20 minutes.

In all, the gunman released four hostages over seven hours. After speaking with an FBI hostage negotiator, the suspect peacefully left the bank with the remaining hostage, Emery said.

Martin remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday.

Bond said detectives cannot yet positively say if the man found dead in Chicago owned the first vehicle driven by the Arcola suspects, and nobody was in custody in the stabbing. The victim was identified by Chicago police as Arnie Graves; the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office identified him as Bernie Graves.

“There were Satanic messages found at the scene of the crime,” said Bond. The numbers 666, associated with Antichrist, also were found at the scene, she said, but did not elaborate.